Woman Who Killed Autistic Teen To Get Murder Off Her “Bucket List” Sentenced To Prison

Published November 3, 2017
Updated February 13, 2021

Jemma Lilley strangled the autistic teen with a wire until it broke, and then stabbed him with various blades until he died.

Jemma Lilley And Aaron Pajich

Facebook/Personal PhotoMurderer Jemma Lilley and her victim, Aaron Pajich.

A British woman who strangled, stabbed, and buried the body of an autistic teenager in Western Australia says she did so to scratch murder off of her “bucket list.” And now she’s been sentenced to life in prison, according to the BBC.

26-year-old Jemma Lilley, originally of Lincolnshire, UK, was convicted in November of murdering autistic 18-year-old Aaron Pajich at her home in Perth, Australia June last year, reported Yahoo News.

Jemma Lilley and her 43-year-old roommate, Trudi Lenon, lured Pajich, who was a friend of one of Lenon’s sons, over to their home, where Lilley strangled the autistic teen with a wire until it broke. She then stabbed him with various blades until he died.

They buried the body in a shallow grave on their property and covered the site with concrete and tile.

Now, Lilley and Lenon have been sentenced to life with a minimum prison term of 28 years.

Trudi Lenon

FacebookTrudi Lenon

Jemma Lilley said in court that murder was one of the items on her bucket list that she wanted to complete before she turned 25.

When she was younger, Lilley had written a novel about a fictional serial killer she named “SOS.”

In her communications with Lenon online, Lilley referred to herself as SOS, and the two talked extensively about their fantasies of torturing and murdering people.

Prosecutors also alleged that Lilley wrote the following in an online forum:

“I feel as though I cannot rest until the blood or flesh of a screaming victim is gushing out and pooling on the floor… I cannot shift this belief that the world has become not only ready for me but it needs me to be ready.”

Lilley’s stepmother, Nina Lilley, 48, said, “She had always had an obsession with serial killers but she said it was a way of venting her frustration of what happened when she was a child.”

She went on to say, “I always felt on edge with her. I always felt unnerved by her. I don’t think she did have empathy.”

Jemma Lilley

FacebookJemma Lilley

After the murder, Lilley testified she was “so full of herself and euphoric” that she couldn’t help but reveal that she had killed someone to her coworker at the supermarket she worked at.

She also left incriminating voice messages to Lenon, talking about how excited she was to be experiencing things “she had not felt before.”

Sharon Pajich, the mother of the victim, said of Aaron, “He was my precious little boy, he was my first-born…he was full of life.”

Aaron Pajich

Personal PhotoAaron Pajich

She continued to say, “They [the killers] deserve everything they get for what they’ve done, they’ve taken an innocent boy from his loved ones.”

The jury took less than three hours to come back with a guilty verdict for both women.

Jemma Lilley and Trudi Lenon will face sentencing hearings in February 2018.


Next, read about the woman who killed 15 of her in-laws in a failed attempt to poison her husband. Then, learn about the woman who says she killed her six-year-old daughter with a shotgun to save her from aliens.

author
All That's Interesting
author
A New York-based publisher established in 2010, All That's Interesting brings together subject-level experts in history, true crime, and science to share stories that illuminate our world.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.