Cops Try to Make Sense of Deadly Skinhead Machete Attack

Oct. 8, 2009 -- A close-knit New Hampshire town is reeling from the grisly weekend attack on a woman and her young daughter allegedly by a band of teenage skinheads who hacked the mother to death with machetes and knives and left an 11-year-old girl severely injured and bleeding in the family's front yard.

Adding to the horror are the coldhearted remarks two of the alleged teens made online and in person shortly after the killing, indicating a nonchalance about the gruesome crime.

Police arrested four teenagers in connection with the home invasion-turned-bloodbath, charging that the suspects chose the home of Kim Cates, 42, simply because of its distance from any other homes in the rural town of Mont Vernon.

Prosecutors on Tuesday arraigned Christopher Gribble, 19, a devout Mormon scheduled to go on a church mission, and three younger suspects Steven Spader, 17, Quinn Glover, 17, and William Marks, 18, in connection with the robbery and killing.

Cates died from multiple injuries to the head, torso, left arm, and left leg, according to a statement from the New Hampshire attorney general. Her daughter, Jamie Cates, 11, who was slashed and tried to run for help, remains in the intensive care unit at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Gribble updated his Facebook page just hours after the attack, writing on Sunday: "had an awesome time with steve and autumn [sic]! dexter is such a funny show!" "Dexter" is a drama on Showtime about a psychopathic serial killer who murders other criminals.

James Marks told police that when his son, William Marks, did not return home by 11 p.m., his father began sending him text messages. The father said he didn't hear back from William until 4:10 a.m., just minutes after the attack is alleged to have occurred.

Marks said his son did not seem disturbed when he finally came home.

"He didn't really say anything,'' James Marks told the Boston Globe."I said, 'Where have you been?' He said, 'Out.' He didn't seem upset or flustered or anything.''