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| Carla Harvey, mother of convicted killer Holly Harvey, addressed
reporters with her brother, Kevin Collier, following her daughter’s
sentencing April 14. (Photo by Sher Pruitt)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: DYANA BAGBY
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With her attorney’s arm around her shoulder, Holly Harvey stood before a
Fayette County Superior Court judge April 14 and tearfully recounted in grisly
detail how she and her girlfriend brutally stabbed her grandparents to death in
an attempt to remain together.
Harvey, 15, and her former girlfriend, Sandy Ketchum, 16, were set to be tried
separately as adults next month for the Aug. 2, 2004, murder of Harvey’s
elderly grandparents, Carl and Sarah Collier of Fayette County, about 30 miles
south of Atlanta. Last week, the teens agreed to plead guilty in exchange for
life sentences.
Both teens pleaded guilty April 14 in separate courtrooms in front of different
judges. Harvey was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders
and is eligible for parole in 20 years. Ketchum was sentenced to three concurrent
life terms — for the murders and a charge of armed robbery — and
is eligible for parole in 14 years.
While Harvey was mandated to give a detailed description of what happened the
day of the murders, Ketchum, sentenced by Judge Johnnie Caldwell, was allowed
to only enter a plea and receive a sentence because police said she showed remorse
after the slayings and was immediately cooperative.
Ketchum had agreed to testify against Harvey if the case had gone to trial.
Judge Paschal English interrogated Harvey from the bench for about 30 minutes,
demanding specific details of the murders. Before he sentenced her, English
asked Harvey if the minimum 20 years she would serve was a “pretty good
exchange for killing your grandparents?”
“No, sir,” Harvey answered.
“What do you think should be done to you?” English asked.
“I think I should be dead,” Harvey said.
“Well, we both agree on that,” the judge retorted.
English’s questioning of Harvey was the first time any law enforcement
officials heard Harvey’s story of what happened on Aug. 2.
Harvey said she and Ketchum smoked crack cocaine the night before the murder
with a man later identified by police as Calvin Lawson, 41, of Union City. After
Harvey’s testimony, Lawson was arrested and charged with felony murder.
State law allows a person to be charged with felony murder if a death occurs
as the result of a felony, even if the person was not present at the time of
the deaths.
But because the Fayette district attorney was unsure the testimonies of Ketchum
and Harvey would be reliable enough against Lawson, the felony murder charge
was later dropped, said Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette Sheriff’s
Department.
Lawson now faces misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of
a minor and providing hazardous materials to a minor, Jordan said.
After Harvey and Ketchum decided to kill Harvey’s grandparents, Harvey
told the judge she grabbed “the biggest knife” from the kitchen
and the two girls then practiced stabbing Harvey’s bed as well as a painted
picture of puppies hanging from the wall.
“You wanted to kill them?” English asked.
“Yes, sir,” Harvey answered.
“But why kill them?” the judge questioned.
“For Sandy … so we could be together,” Harvey said.
“Where would you go?” he asked.
“Anywhere,” Harvey responded.
Fayette police said at the time of the homicides that the girls killed the
Colliers because the grandparents strongly disapproved of their relationship
and they wanted to find a way to remain together.
Harvey said her grandparents came down to her basement bedroom to get a suitcase
for Mrs. Collier’s trip to Hawaii. While her grandfather was in the closet
getting the luggage and her grandmother had her back partially turned to her,
Harvey said, “I closed my eyes and I stabbed her.”
“She screamed, but it wasn’t very loud,” Harvey added.
Mr. Collier turned around and saw what was happening and punched Harvey and
both he and Mrs. Collier pinned Harvey down on the bed.
That’s when Harvey asked Ketchum, who was hiding between the bed and
the wall, for help, Harvey told the judge.
Harvey said Ketchum came out, got the knife and ordered Harvey to chase her
grandfather, who was running upstairs to get help. Harvey said she stabbed her
grandfather in the neck and that his blood splashing on her “felt like
a bucket of hot water.”
“I had [blood] all over my face and body,” Harvey said.
“Like you just gutted a deer,” English said.
Harvey said Ketchum told ...
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