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Rachelle WatermanRachelle Ann Monica Waterman, aka smchyrocky, (born August 26, 1988) is a teenage girl from Craig, Alaska, USA who has been charged with the first degree murder of her mother. The case has rapidly received a wide following on the Internet, partly because Waterman kept a public record of her thoughts and activities on LiveJournal, a popular blogging site. The last entry, which has since been removed from public view, was posted on November 18, 2004 and read: Just to let everyone know, my mother was murdered. I won't have computer acess [sic] until the weekend or so because the police took my computer to go through the hard drive. I thank everyone for their thoughts and e-mails, I hope to talk to you when I get my computer back. A diverse group of users, both friends and strangers, have posted over 5,000 comments on the journal, positive and negative, transforming the case into an Internet phenomenon. Waterman was a tenth-grade honor (A-average) student in her second year at Craig High School. She was also a member of the Academic Decathlon team (ACDC) and sang in the choir, a profile that has left many people questioning her involvement in the killing and asking what motive there might be. At the time police say the killing occurred, Waterman was apparently playing in a volleyball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska. Apart from the online diary Waterman kept, the case is also unusual because matricide is rare; far fewer murders are committed by women than by men; and fewer still are committed by minors.
Family backgroundThe Waterman family is a locally prominent, upper-middle class family. Born on August 26, 1988, Waterman showed an interest in acting, computers, movies and music, and was an honor roll student, involved in many extra-curricular activities, including choir, volleyball, and the decathlon team - advancing to upper levels and winning prizes in almost every endeavor. Her mother, Lauri, was a teachers' aide and served on the board of the local Little League and the town library. Rachelle Waterman's 60-year-old father, Carl "Doc" Waterman, is a real estate agent and serves as president of the Craig School Board. Her older brother, Geoffrey, lives out of town and is a student at Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, WA. The caseWaterman and her alleged accomplices, Jason Arrant and Brian Radel , both 24 years old, are accused of murdering and conspiring to murder Waterman's 48-year-old mother, Lauri Waterman, using a blunt object, shortly after midnight local time on November 14, 2004, then burning the Plymouth minivan in which the killing took place in an attempt to destroy the evidence. Police investigationAlaska State Police Lt. Rodney Dial has stated that a hunter discovered Lauri Waterman's body and her burnt-out van, while driving on Forest Service Road 3012, a remote logging road, early in the afternoon of Sunday November 142004. On Saturday, November 202004, Alaska State Police Trooper Robert Claus stated: During ... interviews all three made admissions as to their involvement in the murder. Physical evidence recovered at the various crime scenes corroborated many of the defendants' statements ... Radel, Arrant and Waterman have been charged with murder in the first degree. Due to the severity of the charges, Waterman has been waived into adult court. Additional charges of solicitation, conspiracy, tampering with physical evidence and other charges are pending. Arrant and Waterman will be arraigned in the District Court in Craig this morning. ArraignmentOn Saturday, November 20, 2004, Waterman appeared in Craig District Court, dressed in an orange CCJF jumpsuit, for arraignment on the charges. Waterman and her alleged co-conspirators, Jason Arrant and Brian Radel, faced a 10-count indictment listing 26 felonies. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that "the complaint against Rachelle Waterman relied on statements by all three co-defendants. The complaint says the girl told one of the suspects when she and her father would be out of town." A report in The Ketchikan Daily News stated that"[t]he first seven counts of the indictment allege that all three defendants committed the crimes of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder; first-degree murder; second-degree murder; kidnapping; first-degree burglary; first-degree vehicle theft and tampering with physical evidence." Other charges were made against Arrant and Radel. The same report went on to state that "Trooper Robert Claus, Klawock resident Jan Bush and Deputy State Medical Examiner Susan Klingler testified before the grand jury." Magistrate Kay Clark presided over the arraignment and set bail at $150 000. Clark also appointed a public defender to represent Rachelle, who was sent to the Juneau Department of Corrections facility. The trialJudge Patricia Collins, of the Juneau Superior Court, has been assigned to run the trial for the case. Judge Collins had set a date of February 3, 2005 for the trial, but the proceedings were postponed until August 22 at a hearing a few days before the original date. At the time, court officials agreed another postponement was likely. Rachelle Waterman's court-appointed attorney for the trial is Assistant Public Advocate Steven Wells. Assistant District Attorney Daniel Schally is assigned to prosecute the case. Alleged motiveNo motive for the crime has been suggested by the police or the prosecutors. Readers are closely scrutinizing Waterman's online journal for clues. IncarcerationRachelle Waterman is currently incarcerated at the Lemon Creek correctional facility, in Alaska. She signed an agreement to be placed into the general population. Corrections Deputy Commissioner Portia Parker indicated that Waterman "is an adult in the eyes of the law." Alaska law places persons charged with first-degree murder at the age of 16 or older in the adult court system, and most of the records concerning this case are open to the public for inspection. AftermathOne of the last entries in Waterman's journal wonders whether anyone is reading her comments (verbatim spelling):Well not a lot has happened lately I jsut thought I should let people know I"m still alive, not like too many people care cus I'm not even sure if anyone reads these from me anymore. Although Waterman has not yet been convicted, sociologists and forensic psychologists are beginning to study her journal and the circumstances of her writing it. The police have also seized her computer and are examining the contents of its hard drive for evidence. When interviewed by Alaskan television station KTUU about the nature of online journals, (in late November, 2004) forensic psychologist Susan LaGrande commented that "[i]t's such an anonymous vehicle that you can be whoever or say whatever you want. You don't have all the responsibilities that are inherent in a face-to-face real, legitimate relationship." This same report pointed out that Rachelle Waterman had mentioned suicide in her online journal. Juvenile crimeCriminologist Susan Magestro was interviewed by KTUU on the subject of juvenile crime, in late November, 2004, after Waterman became the second teenager within two months to be accused of murdering her own parent. She stated that "I think that we're starting to see more violence with kids who are younger, and the behaviors that they're exhibiting are more aggressive and more violent." Magestro also opined that "we've got a lot more fetal alcohol and drug children who are growing up, and they don't understand the consequences of some of their actions." (There is no indication that Waterman was a so-called "fetal alcohol" or "drug" child.) KTUU reported that Magestro "...blames violent movies, TV shows and videogames for desensitizing young people, making them unable to understand the consequences -- or even the reality -- of their actions." Although Waterman has been waived into the adult justice system due to the nature of the crime, the Governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski, has proposed increasing the number of personnel assigned to the juvenile justice system. See alsoReferencesRachelle Waterman on LiveJournal
Police report on the case
Press reports about the case
Press reports which mention the case within a larger context
Scholastic accomplishments
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