ABILENE, Texas — The 911 dispatcher heard a child’s voice on the other end of the line, calm and unnervingly composed, uttering words that would unravel an entire family.
“I actually killed somebody,” 13-year-old Paris Lee Bennett said. “My sister.”
The call, placed around 11:29 p. m. on February 4, 2007, reported the death of four-year-old Ella Bennett.
The boy claimed he was hallucinating and believed his sister was a demon. But the subsequent investigation would shatter that defense, revealing a cold, calculated obsession that had been building for years.
“I woke up and I was hallucinating. Then I thought my sister was a demon and I killed her,” Paris told the dispatcher. He even began counting over the phone as the operator attempted to walk him through CPR, but when officers arrived minutes later, little Ella was dead.
She had been stabbed 17 times. A kitchen knife lay beside her. The 13-year-old was calm, emotionless, and waiting at the front door.
Paris led officers to the bedroom. When they asked him to perform CPR on his sister, he laughed. He never shed a tear.
He couldn’t have tried to save her, because by the time the operator heard him counting, the child had been dead for likely over an hour. Officials now believe the attack occurred after the babysitter left the home around 10 p. m.
, and before Paris made a six-minute call to a friend, oddly failing to mention the murder.
The case of Paris Lee Bennett, now 36, has resurfaced as his first parole eligibility looms in February 2027. A new, granular examination of his psychiatric records reveals the chilling depth of his pathology that fateful night. The devil was in details that investigators and Charity Bennett, the mother of both children, never saw coming until it was too late.
At only 13 years old, Paris was sent to a juvenile correctional facility with a maximum 40-year sentence. He was calm and cooperative with the police. He accepted the consequences of his actions without a hint of guilt.
Over a decade later, he would admit to psychologists.
In 2013, Paris recanted his demon hallucination story in a series of prison letters and interviews. He admitted that he had never seen a demon and that he had fabricated the entire episode to manipulate the authorities. He said he was afraid of what would happen to him if he admitted he had intended to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁.
Paris revealed his real motive: he wanted to hurt his mother.
“My resentment was not towards Ella,” he said. “It was directed at my mother. I was plotting to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 her for a while.
But I decided that if I killed her, she would escape the suffering. Killing Ella was the only way to make her suffer for the rest of her life.”
Paris’ IQ was tested at 141, a highly superior level. Clinical psychologists after the crime diagnosed him with traits of psychopathy and severe narcissism, noting an emotional void that made his actions appear robotic. The reports said he had a calculated interest in knives, death, and murder ideas that went back years.
In at least one of his drawings titled “Our Dysfunctional Family,” he depicted himself separated from his mother by a knife. One of these home videos from the year before, he asked his mother: “mom, what’s your least favorite word? Charity.
My children,” she said. He retorted, “Yeah,” a sharp, audible resentment catching on the tape.
The family had recently relocated to Abilene for a fresh start. The move was supposed to signal a new beginning. However, it was also a way to escape the trouble that had plagued their lives.
Charity had a long 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 addiction involving heroin and cocaine, not to mention the violent and sudden death of her father, who was shot in the head and back when she was a child. There’s no doubt the family’s life has been limited.
The murder investigation revealed that just a year earlier, Paris had threatened Charity and his grandmother while brandishing a kitchen knife after an argument over a broken toy. He was sent to Red River Psychiatric Hospital for about a week. He was released with minimal paperwork.
Charity told reporters. It was June 2006. The psychiatrist did not inform her of the red flags in his son’s evaluation.
The documents from that hospital admission, though, saw Paris already fantasizing about killing other family members and neighbors. He had homicidal and suicidal ideations. He was obsessed with weapons.
When he was discharged, his mother had no idea she was bringing a time bomb back into her home.
The bigger issue is that even if Charity had poor information, police found that the tale of hallucination was shattered. The dispatch recording captured a key moment that haunts the operator: “I know I did. She’s bleeding all over the bed because I stabbed her,” Paris said.
“No, I know for a fact that she’s dead because I stabbed her lot.”
In another segment of the transcript, the operator tried, “Okay, Paris. Take her off the bed and put her on the floor. I’m not hanging up on you.”
“Okay. She’s on the floor, but I can’t stand here because she’s all bloody.” The boom of the stabbing changed a moment obviously.
She was having been asleep and was crumpled on the bed.
Officials say he law prohibits trying a 13-year-old for capital murder as an adult. The maximum juvenile sentence was 40 years. He pleaded true in August 2007.
He was deemed dangerous.
By 2012, the now-adult Paris was considered. Charity testified in court that her own son should not be released. He was a threat.
He was transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to continue his sentence, until 2047 if he serves the full time.
“He hid for us is,” said Charity in an emotional 2021 statement. She continues to have to wrap her head around the fact that the son she gave birth to, the boy who loved to draw and hug his sister, murdered that little girl in cold blood.
In prison, Paris maintained contact with his mother, writing letters, even interacting with a younger half-brother, Phoenix, born in 2013. Charity was reluctant to cut him off because she wanted to know who he was and why he did it. But then came a 2021 discovery.
He had a longtime correspondence with a man known to be out on bond and was allegedly plotting a mass shooting two hours from her home.
There is no evidence that Paris was actually planning to be involved. But the reveal frightened Charity enough to finally break that bond. Atrial in Tam last contact.
“I am done,” she said in 2021. “My focus now is on protecting Phoenix.” She also gave a barbecue, flicker, no admissions for this new character?
His parole is pending, but it will not be automatic. He has already served nearly 20 years. He will be just around 33 years old.
Psychologists who have reviewed the case argue whether he’s proven personality shows responded a pattern. In ancient interviews he has stated that he wanted to know what it felt like to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 someone. He mentioned fantasizing about it since he was 12.
He groomed his behaviors, spread. He knew right from wrong.
His brain, however, is not fully developed. When he did this, he was a short 13-year-old. The most underrated part is that he scored 141 IQ, one of the highest ever recorded.
He used that intelligence not for good, but to manipulate the system. He disarmed the 911 operator discussions, then lied, and played min labor.
In a sit-down of the media, forensic expert Dr. Helen McCrory said, “This is a person who is remorseless. He fooled everyone.
He was calm. He was very intelligent and that is the most dangerous person of all.”
The sad part is, the whole world of re-evaluation now is. As for the little girl, EllaBennett, she has been dead for nearly 18 years. Her life was the start on April 12, 2002.
Her life ended when he was 4. She never got to go to school, fall in love, or start a family. Her future was a certainty.
The city of Abilene saw less than a week of the family’s presence. It was known as the storybook capital of America. It quickly would never outlive the tragedy of a fairy tale turned story of survival.
As the years pass, the question is clear. Is Paris Bennett a man that should have been subdivided? From a lower understanding of his psychology now, does the 13-year-old who stabbed his sister with a knife have the capacity to be released?
The parole board will look at his bipolar. The pain is renewed.
There is no way to bring Ella back. For Charity Bennett, living is the corporate justice. She is the mother of both a daughter who is dead and a son who killed her.
She will never see him again if she can avoid. She is more careful, more terrified, and more protective.
The victim’s advocate, in court, so that at a parole hearing:
“Ella is not a number. She was a four-year-old girl. She was someone’s whole heart, just like Paris was someone’s whole heart.
But one of them judged and completed. The other plotted and planned stealing the future and now asks for his.”
You heard that right. The story is as fresh as if it happened in 2007. The nightmare continues.
