Seventeen Magazine - Seventeen real girls, real-life stories: true crime

Seventeen

real girls, real-life stories

TRUE
CRIME

From the Editors of Seventeen Magazine

Copyright 2007 by Hearst Communications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

These stories are reprinted from Seventeen magazine 2003 to 2007.

Book design by Kelly Roberts

Cover photo: AP Photo/Ric Field

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Seventeen real girls, real-life stories : true crime / from the editors of Seventeen magazine.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-58816-648-7 (alk. paper)

1. YouthCrimes againstCase studies. 2. Violence in adolescenceCase studies. 3. Youth and violenceCase studies. 4.

Juvenile delinquencyCase studies. I. Seventeen

HV6250.4.Y68S47 2007
364.1083'5dc22

2006025464

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Published by Hearst Books
A division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, NewYork, NY 10016

Seventeen and Hearst Books are trademarks of
Hearst Communications, Inc.

www.seventeen.com

For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales Department at 800-805-5489 or specialsales@sterlingpublishing.com.

ISBN 978-1-58816-853-5

Hey!

This is a collection of the most powerful real-life stories that have ever come across our desks. Some of them have made us cry, others made us angry, many have shocked us beyond belief (and unfortunately, plenty have done all three).

The point of this book isnt to freak you out, but rather to start a conversation so we can all learn from these stories. We learn that life is precious and that every little decision we make can change the course of our lives. And perhaps, most importantly, that no matter how badly we feel or how hard our situation is, there is someone out there who knows exactly where were coming from.

Just so youre not surprised: Some of these stories are very upsetting. But as you know life isnt always a fairy tale.

the Editors of Seventeen

Virginity
Murder

When Jasmine, 12, told her mother that
she had lost her virginity, she didnt realize that it
would be one of the last things shed ever say.

A t 5 P.M. on November 26, 2004, the day after Thanksgiving, Chaunetta Robinson, 16, and her mom, Tina, headed out their front door to visit some relatives. As they walked to the car, they heard their 12-year-old neighbor, Jasmine Archie, screaming from inside her house. It was pretty loud, says Chaunetta. We stood there listening for a minute, but we didnt think anything of it. Their mom was always yellingthey could have been getting a whipping.

But when they returned four hours later, the street was swarming with police cars. Chaunetta and her mother stood on their porch, watching the commotion. At a little after 11, they wheeled a stretcher out of the house, says Chaunetta. It had a white sheet draped over it. Somehow, I just knew it was Jasmine.

UNUSUAL FAMILY

Back in February 2004, Jasmine; her 9-year-old brother, JaCorey; and their mother, Tunisia, moved to 1108 Huron Street, in a working-class area of Birmingham, Alabama. Jasmines father didnt live with them, and her mother didnt make enough money to always pay the bills. Once Ms. Archie even mentioned to her neighbors that all they had to eat was spoiled milk.

But even more than their financial troubles, the Archies were known for their strange behavior. Jasmines mom seemed locked in her own world, recalls Ms. Robinson, whos lived in the neighborhood for seven years. When the family first moved in, Chaunetta tried to be friendly to Jasmine, but Ms. Archie made it hard. She almost never let Jasmine or JaCorey go outside, except for school, says Chaunetta. I felt sorry for Jasmine. The one time I did see her and her brother on the lawn, her mom came out screaming at them to come back in. It was scary. She was acting like a crazy person.

Jasmine didnt have many friends at school either. At about 5 feet 9 inches, she felt self-conscious about towering over the other sixth graders and complained to some of her classmates that boys didnt like her. Still, the girls seemed to. She was quiet, but she giggled a lot and was nice to everybody, says classmate Tenilya Samuels, 12.

In March, about a month after the Archies moved to town, neighbors spotted Ms. Archie in her backyard sitting in her carwhile it was going up in flames and notified the police. I didnt know what to think, Chaunetta says. Was she trying to hurt herself?! when the cops came, Ms. Archie said that shed been burning trash in her backyard when the car rolled into it, so she jumped in to get some of her stuff out. But the officers were suspicious enough to ask Cynthia Parham, a social worker, to investigate whether Ms. Archie might be mentally ill.

Later that day, Ms. Parham went to Councill Elementary School, which Jasmine attended, to ask her about her mom. But Jasmine just defended her. My mom takes care of us, she said. She cooks and cleans and washes. Ms. Parham had no choice but to believe her.

Still, over the next few months, Ms. Archies behavior grew more bizarre. In the middle of the sweltering 2004 Alabama summer, neighbors saw her standing in the sun, wrapped in a bulky winter jacket. And that same summer, they saw her sitting in her front yard in a lawn chairgetting soaked during a violent thunderstorm.

SUSPICIOUS BOYFRIEND

Near the end of that summer, neighbors saw a man going to the Archies house about twice a week. He drove a nice car, Chaunetta recalls. It was a new Cadillac, I think. It seemed like he had money. The man was Ms. Archies boyfriendwho was said to be a married trucker.

But almost as soon as he appeared, ugly rumors began floating around the neighborhood. No one seems to know exactly where or how they began. People were saying that her mothers boyfriend was having sex with Jasmine, Chaunetta says. I believed ithe was really creepy and Jasmine looked a lot older than 12. She was developed. I could see why a man might want her.

VIOLENT REACTION

Around 7:30 A.M. on Friday, November 26, 2004, Ms. Archies boyfriend, who had been coming around for a few months, stopped by with groceries. Right away he and Ms. Archie began fighting, and after a few minutes, he left. Later that afternoon, Jasmine seemed upset about something. Mom, she timidly said,I need to talk to you. Can we go for a walk? Ms. Archie said okay, and the two set off for a nearby park. On their walk, Jasmine told her mother that shed had sex.

Ms. Archies lawyer, David Luker, has denied Seventeens request for an interview with her, and her boyfriend has disappeared, so its not known if Jasmine told her mom who shed had sex withwhether it was with the boyfriend or not. But either way, Ms. Archie began screaming at Jasmine. When they got back home, the screaming turned into physical fighting. Jasmine ran into her bedroom to try to get away from her mom, but Ms. Archie chased after her. She lunged at her daughter, tackled her, and pinned her to the ground.

JaCorey! Ms. Archie yelled to her son. Go in the kitchen and get me the bleach and a cup! Only 10 years old, the frightened boy did as he was told. He brought the bleach into Jasmines room and cowered in the corner, as his sister screamed for help. I want you to watch, Ms. Archie told him. Dont scream, dont cry, and dont tell anyone. If you do, Ill do the same to you.

Then Ms. Archie, who was sitting on top of her daughter, poured the bleach into the cup, pried open the girls mouthand forced it down her throat. Jasmines body rejected the poison, and she began to vomit. But with her mother still straddling and crushing her, Jasmine couldnt turn over to spit it out. Jasmine struggled, trying to throw her mom off her and gasp for air, but she couldnt do either. For 30 minutes, Ms. Archie stayed on top of her suffocating daughter until Jasmine stopped breathing altogether.