Indian boy, 8, accused of being serial killer

Indian boy, 8, accused of being serial killer
Indian police say an 8-year-old boy is a serial killer who has been
charged with murdering three children, according to local media.

CNN-IBN, which names the suspect in its report, says the boy was
caught in the act. "Last year he killed his own 8-month-old sister,"
police Inspector Shatrudhan tells the news network, adding: "We have
also some to know that [the suspect] had killed his uncle's
six-month-old daughter. He has been charged with murder."

The Times of India reports that his "uncle admitted before
mediapersons on Thursday the boy killed his six-month-old sister a few
months ago and a cousin at his maternal uncle's place a year ago. The
earlier two killings went unreported."

Police say they have no idea what motivated the killings, telling
reporters that during questioning the "the boy spoke little but smiled
a lot."

"She was sleeping in the school. I took her a little away, and killed
her with a stone and buried her," the boy, a resident of one of the
country's poorest areas, said during questioning, according to a
police official quoted by NDTV.

Do these crimes qualify as serial killings? According to experts in
the field, a serial killer is defined as someone who commits murder on
at least three separate occasions with "emotional cooling-off periods
between each incident."