a picture of Steven, taken by Ray, the day before the murders
Born February 15th, 1981

a picture of Amy, taken by Cassidy, the night before the murders
Born May 23rd, 1982

a picture of Ray, taken by Amy, the night before the murders
Born April 16th, 1983

a picture of Cassidy, taken by Amy, the morning before the murders
Born March 11th, 1984

a photo of the Bull family, taken one month before the murders

The Bull family murders was a murder committed by a group of runaway teenagers.

The Bull family parents, Elizabeth and George Bull, met in high school and got married in 1982, age twenty-five. They had three children; Danielle, Elijah, Mary and Joseph.

As for what is now referred to as the Smithfield Four in popular culture, they all came from different backgrounds. We will be going in order of oldest to youngest.

Steven Rufus Ferry was born in New York City to a single mother, Jennifer Ferry. She moved to Smithfield with her boyfriend when Steven was ten, taking her two sons with her. All her life, according to Steven, she'd been an 'abusive druggie'. Her boyfriend at the time, Bill Kyle, wasn't much better. Bill left only a year later, fleeing to 'god knows where', leaving Jennifer alone, causing her drug problem and abuse to become even worse. According to Steven, she often threw and broke alcohol bottles at Steven and his brother, John. This led Steven to begin using when he was thirteen.

Amethyst "Amy" Hannah Jenkins was born in Smithfield, raised in Smithfield. It's worth noting she was a cousin of Angela Hart, one of the Folie a Daughters. Amy was five when her cousin committed suicide. She grew up rarely hearing Angela's name mentioned and whenever it was, she says it was always accompanied by , quote, 'insults and shame'. Amy was raised by an abusive father and, in her words, a delusional mother. Her parents, Hannah and Arnold Jenkins, had gotten married when Arnold was thirty and Hannah was seventeen. The couple had Amy on Hannah's eighteenth birthday and they had Amy's younger brother, Lucas, when Amy was seven. Arnold was extremely abusive, often hitting and beating his wife and children in a drunken rage. Hannah would always excuse it to her children, saying that he didn't know what he was doing.

"I always felt like I had to protect Lucas. And I did. I did my best to protect him." Amy said in a 2020 documentary. All interviews will be from this documentary unless stated otherwise. "He was my baby brother, I knew my dad was a dipshit, I couldn't let him be hurt. Not to say he never got hit, of course he did, but I did my best to take the hits."

Amy began using drugs when she was in middle school.

Raymond "Ray" John Carlson was also born and raised in Smithfield, Virginia. His father had left when he and his twin sister, Rachel, were two and when he was six, his mother, Natalie Carlson, was arrested on accounts of illegal drug usage. Ray and Rachel were then moved to live with their grandparents until the pair were ten and their mother got out of prison and her kids were returned to her. She immediately went back to using drugs and both her children began using drugs. When the twins were fourteen, Rachel opted to go back with her grandparents, while Ray stayed with his mother.

Cassidy Marie Larson was born in Mechanicsville, Virginia, to two parents. She was the youngest of three children. Her home was happy and stable, until she was five, when both her parents died in a car crash and the siblings were moved into foster care and the siblings were subsequently separated. Cassidy bounced all over Virginia throughout her childhood from foster home to foster home. Some were good, some were downright terrible. Cassidy often described the sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of foster fathers and sometimes foster brothers. In November 1998, she ended up at the Kowalski household in Smithfield, Virginia.

Steven, Amy and Ray had been hanging around one another since the start of that school year. It was Amy who saw fourteen year old Cassidy sitting alone at lunch one day and invited her to join the rest of the group.

"Admittedly, I regret that." Amy said. "Do not get me wrong, I love Cassidy, she's like a sister to me, but, if I'd just left her out of it, if I'd just left that weird, lonely girl alone, she'd be fine today. Something about her reminded me of Lucas. She seemed innocent, I know now she wasn't, but still. I felt a weird kinda need to protect her, so I invited her to hang out with us. She started doing drugs, drinking with us, all that. Though I care for her deeply, I wish I'd just left her alone."

Around Christmas of that year, Cassidy and Steven had been over at Steven's house, just the two of them. Steven's brother was at college, all the way at Cambridge actually, and Steven's mother wasn't home. So, Steven and Cassidy had sex.

"I remember it pretty well." Cassidy said in her interview. "I remember he told me to make noises for him. He was always very gentle, unlike all the men who'd raped me before. He said we could stop at any time. I was fourteen, he was seventeen. He was so good to me, I thought I was in love."

"I know what people are going to say about this and me, I know what people have already said," Steven said in his interview. "I have apologized to Cassidy so many damn times. We're, well, we're civil. I regret everything I did then. Drugs, murder, Cassidy, I regret it. Please know that. I know that will not undo any of the damage I've done, but I just want to make my regret clear."

In early January, Amy and Steven started dating. Though, Steven continued fornicating with Cassidy.

"He said Amy didn't need to know. So, I didn't tell Amy. I kept my mouth shut. I don't know if I still thought it was love or not." Cassidy said.

"I've made it clear that I hate myself for all that, right?" Steven said.

The rest of the year went by. Steven graduated in June of that year and decided not to go to college. The group continued to hang out during the summer and then it was September 11th, 1999. Cassidy confided in the group that she thought that the Kowalski family was about to give her up. She said they'd found out she was drinking and doing drugs. So, the group made a plan to run away. It was quick. They decided they would go from Smithfield to Statesville, North Carolina like the Folie a Daughters had, but that plan quickly changed to a city much farther away; Seattle, Washington. It would be a three day drive, but the group decided it would be worth it.

"I gave it second thoughts," Ray said in his interview. "I had heard about the Lillelid murders that had happened back just two years earlier. I'd heard about what had happened to the six of them. But, they'd killed somebody. So, I thought, if we just steered clear of murder, it would be fine. Sure, we had weapons with us, but we would only use those if absolutely necessary."

So, in the early morning of September 13th, 1999, the group all left their homes, and walked to the Kowalski household. Cassidy came out, with the car keys to the white van the Kowalski's owned, and the group left, Steven as the driver.

"It felt like a movie." Amy said in her interview. "Four teenagers, smoking, drinking, running away from their parents to go all the way to Seattle. We didn't have much of a plan for when we got to Seattle, just that we'd be there. But it was great. Actually, before the murders, it was fun. We were smoking, drinking, laughing, blaring music, we all got along. I really, really, wish it had stayed that way."

On September 14th, 1999, the group was in Lincoln, Nebraska. They were at a convenience store, getting some quick snacks. When they stepped outside and walked up to their car, George Bull was yelling at them that they'd parked too close to his car and was making a big thing of it. Things began getting heated between George and Steven, so Elizabeth Bull began trying to lead her husband away and Amy, Ray and Cassidy were trying to lead Steven away.

Steven got back into the car and the rest of the Smithfield Four began driving away. George got into his car and decided to follow them. After twenty minutes of George following them, Steven pulled over and got out of the car, as did George. Steven and George began yelling at each other again.

"I remember me, Amy, and Cass, we were getting out of the car, saying 'Steve, come on' 'Steve, let it be,', just trying to get Steven back into the car. Mrs.Bull was trying to get Mr.Bull back into their car as well." Ray said. "I supposed we would just have to endure Mr.Bull following us. Not like we could go to the police, we were runaway teenagers, we'd stolen a car, not to mention the weapons and drugs we had with us."

Well, the argument escalated, and Steven walked over to the Smithfield Four's car, grabbed the gun and shot George in the head, followed by Elizabeth.

"I was angry. I wasn't thinking clearly. That's why I did it. And I fucking hate myself for it." Steven said. "Not a day goes by where I don't think about the Bull children, how I'd ruined their lives. And I can't even begin to express my apologies, I have many times. I know they don't forgive me, I wouldn't forgive me either. But, for what little it's worth, I am sorry."

"I covered Cassidy's eyes when the bodies dropped, as if she hadn't already seen it. I don't know why I covered her eyes, I just did. I was too shocked to scream." Amy said.

"I kinda checked out when that happened. I screamed and then, I remember what happened after, but I felt so fucking dazed." Ray said.

"Like Amy, I was too shocked to scream. When she covered my eyes, I pushed her hand away." Cassidy said. "I just stared at the bodies."

Afterwards, Steven told Amy to get into the Bull's car with him, while Ray and Cassidy would continue driving the Kowalski car. They would still be en route to Seattle. Amy looked in the back of the Bull car and said "Uh, Steven, there are kids back here."

And there were the Bull family kids. Danielle, age eight, Elijah, age six, Mary, age four, and Joanna, age two.

Steven opened the door to the backseats of the van and pointed the gun at the children.

"Don't ask me why I pointed the gun at the literal children, I have no fucking clue."

Amy jumped in front of him and said "Steven, do not hurt them." So, he lowered the gun and got in the driver's seat. Amy got into the back of the van with the kids.

"I remember Amy trying to comfort us." Danielle Bull said in her interview. "She was trying to assure us, telling us that it would be okay, they wouldn't hurt us, when any of us started crying, she'd shush us, hold us. So, I guess I'm thankful for that much."

Meanwhile, Ray and Cassidy got back in the Kowalski car and continued en route to Seattle. The group did eventually arrive in Seattle. Meanwhile, the bodies of George and Elizabeth Bull were found by an anonymous man. He has since used the alias Jack. He contacted police and the Bull's were very quickly identified. They then quickly realized that the kids were missing and sent out an AMBER alert.

Back to the Smithfield Four. They arrived in Seattle and found a parking lot. They quickly realized they had a problem. They were all runaway teenagers, they had four kids with them, one of them was a murderer.

"I remember we'd gotten out of the car. We'd made it to where we needed to go, with two big hitches." Ray said. "Steven was a killer and we had four fucking little kids with us. We couldn't stay here. We had to go back to Lincoln and turn ourselves in. That's what I wanted to do."

"I had the bright idea of just dumping the kids somewhere and then staying in Seattle." Steven said. "Even if we did do that though, I don't think we would have made it very far. I mean, the kids knew our names. If they were taken to the police, we would've been ratted out right away. And then it'd only be a matter of time until we were found."

"I agreed with Ray, we had to go back to Lincoln." Amy said. "I know that would end with us also being taken back to Smithfield. But I just wanted the kids to be safe. This was bound to end badly, I think I knew that from the get go. I even began getting the kids back into the car."

"I didn't know what I wanted to do." Cassidy said. "I didn't want to go back to Smithfield, because I knew the Kowalskis would immediately put me back in the system and that was the absolute last thing I wanted. But, on the other hand, we had to turn ourselves in, these kids were innocent, they had no need to be involved in this. I didn't know how to feel, so I just kept my mouth shut."

It ended with the group deciding to go back to Lincoln. So, they drove the one day back to Lincoln and went into a police station with the Bull children. Steven went up to the counter and said "We killed George and Elizabeth Bull."

"Why did I say 'we'? I don't fucking know, okay, I guess I didn't want to seem like the only guilty participant." Steven said. "But, Ray, Amy, Cass, all of them are completely innocent. They did nothing wrong, but I know that's been made clear."

George Bull's older sister, Alexandra Ryan, was contacted and the Bull children were placed in her custody.

"I remember Danielle, she thanked me, for hugging her and her siblings," Amy said. "I gave her one last hug. Her aunt gave me a dirty look."

The Smithfield Four were placed in holding cells for 33 hours before being transported back to Smithfield, where they were once again placed in holding cells. Steven's trial began on November 1st, 1999. Steven pleaded guilty to all accounts. He was given two life sentences with a possibility of parole in 2024.

As for Amy, Ray and Cassidy, they were all acquitted of any charges.

Cassidy was legally adopted by another Smithfield family, the Reynolds.

The Smithfield Four have remained in contact with one another, even Steven.

Steven Ferry got married in prison in 2009 to another inmate, Lucy Reyes, who was released in 2019. They currently have a five year old son.

Amethyst Jenkins married Angelo Mendez in 2014 and is a mother of three; two boys, one girl. Since 2018, she has worked as a hairdresser in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Raymond Carlson married his husband, Malachi Ross, in 2015. In 2018, they adopted boy-girl twins. As of 2012, Raymond has been working as an English teacher at Smithfield High School.

Cassidy Larson married in 2009 to Jack Williams, but they divorced in 2012, due to Jack's abusive nature. She says that have had no contact since 2013. In 2017, she married Delphine Sterling. They currently have two daughters, ages five and three. As of 2014, Cassidy has worked as an adolescent therapist in Falls Church, Virginia.

They have largely tried to stay out of the media to the best of their abilities, but, in 2019, all four agreed to a documentary about the murders. It was entitled Smithfield Four's Stories and had pretty good media reception. It included interviews from Danielle Bull as well. It was realeased on Netflix on the 21st anniversary of the murders.