Steinke gets life in triple-murder

The brother of a slain Medicine Hat woman says for his sister's sake, he forgives triple-murderer Jeremy Allan Steinke for slaughtering his loved ones.
By The Calgary HeraldDecember 16, 2008
The brother of a slain Medicine Hat woman says for his sister's sake, he forgives triple-murderer Jeremy Allan Steinke for slaughtering his loved ones.

Moments before a judge sentenced Steinke to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, Peter Doolan turned to face Steinke directly while reading aloud his victim-impact statement.

"I will never understand why she was taken, I will never understand the workings of sick and twisted minds . . . but I do understand about forgiveness. (She) taught me that.

"So it is for (her) sake and through the deep love for my sister, who is watching over us right now, that I extend forgiveness," said Doolan, his voice breaking on occasion. He travelled from Ontario to read his emotional statement at Steinke's sentencing in Medicine Hat's Court of Queen's Bench on Monday.

Justice Adele Kent sentenced Steinke to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years on all three counts of first-degree murder for the April 2006 stabbing deaths of his 12-year-old girlfriend's parents and eight-year-old brother. The sentences will be served concurrently.

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For 2½years, Peter Doolan and other relatives have remained silent about the tragedy. Their statements Monday were raw, real and profoundly moving.

Robert Remington, Page A3
"I'm about to send you away to jail for a very long time, perhaps for the rest of your life, and it's because of the horrific, unspeakable violence you've committed against (the victims)," the judge said.

Kent also encouraged Steinke, 25, to take advantage of therapy while serving his sentence.

"Maybe sometime in the future you can begin to repay all of the damage you've caused."

When asked by the judge if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, Steinke kept his head bowed and shook his head, no.

"He told me before I came into court, and these are my words, 'If I could take it all back, I would,'"said defence lawyer Alain Hepner.

Through it all, Steinke's mother Jacqueline May wiped tears from her eyes as she sat in the front row. Among the 70 spectators were Medicine Hat police officers who investigated the case.

Steinke's relatives, including his sister, grandparents, aunt and family friends, sat and quietly wept.

Steinke was convicted by a jury Dec. 5 in Calgary. His trial was moved out of Medicine Hat because of the intense publicity the girl's trial received last year.
The girl was also convicted on all three counts of first-degree murder. She admitted to telling friends she hated her family and wanted them to die, but she denied having any part in their deaths.

Statements from six other grieving family members were read aloud by Crown prosecutor Ramona Robins.

They described their anguish over losing "three wonderful people" as "unbearable," "heartbreaking" and "horrifying."

"I relived the fight that (the parents) must have put up to protect their kids, and the terror of (the boy)when he realized his big sister would not help him," the stepmother of the dead man wrote.

"You're nothing but a punk with evil tendencies, a coward," the man's older sister directed at Steinke.

"You partially did this for love, and you both turned on each other. I hope this teaches other people who glorified you for this that it didn't work out and never does," she wrote.

"Your choices hurt us all, Jeremy. There were broken relation-ships because of this, lost jobs, heart attacks, drug abuse, and much, much more.Both families endured so much pain."

Another relative wrote, "I still see the family's pain and hear questions as to the reason why it had to happen. There is a big hole in our hearts. His father really misses the weekly telephone conversations he had with (his son)."
"You need to know that we are not the same people since the murders," a relative wrote. "I am terrified Steinke will be out on the streets ready to murder with or without the slightest provocation. What happens when he is up for parole? Will he be after us then?Who's next? I am afraid for any young girl who might fall under the charms of someone like Steinke."

"They did not deserve to be murdered," another sister wrote.

Outside court, the brother ad-dressed reporters with a prepared statement.

"Our family wishes to thank the community of Medicine Hat for their prayers, their support. Especially like to thank the prosecutors, the police services, and victim family services for their outstanding work and I hope the media will now leave us alone. We haven't said much in the past and we're not going to say much now. Thank you."

The slain family's relatives have seldom spoken in public of the horrific murders, but agreed to have their statements made public.

"I think it was really important that the family be able to say how they felt about what happened. For me, it was incredibly meaningful to be able to say those words to the court, and to Mr. Steinke himself," said Robins.
Having Steinke return for sentencing in the city where the murders took place should help people move on, Robins said.

"We have a very small community. A lot of people knew the family members or had some relation through school or work. I think it was important to see the closure of it, and our community needed to see it close," she said.

A sample of Steinke's DNA has been ordered to be sent to the national databank and the judge issued a lifetime ban from owning weapons.

The murder plan was hatched online. Through online messages under their user names "souleater" and "runawaydevil," the pair discussed killing the girl's parents, who opposed the relationship between their 12-year-old daughter and Steinke, who was 23. The pair met at a local mall and began a relationship. Steinke posted violent, macabre poems and song lyrics about his girlfriend's family whose "throats I want to slit."He said the words helped him vent his feelings.

A month before the killings, runawaydevil sent a message to souleater that said, "rawr, I hate them. So I have this plan, it begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you." Souleater responded,"well I love your plan but we need to get a little more creative with like de-tails and stuff."

A friend of Steinke's testified he was asked to help kill the girl's parents. Another said Steinke watched his favourite movie, Natural Born Killers, the night of the murders and said his girlfriend would be the one to kill her brother.
Steinke said the girl telephoned him in the middle of the night, asking him to help her sneak out so they could be together.Steinke arrived at the family's darkened house hours later, high on cocaine and drunk.He was carrying a knife in his hoodie pocket and dressed in black wearing a ski mask.

The girl's mother came down the stairs and screamed when she was face to face with a masked intruder. The girl's father came at him with a screwdriver. He managed to choke Steinke and jammed a finger in his eye.

Both parents bled to death in the basement.

Upstairs, Steinke says he watched as the girl slit her brother's throat. He said he never touched the boy.Court heard evidence that the father's blood was found on Steinke's clothes. The boy's blood was found on one of his shoelaces.

Hours after the killings, the couple were seen kissing and giggling at a house party.

Friends testified Steinke showed them his wounded eye, admitted killing his girlfriend's parents and said she killed her brother. One friend said Steinke confessed he "gutted them like a fish."

Two friends testified they wiped blood splotches off the seats of Steinke's truck for him and parked it out of sight.
The pair were arrested with friends early the next morning in Leader, Sask., after police sur-rounded them as they were trying to sleep in a pickup truck.

A taped conversation between Steinke and an undercover police officer posing as a fellow inmate in a prison van featured Steinke taking credit for stabbing the girl's parents and said his girlfriend killed her brother.

Steinke was heard saying he tried to talk his girlfriend out of it but she wouldn't have it, while he was a man of his word.

Steinke also revealed to the undercover officer that the father's dying words included the question, "Why?" Steinke replied, "Because your daughter wanted it that way."

On the stand, he denied exchanging any words with the father during their battle.

Jurors endured graphic photos and blood-splatter evidence.The mother suffered 12 stab wounds. The father was stabbed 24 times. The boy's throat was slashed open and he had four other stab wounds in his chest. Forensic evidence showed he was also choked. The suburban home's walls were dripping with blood. They also saw black-handled kitchen knives believed to be the murder weapons.

A knife found by the father's body in the bloodied basement was bent wildly out of shape--it was buckled in the middle and curved at its tip like a hook.

Teen gets maximum sentence for Medicine Hat killings

Last Updated: Thursday, November 8, 2007 | 1:42 PM MT
CBC News
A 14-year-old Alberta girl convicted of murdering her family received the maximum allowable sentence on Thursday, which includes four years in a psychiatric institution.

The judge ordered the girl to undergo rehabilitative treatment during that time. She was also sentenced to 4½ years under conditional supervision in the community.
The teenager was found guilty in July of three counts of first-degree murder for killing her mother, father and eight-year-old brother in their Medicine Hat home on April 22, 2006. She was 12 at the time.

The girl, labelled Canada's youngest convicted killer, was given credit for the 18 months she has already spent in custody, meaning she received the maximum sentence of 10 years.

The girl received a rarely used type of sentence, known as the intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision sentence, meaning she will spend her first four years in a psychiatric hospital, instead of a youth detention centre.

To qualify for the sentence, which is set out under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, young offenders must be diagnosed with some form of mental disorder or emotional disturbance.

In his sentencing, Justice Scott Brooker said this was the most appropriate sentence for the girl, given the horrific nature of the case and her young age at the time the crimes were committed.

The girl killed her mother, father and eight-year-old brother in their Medicine Hat home on April 22, 2006
Brooker said it was difficult to conceive a more horrific crime. He said the girl, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, had wonderful parents who loved their daughter and tried to get her into family counselling.

He described the murder of her eight-year-old brother as incomprehensible.

The lawyer for the girl argued for a sentence of three years incarceration, with most of that being at the psychiatric hospital.

The Crown prosecutor asked for a significantly longer incarceration time, arguing that the girl's pre-sentencing reports show she has an oppositional defiance disorder and conduct disorder.

"The young person does not recognize that she has committed a crime, nor does she have any insight into her condition," said prosecutor Stephanie Cleary.

The girl's ex-boyfriend, who is also accused in the killings, will also be in the Medicine Hat court on Thursday. He will be applying to have his trial moved to a venue in a larger city such as Calgary.

Jeremy Steinke, 24, faces three charges of first-degree murder.

Medicine Hat girl guilty of first-degree murder

One of the three bodies is removed from a home in Medicine Hat in April 200


Last Updated: Monday, July 9, 2007 7:44 PM MT
CBC News
A 13-year-old Alberta girl has been found guilty of murdering her parents and younger brother in a bloody attack in their Medicine Hat home.

The jury handed down its guilty verdict on three counts of first-degree murder after just three hours of deliberations on Monday in the Court of Queen's Bench in Medicine Hat.
The girl will be sentenced Aug. 23 and faces up to six years in jail, followed by up to four years supervision in the community.

As the verdict was read Monday, the girl wept quietly in the prisoner's box, her hand placed over her mouth. Her lawyer, Tim Foster, went over to her and put his arm around her.

"You develop relationships with your client, and sometimes people just need a hug," an emotional Foster told reporters outside the courtroom.

The girl, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was accused of killing her mother, father and her eight-year-old brother on April 22, 2006, when she was just 12.

She is believed to be the youngest person in Canada to be convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder.

During the trial, which began June 4, the girl testified that her 23-year-old boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, broke into her home and attacked and killed her mother and father.

The girl told the court that Steinke ordered her to stab her brother, which she did once, before Steinke slit the boy's throat.
Steinke, now 24, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, but has yet to enter a plea. He is scheduled to appear in court next week.

Judge advised jurors before deliberations
Before the jury began its deliberations, Judge Scott Brooker reminded jurors that even if Steinke physically stabbed the girl's mother, her father and brother, under Canadian law, an accused can be found guilty if they intentionally help, encourage or persuade another person to commit a crime.

The judge also told the jury that to find the accused guilty of first-degree murder, they must agree that the Crown proved there was planning and deliberation involved.

Brooker gave the jury three options on each of the three charges: find the accused guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder, or innocent.

After the jury's decision was announced, Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary said she felt satisfied.

"The Crown doesn't win and the Crown doesn't lose, but I have a duty not to prosecute a case unless I believe there is a reasonable likelihood the person will be convicted," she told reporters outside the courtroom.

"From that point of view, it's satisfying to have made what appears to have been a correct assessment of the evidence."

Girl testified she was in 'zombie' state
During the trial, the girl testified she was in a "zombie" state at the time of the killings and was unable to stop her boyfriend, or go for help.

She admitted in court that she and her boyfriend used to talk about killing her parents prior to the slayings, but she insisted she was only joking at the time.

The Crown countered that the girl was an active participant in the killings, which she plotted with her boyfriend because her parents disapproved of their relationship.

The Crown told the court the girl had plenty of opportunities during and after the killings to call 911 or go for help, but she never did.

Stabbed repeatedly
Police officers and a medical examiner told the court last month that the attack on the girl's family was bloody.

The experts testified the girl's father was stabbed 24 times, while her mother was stabbed 12 times.

The boy died from a severed jugular vein and had four stab wounds to his face and chest, the experts said, noting that an autopsy suggested he was also strangled.

The police officers and medical examiner said the family's home was drenched in blood after the attack, with splatter on the walls, floors and ceilings.

If convicted, girl would be free in 10 years

In the case of a 12-year-old girl accused of killing three members of a Medicine Hat family, 24 months make the difference between facing six years behind bars or life.
By CanWest News ServiceApril 27, 2006
CALGARY -- In the case of a 12-year-old girl accused of killing three members of a Medicine Hat family, 24 months make the difference between facing six years behind bars or life.

Two years older, and the youngster could receive an adult sentence for a first-degree murder conviction. She would be given a life term with no chance of parole for 25 years, unless she was given special consideration after 15 years in prison.

"We've vacillated over the years about what the age of responsibility should be in Canada," said University of Calgary professor Chris Levy.

"At what point does a kid become mature enough?"

Fourteen is one of the marks set in Canada when Ottawa unveiled changes to the youth justice system in 2003.

Because the girl is under 14, the maximum penalty is a 10-year youth sentence.

And no more than six of those years can be spent in custody at a young offenders centre.

The rest of the sentence would be served under supervision in the community.

Once that's done, she'd be free. Adult murderers, meanwhile, are monitored for life.

It's also highly unlikely the 12-year-old girl will ever be named, even if she's convicted.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act prohibits identifying children aged 12 to 17 accused or convicted of a crime, unless they receive an adult sentence.

Regardless of her age, adult sentences for murders by children are uncommon in Canada.

Mark Totten, who co-wrote the book When Children Kill: Youth Homicide in Canada, said mixing children with adult criminals is not a good idea.

"If people were aware of the degree of violence in adult prisons, both physically and sexually," they would be shocked, Totten said.

"Kids are not born bad. They are not created to kill."

For their book, Totten and Katharine Kelly, an associate professor of sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, studied 19 youngsters convicted of murder and manslaughter. Some had grown up in violent families; others were frustrated and angry with the circumstances of their lives.

In Medicine Hat, it's not yet clear what motivated the murders of a couple and their eight-year-old son on Sunday.

A 12-year-old girl and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Jeremy Allan Steinke, each face three counts of first-degree murder.

It's believed no child this young has ever stood accused of so many murder charges. The fact that one of the accused killers is a girl makes the case more uncommon.

Between 1974 and 2004, 32 children aged 12 were accused of homicide, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics reports. Six were girls.

The last time a 12-year-old faced a homicide charge was six years ago, according to the federal Justice Department.

Steinke, girlfriend smiled at murder coverage: Witness

A front-page newspaper story about the murders of a southern Alberta couple and their son brought a smile to the face of their 12-year-old daughter and her 23-year-old boyfriend as they fled the province, an underage witness testified Wednesday.
By Calgary HeraldNovember 27, 2008

CALGARY - A front-page newspaper story about the murders of a southern Alberta couple and their son brought a smile to the face of their 12-year-old daughter and her 23-year-old boyfriend as they fled the province, an underage witness testified Wednesday.

The friend was testifying at the trial of Jeremy Allan Steinke, who's facing three counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of his girlfriend's parents and her eight-year-old brother at their home in Medicine Hat, Alta., on April 23, 2006.


The girl has already been convicted of first-degree murder.

"(She) was smiling about it," the friend said, describing the pair's response when they were passed a copy of the paper, which featured the 12-year old's Grade 7 school photograph.

"They were pointing things out in it."

The pair fled to Leader, Sask., with driver Kacy Lancaster and three underage friends. The group was arrested there the day after the family's bodies were found.

Friends of the pair also testified Wednesday that, hours before the murders, Steinke, now 25, was watching a film about serial killers and was overheard finalizing a deadly plan.

"He was on the phone in the kitchen, pacing back and forth, saying, 'I don't want to do this. Are you sure you want to do this?' " an underage girl testified.

Court has heard the girl wanted her parents dead because they were opposed to her relationship with Steinke.

Another girl testified she was with Steinke in his mother's trailer with a group of friends that night watching Natural Born Killers - a film that documents the fictional crimes of a serial-killing couple. She said Steinke compared his own plan to a scene in the movie documenting the murder of a girl's parents.

She said that, as Steinke watched a scene in the film where a young brother is spared, he said, "That's where it would be different. (She) would kill her brother."

The friends tried to talk Steinke out of his plan, the witness said.

"He told us we didn't understand. . . . He found someone crazy enough, just like himself," the girl testified.

The trial continues.

Statements on Nexopia by Medicine Hat “couple”

Net holds dark hints on slayings
The Globe and Mail, Canada
Apr. 26, 2006
Dawn Walton

Pair accused in deaths of Alberta family posted messages on notorious websites

CALGARY — It didn’t take long for the Internet and all the fears parents have about their children becoming prey on-line to take centre stage in a triple murder investigation in southern Alberta.

Yesterday, Edmonton police asked a popular website to remove postings from the two people accused in the slayings of a family in Medicine Hat, about 290 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

Before the material was deleted, it showed disturbing statements from one of the accused, a 12-year-old girl.

“Are you stalking me? cuz that would be super” and “WelcomeToMyTragicEnd” were among the missives the girl posted on Nexopia.com, a popular site among Western Canadian youth aged 14 to 22, with more than 650,000 registered members.
The other accused is a 23-year-old man, whom friends have said sparked a romance with the young girl after meeting her a few months ago on VampireFreaks.com, a website dedicated to the Goth lifestyle.

The man posted in his blog on Nexopia a month ago: “She continues to thank that I came into her life to help her out and stop what they keep trying to shout. . . .Their throats I want to slit.”
Both sites have been previously named in connection with tragedy, including the trial for the murder of a 12-year-old boy in Toronto, and security scares, such as high school hit lists that have surfaced in Calgary.

“We should be cautious about jumping to conclusions, but there are some disturbing indications,” said Stephen Kent, a sociologist at the University of Alberta who studies cults and alternative religions.

“From time to time in North America, youth involved with Goth subculture get involved in serious crimes. Let’s hope this is not another instance.”

The 12-year-old girl, who looks much more mature than her age, and 23-year-old Jeremy Steinke, both of Medicine Hat, were remanded in custody yesterday.

The girl, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is scheduled to appear in court again May 1. Mr. Steinke returns May 2.
The two were arrested on Monday morning in Saskatchewan, less than 24 hours after Marc and Debra Richardson and their son Jacob, 10, were found dead in their home.

The causes of death were not released yesterday.

In the past year, two students in Calgary have been arrested over questionable postings on Nexopia.com., one for allegedly making death threats and the other for weapons offences.

Matthew Parsons, head of marketing with Nexopia.com, yesterday called police to offer information, and said the website was not supposed to be a forum for unsociable remarks.

“This is not what we intended the site to be used for. So when it is misused in that manner it is frustrating,” he said.

It’s not clear if the 12-year-old girl’s family knew she was a website user. Her musings included “Have you ever been arrested? Not Yet”, and “Have u ever cheated on someone? Yes . . . Many Years Ago.”

Users under 18 are to supposed to have the permission of their parents or guardians to join, and the company’s website says it does not “knowingly” allow anyone younger than 14 to participate.

The girl’s profile, which included pictures of her in dark Goth makeup, described her as 15.
Nobody from VampireFreaks.com, which was created in 1999 by a computer science student from Brooklyn, N.Y., would talk about the site’s connection to the people accused in the Alberta deaths. The site has 400,000 active members, and users are supposed to be at least 13.

The trial in the murder of a young Toronto boy was derailed in 2005 after it was disclosed that a VampireFreaks.com profile of a 15-year-old girl, a key witness in the case, appeared to contradict her sworn testimony about having no interest in the Goth scene.

Karen Robbins, who is AOL Canada’s “Net Mom” and who teaches safe use of the Internet, said parents shouldn’t feel guilty about blocking websites and monitoring who their children are talking to on-line.

“The Internet is the easiest place for someone to parade around as someone they are not,” she said.

Accused killer, 12, linked to goth site

By Richard Reynolds in Toronto
April 28, 2006
CANADIAN police appear baffled by the alleged murder by a 12-year-old "goth" girl of three members of her family in a small prairie town.

The girl was charged on Monday with first-degree murder along with a 23-year-old man, Jeremy Allan Steinke, reportedly her boyfriend. She cannot be named because of her age.

Police said on Wednesday they may lay further charges. Media commentators assumed these will include charges against Steinke of having sexual relations with a minor.

The bodies of the girl's parents and her eight-year-old brother were discovered in Medicine Hat, Alberta, at the weekend. At first police issued an alert for the girl, fearing she was also a victim of the killer.
Media are focusing on the fact the girl was involved in goth culture. Friends of the charged pair told a Calgary television station the girl met Steinke online at a website that caters to "gothic industrial culture".

VampireFreaks.com claims to have more than 500,000 members. The site features blogs and online journals by people with user names such as SuicideOfLove and RottingNails. Messages often focus on the despair and anger that members feel.

Reports indicate that in the recent weeks the schoolgirl had abandoned a more conventional style for a darker, goth look complete with heavy eyeliner and make-up. One of her former teachers told the Calgary Herald she was "shocked" by the rapid transformation.

The girl had posted several dark messages on the website with subject lines such as "WelcomeToMy TragicEnd" and "Are you stalking me? cuz that would be super". The latter is a quote from the dialogue in the 2002 comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder.

The girl's profile included pictures of her in dark goth make-up and described her as being 15.

Local media are having trouble deciding how to deal with the case. Initial reports about the murders were the lead story in many outlets, but once it became apparent that the young daughter in the family was possibly the murderer, the story was played down.