Stanley Rice

Stanley Everett Rice was born on August 7, 1942, in Concord, Massachusetts, the younger of two children. He was raised in a dysfunctional home with abusive parents, but was nonetheless close to his elder sister. According to acquaintances, Rice was considered a nervous, quiet boy who was very polite to those around him, and who stuttered when he was under pressure or excited. He started to exhibit antisocial behavior at the age of five, when he started burning newspapers in the family cellar. Just a month after this incident, Rice proceeded to light a fire under an oil tank in that same cellar. He also stole from family members. During his period, he developed a fascination with rockets and bombs, and would continue to get in trouble with law enforcement. In one of his prison stints, Rice wrote that he had convinced a fellow inmate to hang himself by claiming that a friend of his was planning to kill him. After his release on November 28, 1961, he would avoid trouble with the police most of the time, but he also began to sexually abuse young boys. ==Murders==

Keith Henry On July 12, 1963, nine-year-old Keith Henry was reported missing from his home in Waterloo, Ontario. His disappearance led to a large-scale investigation of the nearby area by both local authorities and volunteers, but the searches turned up nothing. The searches were eventually discontinued, and a $1,000 reward was announced for anyone who could provide information about his whereabouts. Henry's mother even requested help from purported clairvoyants, but the boy's body was never found. Rice would write in his diary that he came across Henry while he was fishing, and that he stabbed him to death using a hunting knife, appearing seemingly aroused by the sight of the blood splatters. Trask's body was found on the following day by a man who had been part of a volunteer search party. The discovery shocked the residents of the town, who had never experienced such a brutal killing before. In the meantime, The Courier and WFIN offered a $11,000 prize to anyone who could provide information leading to the killer's arrest. Approximately a month later, Rice was apparently questioned by authorities over the boy's murder but failed to locate any evidence linking him to the crime. Despite this, Rice soon left the state and returned to Concord. In January 1968, he was arrested for forcing two young boys to undress at gunpoint and sexually abusing them. Disturbed by the claims, authorities ordered that Rice be held temporarily at the Metropolitan State Hospital for a psychological evaluation, but he managed to escape on February 16, fleeing to Hollywood, Florida. Dean, who was unaware that Rice was a fugitive from the law, described his new acquaintance as an intelligent and honest young man who loved to hang out with his two sons and show them photographs he had taken during his travels cross-country. Before he could kill Polittle, however, two teenage boys approached them and saw Rice holding a bloodstained knife. He failed to convince them that this was all a misunderstanding, and after picking up the murder weapons, he immediately fled. The two teenagers and Polittle later gave a description of the killer to local authorities, taking special note of his prominent stutter. ==Arrest, trial, and imprisonment==

On May 25, Rice was arrested for speeding in Broward County by two sheriff's deputies. One of the men noticed that he resembled the facial composite of Williams' supposed killer and also had a stutter, which led them to arrest him. Upon searching his car, the deputies found the sawed-off shotgun and his camera, which contained photographs of naked underage boys. During questioning, Rice confessed to killing Williams, but also disclosed that he had killed four other boys in Ontario and Ohio. In addition to that, he revealed that he had a hidden stash of pornographic photos and weapons in a barn near his hometown, and upon inspecting it, Concord police officers were able to verify his claims. After pleading guilty on the traffic violation charges, Rice was charged with murder in all three cases, but it was decided that prosecutors in Florida would be the first to try him. Rice pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to life in prison. Due to his sentence, he was never put on trial for the murders of Henry or Trask, although he has acknowledged responsibility for his crimes. His two other purported victims were never identified. ==Death and aftermath==

After his conviction, Rice was transferred to the Florida State Prison in Raiford, where he remained until his death on November 3, 2007. A year after his conviction, Rice gave an interview in which he frankly discussed his life, sexual proclivities and his apparent desire to have his pedophilia cured. ==See also==