By David Lohr
November 12, 2007
OTTAWA, ON, Canada — Jasmine Richardson, 14, the youngest person ever charged with multiple counts of murder in Canada, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for her part in the 2006 murders of her parents and little brother.
Richardson was just 12 years old on April 23, 2006, when authorities in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada found the bodies of her parents, Marc Richardson, 42, and Debra, 48, and her eight-year-old brother, Jacob, inside their home at 304 Cameron Road.
All three of the victims had been brutally murdered.
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| Jasmine Richardson |
Jasmine Richardson was not found at the scene, leading authorities to initially believe she had been kidnapped; however, evidence quickly pointed to her involvement in the murders. The following day, police located Richardson and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Jeremy Steinke, approximately 100 miles away in the town of Leader. The two were taken into custody, and both were charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
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| Jeremy Steinke |
The motive in the case centered on Richardson and Steinke's secret relationship. When Marc and Debra found out about it, they had forbidden Jasmine from having contact with Steinke, angering the young lovers -- echoes of the David Ludwig/Kara Beth Borden case in 2005 and the famous Charles Starkweather/Caril Fugate case decades earlier.
A glimpse of that anger could be found on Steinke's now defunct Windows Live Space profile. On April 3, 2006, he wrote:
"Payment! My Lover's rents are totally unfair; they say that they really care; they don't know what is going on the just assume. As their greed continues to consume, she is slowly going insane. She continues to thank that I came, into her life to help her out, and to stop what they keep trying to shout. It's all total bullshit. Their throats I want to slit. They will regret the shit they have done. Especially when I see to it that they are gone. They shall pay for their insulince. Finally there shall be silence. Their blood shall be payment!" [sic throughout]
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| Jeffrey Dahmer |
Numerous other profiles and blogs, allegedly belonging to the suspects, were also uncovered by police. According to Richardson's now defunct MySpace profile, her personal heroes included Jeffrey Dahmer, Criss Angel, Marilyn Manson, Dani Filth and Batman. Another of her profiles, found at VampireFreaks.com, described her as bisexual, Wiccan, nocturnal, awkward, loud, a deep thinker and insane. In addition, some of her interests were listed as "unnatural hair colors, dark poetry, criminal psychology, blood, human anatomy and "kinky s—t."
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