Mont Vernon Murder /// Part 2 /// 434 | Forensic Files

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true crime. As hard as they were to hear at times, we have sat through the interviews of
four of the five individuals being interviewed for the murder of Kimberly Cates.
And now we have Steven Spader, who is left. Chris Gribble gave us a good amount of information, and he showed us
what kind of heartless individual he actually is. It's time for Steven Spader. Did he tell the same story as
Gribble? In a nutshell, no. Instead, Spader threw his childhood friend right under the bus.
The affidavit sums it up best. Quote, Spader told the police in substance that he did not commit the charged crimes,
that he did not know who did it, that whoever did it should get the death penalty.
He also stated that on October 4th, he was at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua with Christopher Gribble while he pawned
jewelry. Presumably the jewelry taken from the Kates' home. Spader then lawyered up and
refused to talk to the authorities. This is confusing. As we saw, these boys took pains to make
sure that they were not caught. They wore gloves. They got rid of their clothes. They cleaned the blood evidence
up with bleach and other cleaning agents. But then they told everyone they knew about the murders.
Here's what the affidavit says the boys blabbed about to people. During the day on Sunday, Spader told
Jamie Hollins, remember he was at Kyle Fenton's house, all about the murder, quote, because he trusted him.
As we know, they also told Finn all about it and his mom was the one who actually called the police.
Gribble said that they threatened Eldon Spikes on Sunday. Remember that Spikes was hanging out
with the four of them that Sunday, and they all had gone together to the pawn shop to sell some items stolen from the
house. When Spader found out Spikes' girlfriend knew about the murder, he threatened
him, and so did Gribble. They showed a number of people the knives on Sunday, but then became
concerned that so many people knew, so they cleaned the knife and the machete and the sheaths with bleach and alcohol,
and then buried the knives in the woods. They also buried a pearl necklace they stole from the Cates home
that they could not pawn. These items were collected by investigators after Gribble led them to
the burial spot. This is not laid out in the affidavit, but it seems likely that at least one of
them told his girlfriend as we know that Glover's girlfriend called and yelled at
him about it. Also, Jillian Baptiste, Spader's girlfriend, was included in an outing to
the Pheasant Lane Mall where they pawned the jewelry. She testified that she later learned
what they had done and cut ties with Spader. Right. And let's go back to the idea
that we know that Gribble is a horrible person, but he's also telling the authorities, "Hey, Spader's actually the
real deal." So, now let's get into the autopsy and the charges. The medical examiner found that Kimberly
Cates died from 32 sharp injuries to her head, neck, torso, left arm, and left leg from two different weapons. Manner
of death, of course, homicide. She was alive, unfortunately, for the entirety of the attack per the medical examiner's
testimony. During all of the blows, she was alive. These included one that broke apart her upper arm bone and two
that broke open her skull and sunk into her brain. The medical examiner also said that her throat was cut and
one eyeball was dislodged from the force of the blows. Jamie, the 11-year-old girl, suffered
multiple debilitating injuries. She had a broken jaw. She had a punctured lung. She had to have part of
her foot amputated as well as skin grafts for multiple lacerations that required plastic surgery. One wound
penetrated and fractured her skull, her elbow was broken, she had multiple stab wounds from what looked like a small
knife. Per the sentencing memo, quote, "Her treating physicians at Children's Hospital in Boston testified that they
had never treated any patient, adult or child, with that many stab or hack wounds." End quote. A doctor testified
at one of the trials that Jamie would have died of a punctured lung if she had lost consciousness before calling the
police. Within 2 days, the detailed arrest affidavit we have been reading from was filed with the
Milford District Court that laid out the case against the four who participated in the attack on the Kates family.
Per WMUR, quote, "A little after 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 6th, the state attorney
general's office issued a press release to the media that said four arrests have
been made in connection to the Mount Vernon killing and attack. Before noon on that same day, Spader,
Gribble, Marks, and Glover were arraigned one by one at Milford District Court."
So, they're going to charge all five of them. Yeah, so Chris Gribble and Steven Spader
were charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to murder, as well as a bunch of lesser
charges. William Marks and Quinn Glover were charged with burglary, conspiracy to burglary, and robbery. They were
warned that prosecutors would seek additional indictments when they presented their cases to a grand jury.
In early November, more charges were forthcoming. Autumn Savoy was charged with two counts of hindering
apprehension or prosecution and one count of conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension or prosecution. This was,
of course, because of his throwing the evidence bag into the river and then lying to police about the false alibi.
Question for you, maybe you know this. Um do they have to charge these individuals
therefore they can use that as like some leverage against them to testify? Well, yes, of course, but they also have
to charge them just to hold continue to hold them. At some point, if you don't charge them, they they have rights as a
citizen who's not being detained and they have to be released. So, I think what you have here, Captain, is when you
got a a whole batch of [ __ ] that you have to um charge with an assortment of charges,
I think not only does it take some time to It takes time to hash that out. Who's
guilty of what? And what will the public decide they're guilty of and and agree to as well.
So, it's hard to overstate the shock. You know, we've just spent an hour or so on this case, but I want everybody to
really kind of sit and think about this for a minute because it's really hard to state the
amount of shock that ensued from the arrest of these boys. They had their problems, of course, but in general, no
one saw this coming. We talked about the area. They This place had not had a murder
in over a hundred years. And then when you solve it this quickly or you are making arrest this quickly and the
public can see what's going on, and now they're being told that the perpetrators
are children, essentially, it's It was I mean, the the area was in shock from the murder itself and from
the attack itself, but now you double down on that that the perpetrators they look like kids on the evening news.
They don't look like some monster that strolled into town and and took away one of your own.
Well, again, it also depends on what picture they're getting. You know, if if you take any of these kids and and
go back 3 years, some of these kids were doing all right then. And obviously, the
age is a lot younger, so they look way more innocent. But just imagine what these parents are going
through. We know through some of the testimony that some of the parents knew that the these kids were going down the
wrong path. Mhm. But maybe down the wrong path for some kids is like, "Oh, well, now he's he
smokes, or we caught him smoking some weed, or we caught him with a beer, or we, you know, we caught him making out
with his girlfriend, or whatever whatever it would be, right?" To go down the wrong path. But
most parents are not going to assume the wrong path is taking them down to heinous murder for no reason other than
they just wanted to murder somebody. The ABC News put it pretty succinctly saying that friends of the teenagers
were shocked that the boys who came from middle-class families and participated in activities like school musicals and
the Boy Scouts would conspire to commit such brutality. The community, they not only blamed the the boys, but
some people in the community were blaming the parents of these kids as well, saying that the parents must have
ignored the signs, that they enabled them. Yeah. And labeling the boys as evil monsters,
psychopaths who deserved the death penalty. Many people also believed that there
were varying levels of culpability among the pack of five. After all, according to what the boys were saying, only two
of them actually participated in the physical attacks on our two victims. Savoy wasn't even at the Trow Road house
at all. Thankfully, none of them were granted bail. They were going to sit in jail and wait
for their trial. They would have to stay there until their trial date. While all of this was going on,
our survivor, sixth grader, Jamie Cates attended her mother's funeral in a wheelchair.
She was able to return to school the week of October 27th. She and her father issued a statement
that thanked all of the first responders, doctors, law enforcement, and community members.
So, what's the story about the the high school yearbook? This is an interesting one, and this is
not something that we would have in a lot of our cases given the age of the perpetrators, but right now we have
these five young men, as disgusting as they are, they're sitting in a jail cell waiting for their trials. And we have
the state that's going to be busy preparing indictments and working to build their
case against these individuals. In the meantime, the 2009-2010 school year is drawing to a close.
And the yearbook is going to be released. And this takes place in March of 2010.
The high school yearbook contained pictures of all of its students, as one would expect, but in this case, it
includes even the ones in jail for the Cates murder. Remember, two of these guys were still in high school at the
time of these crimes. In fact, they were picked up at school when the police wanted to question these guys.
Right. So, David Cates, he's the father of our young surviving victim. He's the husband of our other
victim. He sent a letter to the school administrators requesting an apology for the inclusion of photos of Quinn
Glover and William Marks in that year's yearbook. His letter read, "I can't understand why you made such a
disrespectful decision. Jamie is going to the school in two very short years. How can she have respect
towards the administration when you were so disrespectful toward her mother's memory?
Jamie and our families will survive this slap in the face, but I think the bigger
picture is the message you sent to students by condoning the immortalization of these soulless young
men that consciously, with intent, invaded our home and took my beautiful wife from Jamie and me."
Chances are that this is was the last thing on the administrator's mind. They probably
You see what I'm saying? Like, maybe one of these kids played on a soccer team earlier in their career, high school
career, and they won a state championship, and their picture is somewhere up in the hallway.
Administrator might not that might not pop into their head that they need to go take that down.
Just like the administrators are not in charge of every decision that the yearbook is making. There normally is a
class for that or um after school group for that. So, it wouldn't be the first thing on their
mind. Now, mind you, again, the person who Whatever teacher is in charge of putting together the the yearbook
probably should have popped that into their brain. Right. I mean, the the school
administration is in control of of whatever class is in charge of the the yearbook. What's crazy is that this is
this is a conscious decision. It's not as though the yearbook was sent in for printing in September and when the
murders happened in October, no one thought to take out the pictures of the two boys. Rather, the school consulted
with the Marks and Glover parents who said they wanted to leave the pictures of their sons in the yearbook. So, the
school decided to go along with that. Mhm. I I get what you're saying. If somebody
plays on the soccer team and you got 16 other kids on the team and coaches and what have you, you it's very difficult
to go back and retake that picture. It's pretty easy to leave leave the little square picture out of
the actual yearbook. And I think to to take it a step further that David Cates is is very right.
His daughter who was attacked by these guys Mhm. she is going to be attending that school
in two very short years. And it just seems like as he said, I think it's a slap in the face.
And I think that it's I think it's disrespectful. It's certainly disrespectful for the fact that they
actually talked to the parents and then they like you said, they actually had to
make a decision. It was on their minds. Yeah, I thought it was just something that they might have just
overlooked. And then it's like, oh, come on, give them a break. They got so many
things to deal with to run a school that they might overlooked it. But the fact that they actually made a decision and
talked to the parents at some point you just tell the parent like Look, I know why you want to leave the
the the kid in the book but we're going to take him out out of respect for the surviving
uh family members and for the victim. Well, and here's here's the issue that that I have with it. I'm 100% on David
Kates' side on this and and I I think it I find it actually appalling. And and the reason why is
it would have taken no more effort to reach out to David Kates. You realize that this was a decision you were going
to be making and that it would have it would it carries some weight. This is an important decision that you're making.
You understood so much that you reached out to the parents of the students. Reach out to the member of your
community and say, "We reached out to the parents. They would like to keep the pictures in
the yearbook. At least get his opinion." They didn't do that. Right. And and here's the thing. Here's the issue.
It's innocent until proven guilty. These two have not gone to trial yet. They've
not been actually convicted or sentenced for these crimes. So, I get that. Maybe the idea is leave
them in there because they're innocent. The problem with that is we have a situation where we have confessions of
these individuals and these confessions check out. It's not It's not like their confessions and the the police got some
teenagers to admit to do something that they didn't do. These confessions track.
Yeah, so as an administrator you you go, "I got to call the parents. Ring ring ring." Parents, "Hello?"
Um well, we have confirmed that your kid's a piece of [ __ ] and we're taking them out of the yearbook.
Yeah. I mean all kinds of things. You you can have excuses why if you want to defend yourself to the parents and say,
"Look, they didn't finish school, so we're not including them." Uh if they are found innocent and they
attend next year, we'll put their picture back in. The other thing you can do is
I Personally, I wouldn't have even even consulted with the um with the Glover or Marks parents in this
situation. Now, we have the trials that we need to get to. And this will be five criminal cases
that were scheduled to go before a special grand jury, which would possibly hand down murder indictments, possibly
hand down additional charges. This was apparently enough to scare some of these idiots straight because
what we have here now is that three of the five defendants, this would be Glover, Marks, and Savoy,
they all agreed to testify against the other two, Spader and Gribble. Of course, they want to avoid murder
charges, so they're willing to cooperate. Spader and Gribble were both indicted on murder charges, and under
New Hampshire law, faced mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole if found guilty of first-degree
murder. They were not eligible for the death penalty. Under New Hampshire law, capital murder, for which the death
penalty is an option, was defined at the time as only six types of murder. One, killing an an on-duty law
enforcement officer or judge, a murder for hire, murder committed in connection with the
kidnapping, murder committed during rape, murder committed during certain drug offenses, and murder committed by a
convict already serving a life sentence without parole. In the Granite State's 380-year
history, New Hampshire has executed only 24 people, and none since the year 1939.
Before the trials in August of 2010, one of the scheduled witnesses died. This was Jamie Hollins. He was the buddy
who was with Kyle Fenton when Spader and Gribble showed up and bragged to them about what they had done.
Right. Holland's himself was no angel. He had a record for burglary of an ice cream shop. Must
have been some good ice cream. And at the time of his death was facing another burglary charge.
His mother told that, quote, her son was tormented by what he knew about the Kate's murder.
She said he could not sleep after being told about the attacks and being shown the weapons.
He was stressed and afraid to testify. His mom found him dead in his room one morning in August.
He This is her quote to WMUR. She said, quote, he went to bed perfectly fine, and when
I woke up in the morning, I found him dead. I didn't know what to do. His lips were purple, fingernails, everything.
She continued, "Just the other night he was so stressed out sitting in his room rocking himself back and forth because
he's so stressed. He didn't know what to do." She said her son was on sleeping pills and antidepressants, but seemed
okay that night when he went to bed. It's unclear whether this was a suicide, accidental overdose, or what, but
Holland's was he passed on and was not available to testify against Spader or Gribble.
It makes me wonder what Spader and Gribble might have done that we are not aware of.
Because like I said, you know, boys will sit around and go, "Oh, let's go prank these people, or let's go do this or
that." It seemed like there's a very steep escalation. And I'd probably argue that maybe it
wasn't so steep. That maybe there there are other actions and other heinous things that these
individuals did that we're just not well aware of. And when you have a a friend of these
guys I don't think it's just as simple as well, I now that know that they're capable of murder so maybe they'll come
after me one day or maybe get somebody else to come after me. I think there would have to be more
actions that we're just not aware of that that these friends would know about. And to top that off, you might have a
situation here where somebody is already struggling with some other things, some
other issues, maybe they're a bit unstable themselves. And then you you add to that
the fear of one testifying against these people but also is there some guilt that this individual was
was harboring that that they felt guilty for Who knows? I mean, maybe this person
said to themselves when they were being told what what these two monsters had done
that they weren't going to turn them in or they weren't going to do anything about it.
Right. You know, so it could be a whole whole bunch of stuff and and regardless, it's just
these events, these horrible things that people for whatever reason do to one another
and then they put so little thought into it that there are real victims. This isn't just something This isn't Grand
Theft Auto that you play on your PlayStation 4. Mhm. These are real people. These are real
consequences. You've not only killed this woman and really almost destroyed the life of this this
child but then her every one of her family is a victim. And then the perpetrators, everyone in
their families are victims as well. And it's it's just amazing that the that there's so little thought put into
any of these actions by some of these people. Now, Steven Spader his trial would start
in 2010. He pled not guilty. Needless to say, the state came out swinging causing some jury members to shed tears
with uh like {quote} Kim and Jamie's screams did not stop him. Their cries, their begging, their
pleas did not stop him because he was so merciless and he and Gribble were focused on what they intended to do and
planned on doing all along. And the simple way to put that is to break in and kill whoever was inside for fun, for
kicks, ultimately for a few pieces of jewelry. A big cheers to everybody. A big cheers
to you, Colonel. And a special cheers to anybody that is still homeschooling their children. That
would be a very tough task. So, this drink is for you. And cheers to Well, don't have a drink,
but cheers to those who are still dealing with their parents homeschooling them. That can't be easy either. So
Yeah, I drink Pour a little out for everyone. My dad doesn't know math. We're all into this all in this
together. So, the Spader trial is the key one here, Captain. Because remember, he is the guy that you
want to sink. He's not only one of the most evil of the five, but he's also the guy that didn't really admit to
anything. We got everybody else singing like a bunch of birds saying this is what happened, but Spader, last time he
spoke to investigators, he says, "Yeah, I was with Gribble when he was out there uh pawning some jewelry.
Uh I wasn't there that night. I didn't kill anybody, and I don't know who did." Yeah, I I told you how big of a
douchebag this guy is. Um at his trial, at some point it was his birthday, and he asked his lawyer, "Do you think the
jury will sing Happy Birthday to me?" And he like laughing all smug. Mhm. And what I can say nice about his lawyer is
that he he definitively said, "No. Like, that's the dumbest question you ask, you
idiot." Well, speaking of Spader's attorney, the attorney mounted a defense which
included testimony from a forensic scientist that stated that no DNA or fingerprint
evidence belonging to Steven Spader connected him to the scene of the crime. Of course, an awful lot of
circumstantial evidence did connect Spader to the crime, such as his sweatshirt with his name on it found in
the trash bag containing containing stolen items from the Kates' home. And the defense attorneys
also warned the jury that Spader's co-conspirators or people that had already confessed to some of these
crimes, they were going to testify against him. But, keep in mind, jury, that Marks,
Savoy, and Glover, who will testify against my client, all received deals from the state lessening their
sentences. Now, what do we know about Steven Spader? People who knew him said that in years
past he was a good kid, a nice guy. But then in the summer before his sophomore year, Spader seemed to change.
He stopped paying attention to his schoolwork, started wearing all black and painting his fingernails black.
He drew a swastika on his head and declared that he was a member of the Crips. I do not mind I don't think that's their
symbol. I do not mind the children or the peeps wearing the black. I do not, you know,
dye the hair black, paint the fingernails. Doesn't bother me. Where I get a little concerned, and I'm
saying that sarcastically, please hear the sarcasm in my voice, is the swastika on someone's head and
then claiming to be a member of a criminal enterprise such as the Crips. That's how I don't mind it so much. At
least they're branding themselves so you can see their dumbass coming. At some point, and it seems to be linked
to a possible bad breakup, he began cutting himself. And he was to be on medication for
bipolar disorder, but he would often stop taking this medication. And he was also running away
from his parents' home. He had anger management issues and his anger would increase if he was off of
his meds or taking recreational drugs. Now, I don't know if his adopted parents knew this or not. I think there was
speculation that he did have some trauma in his um younger years before they actually
adopted him. Yeah, and it is a bit of a question mark if they knew this in advance or not.
Uh by the time of the murder, this once good kid uh was now a high school dropout who
still lived with his parents. Well, do you do you know anything about when he was real little?
Yes, and I was going to get into that. Okay. Um and they were forcing him to seek
counseling and they did tell him he needed to get his GED, which he he did and he was taking classes at a community
college. This all at the time of the actual murder. Now, according to the Boston Herald friends told the paper
that they believe Spaeder was a candidate for suicide, not for homicide. His mood and behavior grew darker as he
matured, they said. Spaeder was in and out of treatment programs. He shaved his head, abused marijuana and speed and cut
and burned his own skin. Yeah, well, there was actually a call from his therapist to his parents
stating that he made several threats against them. You know, saying that he wanted to kill
his parents and the parents were like, is this something we should be worried about? Because I would be as a parent.
My kid saying he wants to kill me and they're saying, no, no, it's actually more of a coping mechanism and and he
probably actually just wants to hurt himself. Right. And you want to say to the therapist,
well, you were wrong about that one because if this would have if they would have
been free any longer, I would actually think that Spaeder would have went after somebody else.
Either on his own or with the help of these guys. That's I think that's for certain.
Yeah. Now, his grandmother, Mary Ann Spaeder, said of Spaeder's parents that they did
everything for this boy. They gave him everything. They were devoted to this kid. His parents, she says, were the
nicest people. I don't know how something like this could happen. Now, Spaeder's adoptive parents, who adopted
him at just 5 days old, had forced him to go to a treatment program when they observed a dramatic
change in his behavior. This was when he was 16 years old. This live-in retreat was just months
before the murder. The It was an expensive program that they took on themselves in hope of
turning their son around. At the trial, prosecutors called a lot of witnesses to
establish that Spader was, in fact, a psychopath and that he planned to murder someone long in advance. They presented
evidence that in the months leading up to the attack, Spader hung out often with Gribble, Marks, Glover, and Savoy.
During this time, he talked about breaking into people's homes and killing them.
He also talked about eating people and roasting their bodies, putting heads on stakes, putting bodies in a wood
chipper, creating displays out of the bodies for the media to later find, torturing,
creating chloroform to knock out victims so they could be killed in silence. He spent time trying to make chloroform at
his home, and he had purchased a knife just days before the crime. And Spader formed a group of losers
called the Disciples of Destruction, DOD for short. Wow, what a cool name. Yeah. He
Mhm. was the self-appointed president of his little club. He actually drafted a mission statement that called for
bloodshed, and he and Marks cased out the Trow Road home, as we've already talked about, and selected that house to
hit. They then told Gribble that the crime was to be Gribble's initiation into the DOD.
Spader told Savoy to provide them with an alibi. It's not clear why Savoy was not
included in the actual committing of the crime. Right. So, we have all these guys saying
that, "Look, Spader, he's the evil one or the most evil one. He is the leader and we've all confessed not only to what
Spader did, but what we have done. And Spader's still not confessing. So, now they're going to
testify against him. And during the testimony, this is going to offer some more details about that
actual night and things leading up to the crime and even after saying that, you know, Spader attended a
high school football game on that Saturday. There, at the high school football game, he tells Glover to be
ready that night because he was going to call him so that they could go break into a
house. He also gave Glover a list of ingredients to purchase and instructions to make chloroform.
Glover was to bring gloves with him and a knife. The group texted about their plans
throughout the day. About 10:00 p.m., Gribble texted Spader, "Cool. Ought to be a good party." To which Spader
responded, "We'll have fun." Around 1:30 a.m., Spader texted Glover, "You've got to get out soon because
we're ready. We need completion of the DOD to go on." Glover waffled about going and Spader
ordered him to join them. Eventually, Glover snuck out of his house and got into Gribble's car with
the rest of the DOD. And on the way to Trow Road, Spader declared that the purpose of the
night was to get Chris into killing. So, again, we keep pointing out that this could, on
the surface, to some seem like, "Oh, it's just teenagers talking. This is a lot of talking.
Yeah, that's right. a lot of preparation for things that seem to be about what they're all
talking about. And that's why I'm saying I guarantee you there was there's other stuff.
Whether it's cruelty to animals, whether it's bullying, whether it's other break-ins, other little crimes, that was
all I guaranteeing you were happening before this murder. And I'm going to try to go through this
without getting too much more into the details of the actual attack itself. Be One, it's hard to get through and two,
we've discussed it pretty well so far, unfortunately. Now, Quinn Glover did testify that he saw Spader physically
kill Kimberly. Billy Marks testified that in the light of the full moon that night, he could see Spader chopping at
the people in the bed with the machete. After they turned the light back on, he saw Steven Spader kick Jamie in the
chest and hit her in the head with the machete. After Gribble stabbed Jamie and threw
her, Spader made him come over and stab Kimberly a few more times. Then he went over to Jamie and kicked her and struck
her with the machete and said something this is beyond bizarre. He stated, "I'm bored."
Despite this seemingly lackadaisical attitude toward the murders, Spader later told his buddies that the whole
thing was a rush. He was euphoric and felt like he had just gotten off of a roller coaster. He joked about how
Kimberly woke up to being hacked with a machete. When he found out that Jamie had
survived, Spader turned to Gribble and said, "You're an idiot. You can't even kill a fifth grader." Spader's friend
Kyle Fenton testified that that Spader bragged about the killings afterwards as well.
Now, the defense did their best to raise questions about who actually did the killing and tried to undermine the
testimony of the three witnesses, Glover, Savoy, and Marks. They pressed Marks about boast he had made about
stabbing somebody with a knife. Defense attorneys presented evidence that Glover's weapon of choice was an
axe, saying that he posted a photo of himself with one on his MySpace page. So, they're really just trying to
present the idea that these other three could have done the murder without Spader.
But, the defense called no witnesses whatsoever in the course of the trial, and Spader did not testify in his own
defense. And Spader's behavior prior to and at the trial did not do him any favors.
He threatened three of the witnesses testifying against him while they were on the stand.
This is right in front of the jury. Testimony from Spader's jailmate, a gang member,
named Chad Landry, was probably the most damaging. Landry told jurors he and Spader would pass notes or or kites back
and forth inside books that they slid down the corridor between their cells. Landry was no dummy, and he saw an
opportunity. He pretended to flush the notes down the toilet, knowing Spader could hear it,
but he actually kept these notes and contacted authorities to use the letters as leverage to get himself a reduced
sentence. These letters were gold for the prosecutors, since Spader had not confessed to the crimes.
Landry read some of these notes on the stand. Spader wrote to Landry that he whacked
the mother 36 times, and that he could see brains and lots of blood and that her eyeball was hanging out of its
socket. "It was such an adrenaline rush." He wrote, "I almost hit Gribble with the
machete." In one of the letters, Spader called himself the most sick and twisted person
you will ever meet. He said that he found torture highly enjoyable. "Death doesn't frighten me.
Blood excites me." He wrote, "I've got more [ __ ] wrong in my brain than you can think of."
"But such is life." Another letter explained how he wanted to start a crew or brotherhood. And he set up the home
invasion as a test to see if his friends had the guts to do it. I mean, what a piece of work.
Well, this testimony right here is really the slam dunk for the prosecution because we have all these other people
who are saying, "Yes, this is the things that Spader was saying before and the actions he was doing before the murders.
This is what he did at the crime scene when he killed Kimberly." And these are the things that he was
saying afterwards. This guy's testimony is different in the sense that they are presenting notes
in Spader's own handwriting confirming all of the things that these people are saying.
Right. So, now not only are his friends turning against him and confessing, now we have basically a written confession
confirming those confessions. So, the jurors only deliberated for 90 minutes. And
because they also went out to lunch before they decided. Spader was convicted on all counts on
his 19th birthday. Remember, this is where he made the joke about the jury singing him happy birthday.
The state's sentencing memo says his attack was calculated, vicious, and unprovoked. Spader was determined to
find a house, render the occupants unconscious, get bank numbers, large sums of money, torture the residents in
the house, and eventually kill every member of the family. As described in the sentencing memo,
under New Hampshire law, he was sentenced to mandatory life without parole on the first-degree murder
charge, and the court imposed the consecutive maximum sentencing on the remaining charges, which was 76 years.
But, that description of his sentence does not convey the fury with which the judge sentenced Spader.
Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Jillian Abramson said, "I could go on for days and days and days about the
depth of your depravity, but it is sufficient to say that you belong in a cage, and I will sentence
you to the maximum, and you will stay in that cage for the rest of your pointless
life." And I I wish in a fair world what they would say is, "Look, we're going to put
you in this cell for the rest of your life, but we're also going to give Jamie, the
victim that survived, we're going to give her a machete, and we're going to give her keys, and
whenever she wants to, she can go in there and attack you. So, have fun sleeping."
That sounds fair to me, but more than likely she's not the animal that this guy is, you know, and wouldn't
want to cause that level of harm or hurt to to anyone. Now, Chris Gribble, we still got to deal with this guy. He He
didn't get a traditional trial, and that is because he pled not guilty by reason
of insanity to all of the charges against him. Under New Hampshire law, this means he
forfeited his criminal trial. Instead, his lawyers had to prove to the jury that his actions were the result of a
mental disease or defect. The question was not whether he participated. He already confessed. But whether he did so
in his own right mind. The judge was the same one as in the Spader case. The way this worked is a
little complicated, but basically if the jury found unanimously that Gribble's actions were the result
of mental disease or defect, he would be committed to a psychiatric unit in the state prison rather than just go to
regular prison. And he would be entitled to another hearing every five years to determine
whether he still presented a danger to society. If Gribble's attorneys failed to show
that his actions were the result of mental disease or defect, he would be found guilty of murder.
If this was a unanimous verdict, he would be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
If neither decision was unanimous, it would be a hung jury and Gribble would be retried at a later date.
Gribble's attorneys argued that he suffered from antisocial personality disorder. And all sorts of witnesses
testified either for this point or against it. It is interesting to see the picture
painted of this guy by people who knew him. He was described as a dork, awkward, someone who would ramble on
about uninteresting topics. He was always misreading social cues and the girls called him creepy Chris.
Some testified that he was very smart and nice, although he didn't really seem to understand others.
One mom recalled how he said he loved her cookies and seemed devoted to his Mormon faith.
But he also dressed in camo gear all of the time. This might seem weird, I guess, but he was
a US Army Cadet Corps group. He was in that group. So, maybe it's not that weird.
Yeah, but sometimes, you know, with the ROTC guys, people would pick on them cuz
they had to wear uniforms to school. Right, but I think what they're pointing out here is that he wore the stuff all
the time, and that in fact is weird. But, I'm pointing out he did have a reason or a purpose for wearing it at
least some of the time. He played Dungeons and Dragons. Again, that's just a hobby.
That's weird. Yeah, some people some people say that's weird. That's about as weird as Grand
Theft Auto to me, and a lot of people play that, and I think Grand Theft Auto's probably even more violent.
He got good grades, but started to change around 2008. Autumn Savoy, you know, no saint himself, testified
that Gribble was Robin to Steven Spader's Batman. Gribble's father, Richard, testified
that his son was intelligent, well-spoken, but that he was socially awkward, and also had a warped world
view in which he was always in the right. A friend of Gribble's told the Boston Herald that he himself at
that he saw himself as a destroying angel. And he said he hated his father. Apparently, part of his insanity defense
relied on Gribble testifying that he was abused by his mother. Gribble took the stand and admitted that
he had fantasized about torturing and killing her from the age 14 on because she was abusive.
Now, was it Was it Gribble that also said that he was possibly sexually abused when he was
younger? Uh I didn't get into that. I I didn't come across that. thought I saw something about that.
But, he said, this is per an Associated Press article, he said quote, he fantasized about taking his mother into
the woods and cutting off little pieces of her bit by bit listening to her scream. He also said he thought about
pouring boiling water over her sensitive parts and bending her limbs out of joint
and sprinkling her with sugar so the crows would come and pluck at her saying, "Hey, if I'm going to kill her,
why not make her pay?" But his father testified that his parents were loving, not abusive, and in
fact his son gave him a black eye in the course of an altercation. His mother said all she had done
was once when he was five, whack him on the back with a wooden spoon. There was no abuse.
Other witnesses testified that Gribble's parents were very patient with him, very
involved, homeschooling him and supporting him by participating in the Boy Scouts and
participating in Dungeons and Dragons with him. Richard was an EMT, his father, and Cub
Scout and later troop leader, volunteering so his son could obtain Eagle Scout rank.
As described in an article in the Nashua Telegraph, Richard Gribble said he and his wife tried to teach their son right
from wrong and to instill a set of values in him. Assistant Attorney General Peter Henkley
asked him if he thought they had succeeded and he said, "Given the fact that he's admitted to committing two
very heinous crimes, I'd say no." His father testified that the machete and the knife he used on Kimberly and
Jamie were taken from his home before the attack and he did not know this until after his son was arrested.
Gribble's Facebook page was found to reflect that he considered himself a devout Mormon who loved God and a gun
and knife enthusiast. He wrote on his page, "Although everyone has a light and dark side, mine are very extreme. If I
like you, or at least don't dislike you, I'm the sweetest, nicest person ever. But heaven help me if I truly lose it.
It's not pretty." In a different post, he referenced a hit list that contained seven people whom he said he hated. The
most chilling part on his Facebook page at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 4th, just hours after the attack on Jamie and
Kimberly Cates, he wrote, "I had an awesome time with Steve and Autumn. Dexter is such a funny show."
Well, I think their downfall is they're trying to claim that he's insane, right?
Mhm. But it's not just insane at the time of the murder, it's just insane in general.
But they put him on the stand. And I think this is actually a problem for them because he he is very well-spoken.
Yeah, he took the stand at trial and testified about the attacks. He admitted that he and Spader intended to kill
anyone they found in the home that they chose to burglarize. He even demonstrated how he had held the knife
as he used it on the victims. And he testified that he wanted to shoot people, and he was not certain that he
would not kill again if he was given the opportunity, and described himself as dangerous on the stand.
I think the thing here is from a defense side, or at least from this guy's, you know, this Gribbles
what what he's hoping for, he doesn't really have a whole lot to lose, right? Worst-case scenario, he
ends up getting life in prison without the possibility of parole, which is what he's going to get if he's found
guilty regardless. So, why not try to, you know, poop your pants and rub it all over your
face in front of the jury. Maybe he Maybe he could have put it on a little bit better. I think is what you're
pointing out here. Now, the prosecution had experts, including a psychiatrist who interviewed
Gribble for several hours. And these experts testified that Gribble was in fact sane. He knew the difference
between right and wrong. And prosecutors pointed out that Gribble had been sane enough to plot the crime,
try to cover it up, and try to hide evidence and lie about his involvement. The jury rejected Chris Gribble's
insanity claim and declared him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit
murder, conspiracy to commit burglary, and witness tampering. They deliberated for only 2 hours. It seems like their
lunch was a little bit longer than the previous jury. Our brave, resilient survivor, Jamie, by
this time is still just 12 years old. She was in fact in the courtroom for this trial. She was not asked to
testify. Her father, David, gave a victim impact statement as he had done in Spader's trial, as well,
and thanked the judge for being impartial throughout the trial. The judge thanked Jamie for her presence
in the courtroom, saying it was nice to finally get the chance to meet her. The judge assured her that the men involved
in this horrible crime could never hurt her again. Then, she almost happily imposed the mandatory sentence of life
without parole, telling Gribble, "Infinity is not enough jail time for you." She added a sentence of 50 years
to life plus a maximum of an additional 52 years on other charges. But, how impressive is that that she was
able to one she lives through the attack, she recovers, but to have the strength
to show up and face the attackers in court at 12 years old. That's That's pretty baller.
Billy Marks agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and burglary and to being an accomplice to
first-degree assault in exchange for a reduced sentence. Marks was sentenced to 30 to 60 years. His sentence was in fact
a stiff one because he admitted to helping plan the crime. There are some interesting things within this portion
of the story though, Captain, because remember Spader's defense lawyers, they actually tried to pin the crime, the
murder, on Marks. They emphasized that Marks had been alone in the house with the victims
for some time on that night. This was when he climbed into the basement before the others got into the house.
They implied that he had perhaps done the killing on his own before the rest of them got into the house. The other
interesting thing about Marks too is this is the only bit where I could find that any of the five at one point said,
"Ho, ho, ho, wait a second. Maybe this is not such a good idea." You know, everybody else seemed to be going along
with this all the way. So, what we found here was text messages. Mark actually texted Spader
that they should wait to rob a house until the family that occupied the home was not at home. That I guess he's
trying to deter them from attacking and killing everyone in the house like Spader said that they wanted to do. Now,
unfortunately, and to discredit Marks, that's not what happened. And he went along with this
whole nightmare of a plan. Quinn Glover was charged with only robbery, burglary, and conspiracy
to commit burglary on condition that he would plead guilty to all of those charges and testify
against all of the others. He was sentenced to 20 to 40 years. His shorter sentence was due to prosecutors
recognition of the fact that he was the first one in the group to cooperate with police
and start telling them what actually happened and who did what. Now, what happened to Autumn, the one
that wasn't there? Autumn Savoy pleaded guilty only to charges of hindering apprehension and
conspiracy. In exchange, he got a sentence of 5 to 12 years in prison. He was in fact
paroled in 2015. That brings us, Captain, to the sentencing review. This took place in
June of 2012, and this was a US Supreme Court decision uh handed down with a ruling in the
Miller v. Alabama case, which required the sentence given to Steven Spader to be reviewed. This is because he's a
minor and he received a sentence of life without parole. We're not going to get too much into the
minutia of the legality of all this bit. What does happen is he, by his own rights, gets this review.
He decides that he does not want to be reviewed. He does not want his sentence reduced or changed in any manner. He
refused to cooperate. He would not allow himself to be transported to court for any of the hearings. Regardless if he
wants to participate in this review or not, it's going to have to happen per the law.
So, he's not there to argue his side. However, someone will argue his side for him. Basically, the prosecution is going
to make all of the arguments that they made previously. This guy's a psychopath. He's admitted to killing
people. He's a violent offender. He deserves the sentence that he got. We should not change anything. But, what is
interesting in this whole bit of legal proceedings is that this is when it came out about
the evaluations of Spader and regards to his having been adopted. Spader was adopted at only 5 days old
from a mother who had substance abuse problems. Baby Steven tested positive for marijuana and cocaine when he was
born. And then, in 2008, he starts having all of these problems that we talked about leading up to the
murder. Right. It's worth asking the question, was Spader predetermined to be a violent
offender or violent killer because of his exposure to drugs in utero? The court, during these proceedings,
did not seem to consider this to be a factor in their sentencing process. The court also took into consideration
Spader's statement of regret delivered by his attorneys in court. This is basically his statement of
refusing to go along with this procedure, but also stating that he was in fact sorry for the crimes that he committed
and the harm that he had done. The sentencing judge was not swayed. The court says that they find these
sentiments self-serving, disingenuous, and inconsistent with the defendant's true regret. The judge ruled that Spader
will forever be a danger to society. The court exercises its right of discretion
toward sentencing the defendant to life without parole. They upheld the sentence
that was originally handed down for this guy. There was also a nasty poem that was presented at his trial at
his original trial that he wrote. Mhm. And it shows very it shows no talent at all as far as
being a writer, but it really just goes along with him proclaiming to his his jailmate that he's this horrible,
despicable monster who enjoyed killing someone and would kill again. In June of 2011,
the New Hampshire governor signed a bill expanding the state's death penalty to cover murders committed during
burglaries and home invasions. This law was passed as a direct result of the Kates murder.
The bill was named after Kimberly Kates. House Speaker William O'Brien said, "Our
homes are our sanctuary and this was a necessary enhancement of protection for those in their homes who have the right
to be safe and secure." Jaime is now in college. Her dad has been her supporter every step of the way
and the two remain very close. They still live in the house on Tro Road. Each year on the anniversary of the
attack, David Kates host a golf tournament to raise money for a scholarship in his wife's name.
Many of the police officers and prosecutors who worked on the case participate. The four young men who invaded the
Kates' home and carried out their despicable thrill kill will spend a significant part, if not all, of their
lives in prison. The town of Mount Vernon, New Hampshire is forever changed by their actions.
It's a small comfort that these young men are put away, but it's deeply disturbing that these
promising young people who were given every privilege in life and were members of mainstream communities found each
other, fed on each other, and together carried out their darkest urges. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to
True Crime Garage and spending your time with us. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading this week?
Yes, we do, Captain. This week we are very happy to be recommending The Cases That Haunt Us by John Douglas and Mark
Olshaker. America's foremost expert on criminal profiling provides his uniquely gripping analysis of seven of the most
notorious murder cases in the history of crime. Check out The Cases That Haunt Us
by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. You can find that great title, as well as many others, on our website
truecrimegarage.com. Absolutely, one of my favorite true crime books. I have listened to it twice
on Audible. And until next week, be good, be kind, and don't litter. I

Mont Vernon Murder /// Part 2 /// 434

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In October of 2009 a home invasion murder rocked and shocked the small affluent town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. These horrific and senseless acts forever changed Mont Vernon. New laws were established in hope of deterring future offenders.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the brutal murder of Kimberly Cates by teenagers and their subsequent trials.

Key points

The Toughest Job in America. Fantasy football commissioner is the toughest job in America right now.
The Arrest of the Boys. The community was shocked to learn that the murderers were teenagers.
Jamie Cates' Recovery. Jamie attended her mother's funeral in a wheelchair but returned to school shortly after.
Yearbook Controversy. The school included photos of the murderers in the yearbook, angering the victims' family.
Witness Death Before Trial. A key witness died before the trial, complicating the case further.
Tragic Death of a Key Witness. The witness's mother describes finding her son dead, raising questions about his mental state.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is confusing.

Commenting on the contradictory actions of the suspects.

4:28WatchNov 11, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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