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Episode 116

The sleepover, war baby here with another episode of murderous minors.

Slumber parties are sacred to kids. Most every child at one time or another has wanted to experience the joy and thrill of sleeping away from home with relatives or friends.

And birthdays are of utmost importance when you're young as it's the one day out of the entire year when everything is supposed to be about you.

Back in March 2018, news broke of a stabbing spree in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in which Giovanni Sierra brand was brutally murdered.

On this episode of murderous minors, we look at the sleepover murder of Giovanni on his 13th birthday.

This episode briefly mentions suicidal thoughts and contained short descriptions of extreme violence.

Born when his mother was a senior in high school, Gio, as he was sometimes known, had all of her love when she heard his little heartbeat for the first time.

By the time he was in junior high at Watson B. Duncan Middle School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, he'd played clarinet in the school band and was in a soccer league and had his sights set on marine biology as a career.

His 13th birthday was March 12, 2018, which was a Monday, so the festivities were in full swing throughout the weekend.

On Sunday, March 11, the birthday boy played paintball with his family during the day before convening to a local Italian restaurant with family and friends.

The last known photo of Giovanni was taken around that dinner table and at the farthest end, sitting in the distant head seat is 17-year-old Corey Johnson, who had just met the boy at the restaurant.

Both Giovanni and Johnson were friends with a pair of brothers, Dean, 13 and Kyle, 15, and the four of them were set to have a sleepover following this dinner in honor of the birthday boy.

So when Giovanni asked his mother if Johnson could stay for dinner too, she said yes because she knew her son always wanted everyone to feel included.

Only Johnson was aware that he'd purchased a six-inch kitchen knife at a public supermarket earlier that day and that he had it with him.

Though the pair were two years apart in age, they had known each other for over ten years since Kyle was preschool age and the two were in daycare together.

Kyle would later say that they bonded through being socially awkward, having no other friends but each other, and binge-playing video games.

Though they seemed alike, Johnson's tumultuous early home life seemed to set him on a path of negativity and despair with things hardly looking up as he got older.

According to his mother and grandmother's later testimony, Johnson's parents both suffered from issues with drugs and mental health and he only saw his father once after his parents divorced and he moved to Palm Beach County with his mother.

Johnson's father died from a heroin overdose when he was around seven and he went through the next few years seeing his mother hospitalized often to deal with her own issues.

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