NOW TO A TARGET 12
INVESTIGATORS'
EXCLUSIVE:
"THE CRAIG PRICE
CONFESSION"
(MM)
THEY'RE CHILLING---
NEVER-BEFORE-HEARD
RECORDINGS...
NOTORIOUS SERIAL
KILLER CRAIG PRICE----
DETAILING TO
DETECTIVES,
HOW HE MURDERED A
FAMILY OF THREE IN HIS
WARWICK
NEIGHBORHOOD.
Detective: Alright so you put
the
clothes in the attic you put the
knives in the shed. What else do
you do?
Price: Live with guilt 'til I
get caught.
(HE)
TARGET 12 HAS BEEN
REPORTING ON CRAIG
PRICE FOR YEARS...
AND OUR INVESTIGATIONS
HAVE ALREADY LED TO
MORE PRISON TIME FOR
PRICE.
(MM)
NOW WE'RE BRINGING
THESE TAPES TO LIGHT
FOR THE FIRST TIME -- AS
PRICE----- MAY BE SET
FREE IN JUST ONE YEAR...
AND PROSECUTORS ARE
LOOKING TO KEEP HIM
BEHIND BARS.
(HE)
A WARNING TO OUR
VIEWERS, SOME YOU MAY
FIND THE AUDIO
DISTURBING.
TARGET 12 INVESTIGATOR
TIM WHITE IS HERE NOW
WITH THE EXCLUSIVE
DETAILS.
THE CONFESSION TOOK PLACE
ON SEPTEMBER 17TH 1989
INSIDE THE WARWICK POLICE
DEPARTMENT.
IN THE ROOM WITH CRAIG
PRICE ARE DETECTIVES TIM
COLGAN AND KEVIN COLLINS,
ALSO THERE, PRICES'
MOTHER...
LISTENING AS HER 15 YEAR OLD
SON, CALMLY RECALLS HOW
HE MURDERED A MOTHER AND
HER TWO CHILDREN.
THE TAPE BEGINS WITH
WARWICK POLICE DETECTIVE
TIM COLGAN READING CRAIG
PRICE HIS RIGHTS.
Detective: If you do talk to us
you
can stop at any time. Do you
understand those rights, Craig?
TWO WEEKS EARLIER...
THE BODIES OF 39-YEAR-OLD
JOAN HEATON AND HER TWO
CHILDREN -- 10-YEAR-OLD
JENNIFER AND 8-YEAR-OLD
MELISSA WERE DISCOVERED
INSIDE THEIR HOME...
STABBED MULTIPLED TIMES.
Detective: Craig I want you in
your
own words at this time to tell
me as
clearly and as best you can what
occurred there.
PRICE TOLD DETECTIVES HE
SNUCK THROUGH AN OPEN
WINDOW IN THE HEATON'S
HOME IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT.
AT THE TIME HE CLAIMED HE
WAS THERE LOOKING TO STEAL
A VCR.
BUT DETECTIVES DIDN'T BUY IT,
NOTING HE WENT INTO THE
HOUSE WITH A SMALL KNIFE.
PRICE SAYS JOAN HEATON
AWOKE AND SPOTTED PRICE IN
THE KITCHEN.
Price: Yeah and then things just
got
hectic after that.
Detective: What did she say to
you
when she saw you Craig?
Price: She didn't say anything.
She
was just like trying like soon
as she
seen me like run the other way -
break the other way.
Detective: OK
Price: And I grabbed her.
Detective: What happened then?
Price: I was just like trying to
kill her.
IN THE CHAOS...
PRICE SAYS HEATON'S TWO
GIRLS WOKE UP.
Police: Do you remember one of
the
girls trying to get to the
phone?
Price: I don't know, she was
"get to
the phone! get to the phone!"
She
was just saying that get to
the
phone she didn't say the name
but
she just
Detective: Do you remember one
of
the girls trying to get to the
phone?
Price: Nah, she was just
standing
against the side of the wall.
Price: Someone had to have heard
that.
Detective: Were they screaming?
Price:Yeah. They were screaming
very very very loud and I was
running back to the window
back
and forth to see if police were
coming or something like that.
Detective: If you can remember
how many knives did you use?
Price: I don't know a lot. About
six I
think maybe. 'Cause they kept on
breaking 'cause I was in but
they
broke on the wall too, not the
wall
the floor because I was all
shaking.
PRICE TELLS DETECTIVES, MOM
FOUGHT BACK
Price: She bit me you can see
the
mark right there. She bit me
there
and I bit her back
White: What stood out to you
about
it.
Just his demeanor, they say lack
of
remorse. He is no where near
remorseful for this guy.
RETIRED WARWICK DETECTIVE
KEN ANDERSON WENT INTO
THE HEATON'S HOUSE THAT
FIRST DAY.
AND LATER WAS ONE OF THE
OFFICERS WHO TOOK PRICE
INTO CUSTODY.
He's talking like he killed
these
people like it was nothing. Like
absolutely nothing. It's
incredible.
BECAUSE PRICE WAS A
JUVENILE...
STATE LAW AT THE TIME MEANT
HE COULD BE SET FREE WHEN
HE TURNED 21. THE LAW HAS
SINCE BEEN REWRITTEN.
BUT PRICE HAS REMAINED
BEHIND BARS BECAUSE OF A
SERIES OF VIOLENT CLASHES
HE HAD AS AN INMATE.
NOW IN FLORIDA, PRICE IS
AWAITING TRIAL FOR
ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTING TO
MURDER ANOTHER INMATE
WITH A HOMEMADE KNIFE.
IF ACQUITTED, HIS PROJECTED
RELEASE DATE IS NOVEMBER
OF NEXT YEAR.
White: Why is it important for
recordings like this to see the
light of
day this many years later?
People have to know just because
he was 15 at the time, he wasn't
just
some poor little kid that went
astray,
he killed four people. One and
then
two yeays later three more and
two
of them were children.
WHENEVER PRICE'S
SENTENCE IN FLORIDA ENDS,
THE RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY
GENERAL'S OFFICE HAS
ALREADY ASKED THE COURTS
HERE TO KEEP PRICE LOCKED
UP AS A PROBATION VIOLATOR
FOR HIS PRISON ANTICS.
A JUDGE WILL ULTIMATELY
DECIDE.
Never let this go. Never let
this go.
WHEN ANDERSON AND OTHER
DETECTIVES WERE IN THE
HOUSE THAT AWFUL DAY IN
1989, THEY FOUND THE KILLER
HAD COVERED THE VICTIMS.
JOAN HEATON, IN A BLANKET.
Detective: Ok you covered the
mother do you remember what you
covered the other children with?
Price: The rug. The rug.
Detective: Ok, why did you cover
them Craig?
Price: Because I didn't want to
look
at that.
PRICE CLAIMS HE FELT GUILTY
AFTER THE MURDERS, BUT HE
ALSO TRIED TO MISLEAD
INVESTIGATORS IN THAT
INTERVIEW.
HERE'S HOW: HE WAS
INSTANTLY A PRIME SUSPECT IN
THE MURDER OF 27 YEAR OLD
BECKY SPENCER FROM TWO
YEARS BEFORE.
NEW AT 6: HEAR WHAT PRICE
TELLS DETECTIVES WHEN HE IS
ASKED ABOUT HER KILLING.
WITH THE TARGET 12
INVESTIGATORS TIM WHITE
EYEWITNESS NEWS
NOW A TARGET 12
INVESTIGATORS'
EXCLUSIVE...
"THE CRAIG PRICE
CONFESSION."
(HE)
AT FIVE, WE BROUGHT
YOU THE NEVER-
BEFORE-HEARD
CONFESSION TAPE OF
NOTORIOUS SERIAL
KILLER CRAIG PRICE.
ONLY FIFTEEN YEARS
OLD...
PRICE ADMITTED TO
DETECTIVES -- HE KILLED
A WARWICK MOTHER AND
HER TWO YOUNG
CHILDREN
Police: What did she say to you
when she saw you Craig?
Price: She didn't say anything.
She
was just like trying like soon
as she
seen me like run the other way -
break the other way
(MM)
NEW AT SIX - IT WAS IN
THAT---- SAME
INTERROGATION---- PRICE
LIED TO INVESTIGATORS
ABOUT---- ANOTHER
MURDER HE LATER
ADMITTED TO.
(HE)
A WARNING TO OUR
VIEWERS - SOME OF YOU
MAY FIND THE AUDIO
DISTURBING.
TARGET 12 INVESTIGATOR
TIM WHITE IS HERE NOW
WITH THE EXCLUSIVE
DETAILS.
IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE, BUT
PRICE COULD BE SET FREE
NOVEMBER OF NEXT YEAR.
PROSECUTORS HERE AND IN
FLORIDA ARE WORKING TO
KEEP HIM BEHIND BARS.
THAT WHY, AS ONE RETIRED
DETECTIVE TELLS ME, IT'S
CRUCIAL TO KEEP A SPOTLIGHT
ON THIS CASE.
HERE, INSIDE THE SECOND
FLOOR OF THE WARWICK
POLICE DEPARTMENT ON
SEPTEMBER 17TH 1989...
DETECTIVES TIM COLGAN AND
KEVIN COLLINS HIT RECORD ON
THE CASETTE DECK,
AND READ 15 YEAR-OLD CRAIG
PRICE HIS RIGHTS
Detective: That if you give up
the
right to remain silent anything
you
say can and will be used against
you in a court of law.
WITH HIS MOTHER IN THE
ROOM,
PRICE DETAILED HOW HE
VISCIOUSLY STABBED 39-
YEAR-OLD JOAN HEATON AND
HER TWO CHILDREN -- 10-
YEAR-OLD JENNIFER AND 8-
YEAR-OLD MELISSA TO DEATH.
Price: So then I was like oh
what the
hell. I ran into the kitchen
on top of
the refrigerator was a knife and
I
just. (sigh). killed her.
PRICE THEN TELLS THE
DETECTIVES HOW THE GIRLS
WOKE UP, AND HIS KILLING
SPREE CONTINUED.
Detective: Then what did you do?
Price: Grabbed all the knives
and
everything that I could see and
put
them in a towel then in the bag
Detective: Did you get the towel
and
the bag from inside the house?
Price: Yeah in the bathroom
Detective: OK
Price: And then I just put
everything
in the bag I even got a garbage
bag
out of the bathroom when you
found that bag did you find
all
Dixie cups and everything in it?
Detective: I think they did.
Price: Yeah that was from their
house.
PRICE CLAIMED HE WAS
ORIGINALLY THERE TO STEAL
STUFF.
BUT DETECTIVES, INCLUDING
KEN ANDERSON...
I think he was there to kill.
...DIDN'T BUY IT.
We truly believe a lot of us
truly
believe he was a peeping tom,
loved
to look in people's windows.
AN INJURY TO PRICE'S HAND
WAS ULTIMATELY HIS
DOWNFALL,
BECAUSE IT LINKED HIM TO THE
CRIME.
Detective: How did you hurt your
hand, Craig?
Price: When I was stabbing her I
guess I got careless or
something
and I stabbed my own finger
Detective: OK
PRICE WAS THEN BRIEFLY
QUESTIONED ABOUT THE
UNSOLVED MURDER OF BECKY
SPENCER.
THE 27 YEAR OLD WAS
STABBED 58 TIMES TWO
YEARS EARLIER...
IN THE SAME BUTTONWOODS
SECTION OF WARWICK.
LISTEN AS PRICE CLAIMS TO
DETECTIVES HE KNEW HE WAS
GOING TO GET ARRESTED FOR
THE HEATON MURDERS...
BUT THEN QUICKLY DENIES HIS
ROLE IN SPENCER'S DEATH.
Price: Glad I got caught for it.
Detective: Are you? If you hurt
Becky Spencer would you want to
be caught for that?
Price: Yeah IF I did. But I
didn't.
You'll see when you get your
reports
back.
he knew we had him for the
heaton
murders, obviously. We had
everything we needed, but he
probably assumed and he was
right,
we didn't have anything on Becky
Spencer.
BUT LATER THAT SAME DAY -
UNDER QUESTIONING BY
DETECTIVE SERGEANT DAVE
HORNOFF...
HE CONFESSED TO THE
SPENCER MURDER TOO.
Detective: OK this interview has
ended Sept. 17 12:40
PRICE IS SCHEDULED TO GO TO
TRIAL NEXT MONTH IN FLORIDA
FOR ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTING
TO MURDER A FELLOW INMATE
WITH A HOMEMADE KNIFE
BUT IF AQUITTED,
IT WILL BE UP TO RHODE
ISLAND PROSECUTORS TO
CONVINCE A JUDGE HE'S A
PROBATION VIOLATOR,
OR THE 45 YEAR-OLD COULD BE
A FREE MAN LATE NEXT YEAR.
WITH THE TARGET
INVESTIGATORS TIM WHITE
EYEWITNESS NEWS