[ WP ] An entire family has been murdered at a birthday party . You are a psychologist brought in to interview the person responsible . It 's the birthday girl herself , she has just turned 12 .

The following is a transcript of the videotaped interview of Madeline Pierce, whom the papers have recently dubbed `` The Little Reaper''. For your convenience, we have distinguished between **Madeline** and *the interviewer*, Dr. Welsh. 
 
 ______________ 
 
 *Is it... Yes, it's on. Okay. Please state your name for the camera. * 
 
 **I'm Maddie. ** 
 
 *Your full name, please. * 
 
 **My name is Madeline Pierce. ** 
 
 *How old are you, Madeline? * 
 
 **I'm 11... No, I turned 12 yesterday. I'm 12. ** 
 
 *Do you know why you're here? * 
 
 **'Cause my mom and dad are dead. ** 
 
 *Do you remember what happened at your party? * 
 
 [ Pierce does not reply for several seconds ] 
 
 *Madeline? Do you remember the party? * 
 
 **I... yeah, I remember. ** 
 
 *Tell me what happened, in your own words. * 
 
 **Well... I was at my party. Nobody showed up. They never do. Mom always says there will be people there but there never are. [ Pierce sighs and pulls at her handcuffs ] Daddy says Mom never actually invites anyone. She really should have. I wanted a real party. ** 
 
 *So what happened? * 
 
 **You** ***know*** **what happened. ** 
 
 *Yes, but I want you to tell me. * 
 
 [ Madeline begins screaming incoherently ] 
 
 *Madeline? Madeline? [ sigh ] We need to sedate her. We'll try again in a few hours. * 
 
 [ tape jumps ] 
 
 *Madeline, are you feeling calmer now? * 
 
 [ flatly ] **... Yes. ** 
 
 *Do you remember what we were talking about earlier? * 
 
 **My party. ** 
 
 *Are you willing to tell me about it now? * 
 
 **I do n't want to. ** 
 
 *You have to, Madeline. We need to know if you did this on purpose. * 
 
 **I did n't! ** 
 
 *Well, you have to prove that to me. I need to determine if you did or not, and if you're competent to stand trial if you did. Do you know what that means? * 
 
 **No. ** 
 
 *It means we have to decide if you understand what you did, and to do that we have to know why you did it. * 
 
 **... Okay. ** 
 
 *So tell me about the party. * 
 
 **It was another bad one. Mom throws bad parties. There were balloons and vanilla cake. I hate vanilla cake. She got me a bunch of clothes that did n't fit. She does that every time. They only fit once. ** 
 
 *What do you mean,'every time'? * 
 
 **Mom throws me a birthday party every week. ** 
 
 *Every week? * 
 
 **Yeah. She wanted me to grow up. So she had my birthday every week. ** 
 
 *How old were you before she started giving you a birthday party every week? * 
 
 **8. ** 
 
 *So you've had 4 parties? * 
 
 **No, I had 12. Mom told me we had to start over. ** 
 
 *Okay. Tell me more about the party. * 
 
 **Mom cut the cake. She made me eat a piece. I do n't want to eat cake ever again, it makes me feel sick. We have to eat cake all day after a party. It feels gross. I told Mom I did n't want to have anymore birthdays. She yelled at me and threw my presents in the trash. ** 
 
 [ Pierce is silent for several minutes ] 
 
 *Madeline? Tell me what happened next. * 
 
 **She hit my face. Really hard. [ sniffling ] It hurt. Daddy yelled at her to stop. He told her `` You've gone too far Jean! Its enough!'' but she just screamed more. [ crying ] I just wanted to stop eating cake! I always throw up after I eat it! So I threw a r-rock at her. She fell down. I was gon na be in trouble! Daddy started screaming, and I did n't know what to do! ** 
 
 [ Pierce cries ] 
 
 *So what happened next? * 
 
 **I went inside and hid in the closet. ** 
 
 *And that's where you found the jar of peanut butter? * 
 
 **Mhmm. ** 
 
 *And then what did you do? * 
 
 **I threw it at Daddy. I was scareed so I threw it at him. ** 
 
 *What happened, when you did that? * 
 
 **It broke. Daddy started coughing. He tried to use his pipipen but it did n't help. ** 
 
 *His'pipipen'? Whats a'pipipen'? * 
 
 **You know. Its the orange pen, for if you get stung by a bee or eat something you should n't. ** 
 
 *Ah, an EPIpen. I see. So your dad, his did n't work? * 
 
 **Yes. It was bad. He turned red and he could n't breathe. ** 
 
 
 *It says in my file here that you had a little sister named Rachel. Can you tell me about Rachel? * 
 
 **WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT RACHEL! ** 
 
 *Its okay, you wo n't get in any trouble. You can tell me about her. * 
 
 **NO! ITS NOT ALLOWED! ** 
 
 *Why is n't it allowed? * 
 
 **Because** ***she's*** **why I have to have so many birthdays. She did n't grow up, so now I have to grow up for her. ** 
 
 *Okay. Alright Madeline, that's enough for today. * 
 
 **Did I do it on purpose? ** 
 
 *What? * 
 
 **You said if I told you what happened it would prove if I did it on purpose or not. Did I do it on purpose? ** 
 
 *... No. It was an accident Maddie. * 
 ___ 
 
 Analysis of Jean Pierce's diary shows that she had a psychotic break after the SIDS death of her second child, 5-month-old Rachel Pierce. She seemed convinced that if she'reset' Madeline, she could give her 16 birthdays, one week apart, and then'split the years' into Rachel, bringing her back to life. Her diary recounts her forcing Madeline to overeat on cake at least once, as well as trying to force her into ill fitting clothes. 
 
 The father had, by all evidence, been unaware of the nature of her break, and thought the multiple birthdays were an expression of her fear that Madeline would n't get to grow up. 
 
 Madeline has been placed into foster care while a suitable relative is found to take her in. She is, obviously, a victim of her mothers trauma, and not the pint sized monster the media has painted her as. 

