On this day, Nov. 20, in 1986, in Canton, Mass., a 14-year-old boy fatally beat a classmate to see what it was like to kill, then showed the corpse to friends who stayed quiet about the slaying for weeks. Rod Matthews chose new freshman Shaun Ouillette, also 14, as his target because he would be “the least missed.”
Matthews, 14, lured Shaun to the woods with the promise of fireworks. He made Shaun walk ahead in the snow so he could follow undetected in his footprints. As Shaun set off fireworks, Matthews clubbed him with a baseball bat.
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Afterward, Matthews showed his friends the body. One of them sent police an anonymous letter after having trouble sleeping at night.
Matthews was sentenced to life in prison.
-Scott McCabe
