On a Tuesday night in a quiet neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the unthinkable happened. Malik Vincent Murphy stabbed his siblings to death while they slept in their beds in the basement room all three shared.
The 19-year-old stabbed his 7-year-old brother Noah, his 5-year-old sister Sophia, and their father. The children died at the hospital. The father, 42-year-old Jefferson Murphy, was hospitalized with a neck injury but recovered.
Malik told police that he planned to kill his entire family and bury them in the backyard. He told police that he “wanted to be alone,” and that he often has “homicidal ideations.”
The stabbings happened around 1 a.m. at their home.
Malik told police he went up to his sister, who was sleeping in the room the three siblings shared, and stabbed her three times. She yelled out his name as he stabbed her, he told police. He then walked over to his brother and stabbed him three times.
The father, Jefferson Murphy, told police he was sleeping in his bedroom with his wife when he heard his daughter screaming in the basement. When he went downstairs, he was confronted by Malik, who stabbed him with the knife. He pushed Malik into the garage and detained him until officers arrived.
He was in serious but stable condition after he was stabbed during the confrontation with his son.
Malik was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
An arrest affidavit said the teenager bought a knife several months ago with the plan of killing his entire family and burying the bodies in the backyard.
The father told investigators that Malik had previously talked about killing the family. Malik had been arrested in Illinois in March 2017 and accused of setting fire to his parents’ sport utility vehicle.
The parents told authorities that Malik had severe mental health problems and they did not want him to prosecuted in the fire, Effingham County State’s Attorney Bryan Kibler said.
Two or more years before Malik stabbed his two youngest siblings to death, he hid out in a bathroom at his high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, waiting to strangle the next person who walked through the door.
The scheme, which apparently fizzled when he lost his nerve, was described in 4th Judicial District Court as an early instance of “homicidal ideations” that culminated when he killed his siblings.
“I can’t stop thinking about killing people,” he told a Colorado Springs police detective in a low, even voice during a videotaped interrogation shown in court.
Malik Vincent Murphy was sentenced to 96 years in prison for the October 17, 2017 murders of his sister and brother plus the attempted murder of his father.
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