Capital Punishment In 1985, fifteen-year-old Paula Cooper of Gary, Indiana and three of her friends began skipping school and participating in illegal activities. The teenagers needed video game money for entertainment and thought they had a good means of obtaining some. Ruth Pelke, a Bible teacher the girls knew, was seen as an easy target for the girls to victimize. The girls gained easy entry into the house by saying they wanted to take Bible lessons. Once in the house, Paula Cooper stabbed the 78-year-old Pelke thirty-three times with a twelve-inch butcher knife that she had brought along. Mrs. Pelke recited the Lord’s Prayer as she died while the girls left wit