In the days after I arrived in Ireland last May with several of my colleagues prior to the abortion referendum, the headlines were buzzing with the details of a stomach-turning story: A 14-year-old schoolgirl had gone missing. Days later, Ana Kriegel was found dead in an abandoned farmhouse in Lucan, roughly 12 kilometers west of Dublin. She was naked, and had suffered brutal injuries to her head and body. A ligature was still wound around her neck. Ana Kriegel, who had been adopted from Russia as a baby, is now believed to have been dead within 45 minutes of leaving her home.
She was lured to the farmhouse by one of two 13-year-old boys, known as Boy A and Boy B due to their age. Boy B told her that Boy A wanted to see her. Once they had her alone and out of earshot, they sexually assaulted her and killed her. Her corpse was found lying with her head tilted back amid broken beer bottles and a club with nails pounded through it. Her adoptive parents, who had adored her with all their hearts, were utterly crushed. The two boys, now 14-years-old, have become the two youngest boys in Irish history to be convicted of murder.
