These boys all murdered their parents. Child killers are more common than you might think. Source: Supplied
THEY are the shocking cases of children who murder their parents.
While you might believe parricide - the term for killing your mother and father - is rare, it is happening all the time in family homes in ordinary suburban streets.
Each week, an average of five people are killed by their biological children in the US, according to the University of South Florida's Kathleen M. Heide, who began studying juvenile killers in the early 1980s.
Today, news Jeffrey Dingman was granted tentative parole for the 1996 slaughter of his mother and father was welcomed by his maternal aunt, Elizabeth Landry.
"From the bottom of our hearts, we forgive him and we want to give him a second chance," Ms Landry said.
Jeffrey was barely 14 when he and his older brother, Robert, shot their parents to death as they arrived home from work.
Jeffrey Dingman, right, leaves a parole board meeting at the New Hampshire State Prison on Thursday. Picture: AP Photo/Jim Cole Source: AP
The brothers has been increasingly unhappy at home. Eve and Vance Dingman had restricted the pair's freedom and 17-year-old Robert resented the curfew placed upon him.
Jeffrey described being yelled at repeatedly by his mother and hit by his father over bad grades.
The 1996 murders of the Dingmans were among the US state of New Hampshire's high profile teen slayer cases at the time, as details emerged this wasn't an impulse killing.
The sons had plotted to kill their parents and unashamedly taunted the couple in their final moments because "they didn't like 'em".
Robert Dingman is escorted out of the Merrimack County Superior Courtroom in May, 2013, after appealing his life sentence. Source: Supplied
It was Jeffrey who fired the first shot at his father, Vance, as he entered the Dingman house on February 9, 1996.
"Want another one?" asked Robert, before he also shot his father.
His mother's murder was more prolonged; during his testimony Jeffrey alleged to have shot Eve Dingman "two or three times" when she arrived home.
As she attempted to escape on her hands and knees, Robert stood over her, yelled, "die b*tch," and fired the fatal shot.
Then they trussed up the bodies in garbage bags and duct tape, and deposited their father in the attic and mother in the basement.
Jeffrey later admitted the boys spent the weekend playing and partying with friends and then returned to school on Monday.
When Eve failed to show up at work, concerned colleagues called the police, who swiftly uncovered the brothers' deeds.
They charged the boys with first-degree murder.
At Robert's trial, Jeffrey admitted shooting his 40-year-old parents with a .22 caliber handgun.
Robert did not testify. His lawyers argued Jeffrey had fired all the shots and then blamed his brother to save himself.
Robert was sentenced to life in prison.
Jeffrey, who had turned 14 only two weeks before the killings, won a plea deal that saw him eligible for parole after serving 17 years.
He parole granted on Thursday requires him to lived in a supervised halfway house, get professional counselling and learn life skills.
Family members described Eve and Vance Dingman as devoted parents and said the boys were not abused.
Sarah Johnson was found guilty for murdering her parents. Source: Supplied
SARAH JOHNSON
In the early morning of September 2, 2003, 16-year-old Sarah Johnson ran from her family's home in Bellevue, Idaho, home, screaming her parents had been murdered.
But Johnson, who came from an affluent family, had shot her parents Alan, 46, and Diane Johnson, 52 with a rifle because they did not approve of her boyfriend.
Police found Diane in her bed with a shotgun wound to the head.
Alan Johnson was next to his wife, with a gunshot wound to his chest.
The shower was running and Alan's body was wet.
Based on bloodied footprints and blood spatter, authorities deemed he was shot soon after showering, but staggered towards Diane's body and bled to death.
Weeks earlier, the couple has discovered Sarah was engaged to 19-year-old Bruno Santos Dominguez, an illegal Mexican immigrant with a reputation for drugs.
Diane told Sarah she was going to report Dominguez for statutory rape because the girl was under age.
Sarah was found guilty on two counts of first degree murder in October, 2003. She was sentenced to two life terms without parole.
Brothers Alex (L), 12, and Derek King, 13, murdered their father and then set the house alight. Source: Supplied
ALEX AND DEREK KING
November 26, 2001: it seemed like an unfortunate accident.
Terry King lay on his couch, dead. His house was alight, with flames licking the walls.
Forensic investigators discovered King's skull had been cracked open and half his face had been smashed in.
Terry's sons, Alex, aged 12, and Derek, 13, soon confessed to police.
They claimed it was Alex's idea to kill their father, but that Derek had delivered the killer blow after Terry King fell asleep and Alex bashed his head at least ten times with an aluminium baseball bat.
They then set the house on fire in the hope of destroying evidence.
They were the youngest children in Florida to be charged with murder.
The boys told police they had met an acquaintance of their father's by the name of Rick Chavis, with whom they developed an intimate relationship.
Police found a letter written by Alex describing his "forever" love for Chavis.
"Before I met Rick I was strate (sic) but now I am gay," he wrote.
Police linked Chavis to the murder.
He was accused of hiding the boys for two days after the incident, and indicted on first-degree murder, arson, evidence tampering and sexual battery of a child.
At Chavis' trial, the boys claimed he wanted them to move in with him, but the only way that could happen was if Terry was dead.
According to Alex, on the night of Terry's murder Chavis told them to go to his car and wait for him in the trunk.
When he returned, he told them he had killed their father, and set their house alight.
Subsequently, the brothers pleaded guilty to third degree murder and arson.
Derek was sentenced to eight years in prison, Alex to seven and they have both since been released.
Chavis was found guilty as an accessory to murder and for tampering with evidence.
He is now serving a 35-year sentence.
Erik, left, and Lyle Menendez at their parents 1989 funeral. They were later convicted of their execution style murder. Picture: AP. Source: News Limited
LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ
At first, the murder of wealthy couple Jose and Kitty Menendez had all the elements of a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster: greed, incest, murder, money and infidelity.
On August 20, 1989, police received a distressed call from Lyle Menendez, who recounted coming home from a night at the movies with his brother Erik only to find his parents had been shot with 12-gauge shotguns.
According to the autopsy, Jose suffered "explosive decapitation with evisceration of the brain". Kitty's face was blown off.
It would take seven years and two trials for the truth to be confirmed, and the brothers locked up for killing their parents.
Lawyers for the pair initially claimed they killed in self defence after enduring years of sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
A second trial convicted the brothers of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
In 1996, Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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