Why Would Teen Girls Plot to Kill Their Classmates?

According to the Denver Post, adult charges were filed against the suspect, 16-year-old Sienna Johnson, on Tuesday, January 5. "[She] faces two Class 2 felony charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was ordered held on a $1 million bail," the Post reported, adding that the defendant showed little emotion in court.

In response to Broadly's request for comment, Paula Hans, the public information officer for the Douglas County School District, forwarded a statement and multiple letters sent to MVHS parents and staff, adding, "Due to the nature of the criminal investigation, we cannot comment further."

The first letter, written by MVHS Principle Michael Weaver and sent out on December 15, affirms that two female students intended to "cause harm to our staff and students," adding that the girls now face "serious felony charges, including conspiracy to commit first degree murder."

"Our emphasis at Mountain Vista is always to create the safest learning environment possible for all students and staff on a daily basis," the letter read. "It takes a partnership to keep our students safe."

Another letter, this one written by superintendent Liza Fagen, was sent on December 15 to parents within the entire Douglas County School District—something that's rarely done, the letter states. "While there is little more we can say at this time due to the investigative process, we want you to know that many of the safety systems we have in place worked well [and] did their jobs successfully, and it was through these systems, including our partnerships with law enforcement and our families, that this threat was successfully disrupted." (Fagen is referring to a Text-A-Tip program that originated after the 1999 Columbine shootings, NBC 9 News reported.)

Jane Caputi is a professor at Florida Atlantic University who specializes in gender and violence. In 2004 she authored an article titled "The New Founding Fathers: The Lore and Lure of the Serial Killer in Contemporary Culture." "There are multiple reasons why teenagers might plot to kill or actually kill," she wrote in an email to Broadly, describing how "violence has been deeply implicated in our national saga" since the country's founding. Outlaws in history are often seen as heroes, she explained. Caputi further noted that American culture tends to reward male aggression, which in turn influences cultural ideals. In the US, school-based violence by youths occurs with alarming frequency: There were more than 50 school shootings in 2015 alone.

When high school students kill their classmates and teachers they victimize people who are familiar to them. Caputi said, "Familiarity with anything makes it easier," suggesting that something as trivial as a grudge can pervert within a teenager's mind and become a motive for murder. "Our teenage culture is marked by bullying, competition, and meanness all too frequently. This is not somehow endemic to teenage human beings but reflects our highly competitive and hierarchical society."

When asked whether or not either of the girls ever received counseling at school, Michael Christofferson, the psychiatrist for Mountain Vista High School, informed Broadly that he has no comment at this time. In a December 17 statement, Principal Weaver said, "Dealing with the daily issues faced by 2,200 teenagers while balancing structure and compassion is an art, and our staff and security team have continually done an incredible job of keeping Vista safe and secure."

Teenagers coming of age are grasping for identity and may be struggling to find self worth. Just as popular ideas about the ideal body type or sexuality heavily influence adolescents, so too might cultural norms regarding violence. "The male serial killer is a common figure of allure and almost preternatural powers in much popular culture," Caputi explained, adding that the taking of life is frequently mythologized as a path to some kind of immortality. "That might exert a draw on many teenagers for whom [the desire for] fame has overtaken achievement or just having a happy life as their way to seek meaning and recognition." Caputi cited research suggesting that "teen boy killers see themselves as having entered into a type of circle of fame or club of other killers—that they are very aware of the other killers and imitate or pay homage to them deliberately."

In the Mountain Vista High School case, the young murder masterminds are girls; while this is unusual, it doesn't mean that women are less capable of violence, Caputi explained. "Girls and women can be every bit as violent as boys and men—and there are many men who are non-violent." But because our culture rewards non-violence in women and girls, it is less common for them to cultivate violence or seek approval by killing. On the other hand, Caputi added, "Many aspects of our culture suggest that, [in order] for women and girls to achieve success, they have to become like successful and dominating white men in one way or another. Some girls decide to behave like their male counterparts and become criminally violent."