ahein075
- Jun 13, 2023
- 6 min read

Young love can be so...dangerous

What do you get when you mix a prepubescent girl with a 300-year-old werewolf? Yes, you read that correctly...a 300-year-old werewolf. Tragedy! A terrible loss of three innocent lives...that's what you get!

Where do I start with this one? Sadly, not the werewolf. He comes into play in a little bit. Hang in there. I'm going to introduce you to the Richardson family (circ. 2006) from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Side note...I love the name Medicine Hat for a town. Very unique! The family consisted of Marc Richardson, 42, his wife, Debra, 48, Jasmine, 12, and 8-year-old Tyler Jacob. In 2006, Jasmine was, per reports, a typical fun and social 12-year-old. One evening, she went to a punk rock show and met a man...yes, I said man...named Jeremy Steinke. He was 23 years old.

It is said that after meeting Jeremy, Jasmine got into the goth side of things...wearing the typical dark clothing and dark make-up...which actually did make her look a bit older than twelve. This is not a story about bashing goths...I personally don't care if you are goth or wearing gold sparkles every day. The only reason that the goth aspect is mentioned is because it did have a bearing on a big change in Jasmine. I am also not saying that everyone who "becomes" goth is a bad person, so don't come at me.

Moving on...Jasmine meets Jeremy...she gets into the goth side of life. She becomes a member on the VampireFreaks.com site. Again...I'm not making any judgements, just stating facts. Now, please remember...Jasmine is 12 at this time and Jeremy is 23. Whether they were goth or not...the age difference is a big NO! But...they liked each other and communicated a lot over some Canadian social platforms.

Here's where the werewolf part comes in...I know you've been on the edge of your seat waiting for this. Jeremy Steinke had a tough childhood. His mother was an alcoholic and one her partners had previously abused Jeremy. It's said that Jeremy was bullied in school and had previously attempted suicide. Overall...none of that is OK...he definitely had a rough time. For some reason, when he was 13, Jeremy decided that he was a 300-year-old werewolf. I have no information on why he decided this or when his first full moon transformation happened. Jeremy told friends that he liked the taste of blood and even wore a vial of blood around his neck. Again...I'm not sure how he became a 300-year-old werewolf, but Jasmine thought it was pretty cool - Jasmine's parents and friends did not.

Jasmine's parents found out about the relationship and quickly refused to let them see each other. Jasmine and Jeremy did not like that at all. Too bad werewolf guy...go find a werewolf your own age!

Jeremy and Jasmine started discussing killing her parents. An email was discovered written from Jasmine to Jeremy talking about a plan she came up with: “It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you." Jeremy replied: “Well I love your plan but we need to get a little more creative with like details and stuff.”

On April 3, 2006, Jeremy wrote on a blog platform: “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…Their throats I want to slit…Finally there shall be silence. Their blood shall be payment!”

Let's move forward to April 23, 2006. A neighborhood boy went to the Richardson's house around 1:00 p.m. to see if Tyler was available to play, hang out...whatevs. The boy did not get an answer at the front door, but thought he saw something through a window. Upon taking a closer look, he was pretty sure he saw a body lying on the floor and ran back to his house to tell his mom.

Police were called and Inspector Brent Secondiak arrived on scene. He thought he saw a body on the floor through the basement window and called for backup. Upon entering the home, police found the bodies of Marc, Debra, and eventually Tyler. At first, police did not know the whereabouts of Jasmine and if she was also a victim of a crime. The investigation discovered that Debra was most likely killed first, she was stabbed multiple times.

There was evidence that Marc tried to fight back with a screwdriver, but lost the battle. He was also stabbed to death. Marc and Debra were found in the basement of the home. When the police went upstairs, they found the body of 8-year-old Tyler in his bed; his throat had been cut open.

Police issued an Amber Alert for Jasmine, but after going through evidence in her home and her locker at school, she soon became a prime suspect in the murders. Jasmine and Jeremy were found and arrested the next day in Leader, Saskatchewan, about 81 miles away. They were both charged with first-degree murder for Marc, Debra, and Tyler. On May 3, 2006, a friend of Jeremy's, Kacy Lancaster (19 at the time) was also arrested and charged with being an accessory as she drove them in her pickup truck later in the day after the murders and disposing of some evidence.

Some of you may be thinking...holy cow, this poor girl...she must've been forced into this. But...the prepubescent mind can be a mysterious thing. Evidence has shown that it is most likely that Jeremy killed the parents while Jasmine killed her own brother...8 years old. Some reports state that Jasmine had said something along the lines of not wanting Tyler to be without parents. Also, shortly after being arrested, Jeremy asked Jasmine to marry him...and she said yes. A lot going on here with this young mind that I cannot even begin to sort out.

More investigation discovered that on the Canadian website, Nexopia, Jasmine's username was "runawaydevil" (which...if this wasn't a murder story...I would think is kind of cool) and stated that she was 15 years old. Again, she was not...she was only 12. Her last message on there was "Welcome to my tragic end." Hours prior to committing the murders, Jasmine and Jeremy watched the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers, which Jeremy thought was a wonderful love story. I'm not going to share my thoughts about this 23-year-old man (300-year-old werewolf) who thinks that movie is a love story.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, twelve is the youngest possible age at which a person can be charged with a crime; convicts who were under fourteen years of age at the time they committed a crime cannot be sentenced as adults, and cannot be given more than a ten-year sentence. On July 9, 2007, Jasmine, who had by then turned 13, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. She is believed to be the youngest person ever convicted of a multiple murder in Canada.

On November 8, 2007, Jasmine was sentenced to the maximum allowed under law for someone her age - 10 years imprisonment. Her sentence included credit for eighteen months already spent in custody, to be followed by four years in a psychiatric institution and four-and-a-half years under conditional supervision in the community.

In September 2011, Jasmine began attending classes at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta during the final years of her sentence. She was released from a ten-year sentence at a psychiatric hospital in the fall of 2011, and in October 2012 it was reported her rehabilitation was going well, and she expressed remorse for her actions that experts considered genuine. I'm glad that she actually got mental help for this, not just prison, as psychiatric assessments revealed she was diagnosed with conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

Jasmine completed her sentence in May 2016 and was freed of any further court-ordered conditions, restrictions, or supervision after a final sentence review on May 6, 2016.

Jeremy Steinke admitted to the murder of the parents in a conversation with an undercover police officer while in custody. What a dumb werewolf he is! He was tried in November 2008 and found guilty by a jury on three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Marc, Debra, and Tyler. On December 15, 2008, Jeremy was sentenced to three life sentences; one for each first-degree murder count. The sentences are to be served concurrently, and he will be eligible for parole after serving twenty-five years. Good thing he was only a 300-year-old werewolf at this time...he still has a lot of werewolf life to go.

The accessory to murder charge against their friend, Kacy Lancaster, was dropped, and she pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge in Medicine Hat provincial court. She received one year house arrest as part of the plea bargain and was ordered to refrain from drugs and alcohol.

If you're interested, you can catch some TV programs about this case:

On the Investigation Discovery show Deadly Women, with Jasmine as the subject and referred to simply as "J.R." due to her age. It is the first segment of the episode "Forbidden Love."
The story has been featured on Killer Kids, an American-Canadian documentary show.

I get that becoming a teenager can be hard. I know that being goth or not being goth does not necessarily lead someone to commit murder. It's very unfortunate that dating a 300-year-old werewolf will lead you down the wrong path. I personally put the majority of the blame on Jeremy as he was the adult in this situation...a human 23-year-old adult. I wonder if Marc, Debra, and Tyler stood a chance a living a decent life for however long if Jeremy had just walked away from the 12-year-old. I hope that Jasmine has done better since her serving her time and getting proper mental health care.

-- Audre