The youngest convicted murders released from jail after 15 years

At just 12 and 13-years-old, two siblings confessed to killing their father's girlfriend and both were charged with first-degree murder as adults, despite evidence they were sexually abused by a family member. Yesterday, the two first faced the world they once knew.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Curtis and Catherine Jones were convicted of the brutal killing of their father's live-in girlfriend, Sonya Nicole Speights, on January 6, 1999 in Brevard County, Florida.

At a young age, they were distantly separated from their real mother, who fled the home after years of domestic abuse. It was reported the father wouldn't let them go with her, while their mother's family, all white, did not want to take them, because they were half-black.

Curtis and Catherine were unhappy with the living arrangement they were stuck in and according to welfare investigators, a family member had been sexually abusing them, as well as the daughter of the girlfriend.

Catherine shot Speights in the torso then dropped the 9mm, which Curtis then picked up and emptied the gun into the woman. Both kids ran into the woods where they were captured by the police. Without any trial, they were charged without hearing out their abuse claims. The siblings took the prosecutor's 15-year deal with lifetime on probation instead of facing life imprisonment.

Now, Curtis is an ordained minister and Catherine has completed her high school equivalency and married her pen pal, Senior Chief Navy Counselor Ramous K. Fleming in 2013. She shared she talks to her brother weekly and feels closer to him, despite being miles away. Her husband plans to retire from the Navy to help her in her new life - teaching her how to drive and use the Internet.

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