Mt. Vernon, New Hampshire - Home Invasion: Community braces for details of a murder

First, the four young men circled the house on the night of
October 4. They shut off the electricity and forced their
way inside.

Lighting the way with the glow of the display panel of an
iPod, they made their way to the master bedroom where they
found 42-year-old Kimberly Cates asleep.

One of them raised the machete he held, then rained blows
upon her with enough force to kill the woman. She had worked
as a nurse in a nearby Massachusetts town.

Her child, 11-year-old Jaimie, had been asleep in the same
room. She jumped over her mother's bleeding body as she
tried to escape the deadly attack. Another man stabbed her
repeatedly, trying to pierce her heart.

After he threw her against a door, he left the little girl
there bleeding while the four of them rifled the house for
valuables.

The child survived only because she pretended to be dead.

Later she would tell police officers who carried her out of
the death house, "They killed my mommy."

When the police officers went back in, they found her mother
naked from the waist down, her body broken and bleeding from
the savage machete attack to her head, arms, torso and
abdomen.

One of the killers told police that when they awakened her,
the mother asked, "Jaimie, is that you?" At that moment, the
onslaught of the steel blades began.

The affidavit contains many sordid details that bring the
horror into sharp relief.

Another man helped them dispose of their clothing and other
personal items in the nearby Nashua River after they
stripped and wiped the bloody knife clean on a Burger King
bag.

Though he led police to the place where they threw the
evidence in the water, prosecutors also charged him as a
party to the offenses after he at first lied and tried to
make them believe the two killers spent the night at his
house.

The story is considered so grim, so horrific that local
officials are on a watch for parents and children who become
upset with the facts of the home invasion and thrill
killing. They suspect some will need psychological
counseling.

They predict these and other details contained in the
probable cause affidavit that led to the arrest of the five
murder conspirators will inevitably sweep the rural area
with enough terror and anger that it will likely cause a
need for therapy on a large scale. The town, population 2,000
is situated on the border of New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The judge who issued the arrest warrants had sealed the
document throughout October, November and December, fearing
that it would prematurely tip off the scope and direction of
the investigation.

Three public forums are planned for later this month.

The local school superintendent and her faculty met the day
previous to the release of the information to plan a watch
for students and parents who appear to be upset.

Particularly aggravating is the statement of one of the
attackers, 18-year-old Steven Spader, who told investigators
they had planned to break into the house and if anyone was
home, "they would just kill the people for fun," according
to the affidavit.

Christopher Gribble, 20, stated that his only regret was
that he did not kill the little girl "because now she had to
live with this." He and his co-conspirators learned of her
survival only after scanning the internet for news of their
crime.

Her father will also have to live with the grim realities of
the attack. At the time of the murderous home invasion,
David Cates was traveling out of town. They found a military
dog tag with his name on it, submerged in the river where
the killers threw it along with other evidence.

Prosecutors charged Christopher Gribble, 20, and Stephen
Spader, 18, with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit
murder and attempted murder.

At first, Spader told police he had no knowledge of the
crimes. Not only did he claim to not know who carried out
the vicious attack, he also said that "whoever did it should
get the death penalty," according to the affidavit.

Police accused him of striking the mother repeatedly with
the machete after he planned the burglary and drove the
group to the house. Gribble is accused of stabbing her with
a knife.

Officials charged both with trying to kill the woman's
daughter, Jaimie.

They charged William Marks and Quinn Glover, both 18, of
Amherst, with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, and
robbery.

Twenty year-old Autumn Savoy of Hollis is charged with lying
to police about the whereabouts of the killers the night of
the murder and coming up with the plan to throw the evidence
into the river.

None of the attorneys representing the accused have
responded to press inquiries about the matter.