Jeremy Steinke

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Jeremy Allan Steinke (born in 1983-) is a Canadian man responsible for the Richardson family murders of Medicine Hat, Alberta in 2006, manipulating his 12-year old girlfriend Jasmine Richardson into helping him kill several members of her family so they could be together.

History

According to friends of Jasmine, Richardson's parents had punished her for dating Steinke due to the age disparity. Her friends had also criticized their relationship. Shortly after her arrest, Steinke asked her to marry him, and she agreed.

According to friends of Steinke, he told them he was a 300-year-old vampire. He allegedly told his friends that he liked the taste of blood, and wore a small vial of blood around his neck. He also had a user account at the VampireFreaks.com website. The girl had a page at the same site, leading to speculation they met there. However, an acquaintance of Steinke later said the couple actually met at a punk rock show in early 2006. The couple were also found to be communicating at Nexopia, a popular website for young Canadians. Various messages they sent to each other were available to the public, before the accounts were removed by Nexopia staff.

Richardson's user page, under the name "runawaydevil", falsely said she was 15 and ended with the text "Welcome to my tragic end". Just hours prior to committing the murders, Steinke and some friends reportedly watched the 1994 film Natural Born Killers, about a young couple who go on a violent killing spree. Steinke told his friends that he and his girlfriend should go about their plans in a similar manner, but without sparing her little brother. Steinke also said to an undercover officer: 'You ever watch the movie Natural Born Killers?... I think that's the best love story of all time...'.

Steinke admitted to the murder of the parents in conversation with an undercover police officer while in custody. He was tried in November 2008 and found guilty by a jury on three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of the three Richardson victims. On December 15, 2008, Steinke was sentenced to three life sentences, one for each first-degree murder count. The sentences are to be served concurrently, and Steinke will be eligible for parole after serving twenty-five years.