Reforming a Runaway Devil

There really are no definitive resources for information about this case for me to source/credit/link/implore people to familiarize themselves with. It's not for lack of public interest in the horrific murder of an entire family - minus one - but because of the fact that very few details were ever released due to the age of the young murderess. Were it not for the fact that J.R. was very briefly assumed to have been a victim of kidnap, we wouldn't even know her name. 

Technically, I'm not supposed to call her by name. However, I know for certain that I'm not the only one whispering it in the darkened corners of cyberspace, so I will not allow the Canadian governments misguided attempts to protect mankind from itself to dissuade me from what I know in the depths of me to be right: Richardson should be held accountable for her actions. Her actions perpetrated against her family were thoughtless, careless, and brutal. Who actually wielded the knife for which percentage of time seems desperately irrelevant in the face of the fact that her father, mother, and little brother are all dead and it was she, JR, who came up with the plan to slay them.

You see, JR had a boyfriend; a much older man. Jeremy Allan Steinke, 23, met the 12 year old at a punk show, and it was puppy/pedophile love at first sight. JR was a beautiful girl who appeared mature beyond her years (she lied about her age in a number of online profiles), but I guess I can see how she may have fallen for him. Steinke wasn't much to look at, and was dumb as a proverbial stump, but he gave the impression of being some sort of leader of misfits which was exactly what JR was looking for at that time. Those who've never dabbled in a subculture simply wouldn't understand -- they were punky goths, were into role playing games, and vampires; there is at least a handful of kids like this in every high school, it's really not that uncommon.

   

 

Jeremy took the spooky lifestyle to extremes; proclaiming to be a 300 year old werewolf or some other such nonsense. Again, it would definitely sound weird to most, but there is a certain subsection of the population that wouldn't even bat an eyelash if somebody told them that. Young Miss Richardson didn't seem to think it alarming, and she had proven herself to be of above average intelligence. Unfortunately, young girls often fail to consider the icky motives of older guys who show interest in them. It's a very confusing time for young women. But I digress... Although I am willing to accept JR's tender age as an excuse for having rotten taste in boys, I am not willing to excuse what happened next.

Obviously, Mr. and Mrs. Richardson (Marc and Debra to their friends) didn't like the idea of their little girl dating an older man of questionable character - Jeremy was technically old enough to be her father, after all. They discouraged the relationship, and even resorted to grounding JR and forbidding her to see Steinke. Since the dawn of time, parents and children have struggled against each other over issues just like this one: who to/not to date; when to/not to be home at night; and so on. Miss Richardson began fantasizing about killing her parents in order to be with the man she loved. It was a darkly romantic ideation which she shared with her boyfriend, Jeremy, and other friends. Beyond even that, JR and Jeremy left a nasty little trail of online breadcrumbs that would later become evidence in a shocking murder investigation.

 

   


Nexopia is a popular social networking community for teenagers in and around Edmonton, Alberta. Interestingly, an age limit of 13 was recently adopted at the site; I can't help but wonder if the Steinke/Richardson clusterfuck had something to do with the decision. In 2006, Jeremy posted there as souleater, and JR posted as runawaydevil.

To: runawaydevil
From: {souleater}
Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2006, 2:36 p.m.
Subject: Haha!
God I can't get over not seeing or talking to you, I yearn to hear your soft suttle voice, & long to be held in your arms where ever that might be I don't care but just to share the time we have together with your are t die for and there is not anything that could ever replace the way you make me feel! :hearts: I miss you, I love you & I wish that we could just go somewhere we could jest be alone together for a little while... : ( or as long as you would like? I think tonight I'm going to write another song to you! :D won't that be fun especially seeing as you shall not read it or hear it till I see you next! tehee :rofl: well I guess I should go or something but I hope to hear from you much sooner than later! ttyl Cuddlebunny *hugz&kissez*

To: runawaydevil
From: {souleater}
Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2006, 4:30 p.m.
Subject: Re (2): Hey Sexy!
Aw so now that you've seen this poem what do you think? I'm glad that you miss me but I wish you didn't have to... :( But I guess the only way that is possible is by us being together indefinately right? :blush: It makes me so happy that Matt supports us in what we want to do together it's just 1 less person who we don't have criticizing us! :D I have a song in the midst of being written for you! I hope you'll like it too! & what of the vile of blood I gave you what are your words on expressing your thought on that item of my love to you??? Yay! when are we going to go get together & kill some more pitiful souls??? :nuts: well ttyl hopefully you can call or sumthin' & let me know what's up for 2morrow if I'm picking you up again or what's going on??? Take Care my lovely! :date: Love You! XOXOXO :love:

To: killmyheart
From: {souleater}
Date: Thursday, March 16, 2006, 9:22 p.m.
Subject: Re (8): No subject
What do you mean? I'm not quite following you! :imslow: well a certain somebody that i know along with it's toy & the whole point of killing them would be to start a spree across Canada! :rofl: kinda like the legendary Mickey & Malory love :love: birds! now have you seen that movie it's called "Natural Born Killers" it's the best love story of all time I loves it so much I wanna do it myself! :nuts: well I guess we'll see the cuz it's tomorrow! well ttyl! Cyz! :D

souleater:  I was worried cuz she was getting in so much crap that we were going to have relationship problems, but she said she'd never break up with me and to stop worrying about it.
Super.Jesus:  :( Tell her parents to shove it.
souleater:  yeah right that will work... um we were thinking more among the lines of killing them :rotfl: yepperz & the best part is it was her idea! :D

runawaydevil: I miss you more than killing people. Can we get together and kill people?
runawaydevil: Rawr. I hate them. So I have this plan. It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you...
souleater:  Well I love your plan but we need to get a little more creative with like details and stuff.

* Transcript source:  CanWest MediaWorks Inc.

Together, they romanticized the notion of killing JR's parents. Certainly, it wasn't the first time young lovers had pondered such things; Oliver Stone made a wildly successful cult movie about it, for crying out loud! What separates Jeremy and JR from all the other teenagers who have plotted against their superiors is the fact that in the wee hours of April 23, 2006, their plan came to fruition. JR would later testify that she was in a zombie-like state at the time of the killings; unable to stop her boyfriend or go for help. However, several of their friends testified that the lovers laughed about the murders in the hours that followed, and even pointed out details about the crimes that only the killers would know. JR and Jeremy were arrested the following day. JR's best friend Kacy Lancaster would later be charged as an accessory for helping them get away to the town of Leader, Saskatchewan about 80 miles away.

It truly baffles my mind, the fact that for all their bravado-laced talk about murdering the girl's family so that they could be together, they put no thought whatsoever into what to do after the massacre. Jeremy left the scene and went home to his trailer, leaving JR alone in her house with her dead parents and brother. JR snatched her mother's ATM card, got money for a taxi, and rode to meet up with her boyfriend at his home. The cab driver testified that the young woman he drove to the trailer park in the early hours of April 23 appeared calm and cool, and he certainly wouldn't have imagined her to have just taken part in her own family's murder. The gruesome twosome's big plan was to kick it with their buddies less than 100 miles away from the grisly scene of the crime. Presumably, they thought they would just continue killing everyone who got in their way, just like their Natural Born Killers heroes Mickey and Mallory Knox. I have often wondered: why didn't they just run away? At the very least, it would have given them some much-needed practice in the careful art of being fugitives.

Shortly after their arrest, Steinke proposed to his teenage queen via message, and the young Miss Richardson happily accepted. How bloody fucking romantic. Ironically, the brutal lolita's testimony was decidedly un-romantic. She effectively sold Steinke down the river in court, claiming that he showed up unannounced in the middle of the night and started killing her family. Her parents went first, on the lower level of the home (Mr. Richardson literally fought to the death, the court heard), and then the pair killed little Jacob together in his bedroom upstairs.

“He yells at me, ‘Stab him, just stab him! Slit his throat!”
“I said, ‘I can’t, I can’t,’ and he said, ‘You have to. I did this for you.”

Officially, JR admitted to stabbing her brother only once - on Jeremy's insistence - weakly, in the chest. She claimed that it was her boyfriend who finished the job, and then left her, alone and afraid, with her dead family. Quite honestly, I might be willing to buy JR's story were it not for the actions and demeanor attributed to her after the fact. Shouldn't her cab driver have encountered a young woman who appeared distraught in some way? Should she have been able to laugh about it with her friends mere hours later? The pieces of the puzzle, as they remain on record, simply don't add up to a full and complete truth.

Even if her claims are true, that she had merely fantasized out loud about killing her family, and that she never actually wanted to physically murder them, that still doesn't absolve her of her markedly emotionless response to the fact that they were all dead now, and had died quite painfully and violently. Anyone of sound mind and body would have to be deeply affected if not traumatized by that... wouldn't they? All I see are questions regarding this case and the way it was handled, with no easily apparent answers.

 

On July 9, 2007, JR was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the killings, and sentenced to the maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment. She was given credit for 18 months of time served awaiting trial. Four years were to be served in a psychiatric institution, and four-and-a-half years to be served under conditional supervision in the community.

The Calgary Herald reported in September, 2011 that the teen killer had been living in an open custody group home since 2010, and was enrolled as a freshman in Calgary's Mount Royal University. After this became known to the media, her lawyer received a postponement of a post-sentencing hearing due to the fact that his client's rehabilitation plan had been compromised. Because of youth criminal justice and privacy laws in Canada, her identity and psychiatric reports are not to be revealed. By age 22 (approximately 4 years from the date of this writing), JR will have served her time and will be released - and will be a recent university graduate, to boot!

On December 15, 2008, Steinke was sentenced to three life sentences on each of three counts of first-degree murder. The sentences are to be served concurrently; Steinke will be eligible for parole after serving twenty-five years. No fancy mental health centres or group homes for Jeremy; his time served will be of the hard variety. Be that as it may, he won't exactly be an old man when he is ultimately set free, which seems unfair given the amount of innocent blood he spilled, and the sickeningly careless manner in which he spilled it.

Above: Jeremy's friends weep following a session in court.

Below: Steinke's mother praying for her sons soul, I guess?

I'm sure I am not the only person who has wondered if J&J still keep in touch, somehow, and if they have any plans to meet up again on the outside...?

And, not to worry about JR's exposed identity, folks. I'm sure she already has a new, unspoiled one picked out, just like her strikingly-similar predatory predecessor, Karla Homolka. In fact, Homolka could have taught young JR a great deal about how to cover up one's actions so as to prolong the mayhem, and enjoy it for as long as possible. I would venture that it's only because JR was so much younger than Karla when she forayed into a murderous lifestyle that she was unable to get away with it for more than a day.


More from Mascara & Murder...

Jail House Love Letters
Transcripts of a series of letters written by J.R. and Jeremy Steinke after their arrests.

(Handwritten) Jail House Love Letters
View handwritten letters by JR and Jeremy Steinke after their arrests.

'Tearful confession evokes Homolka's grisly deed'
Transcript of July 4, 2007 article by Christie Blatchford

'I just wanted him to go to sleep'
Transcript of July 5, 2007 article by Christie Blatchford

Runaway Devil Almost Free
Status update on J.R.'s "Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision"

Life without adults "tricky" for Runaway Devil
Commentary on the challenges to J.R.'s reintegration into free society.

Remembering the Richardson Family
Article commemorating the sixth anniversary of the murders.

Runaway Devil Online
View screen captures from JR's public profiles on various social networking sites.

Runaway Devil's Stick Figure Murder Plot
View a hand-drawn comic strip depicting a family being burned alive. The drawing was discovered in JR's school locker during the police investigation.

Medicine Hat Murder House
View a Google Maps photo of what the house looks like today. A new family now lives on the property, which is exactly what neighbours had wanted.

Runaway Devil and the Ross Glen 7-11
View a Google Maps photo of the convenience store that J.R. visited twice on the day following the murders, along with a map of the route she took from the crime scene.

Jeremy Steinke Abandons Appeal
Update on convicted triple-murderer (Runaway Devil's "sweet 666")

Runaway Devil is *Really* Sorry
Update on J.R. resulting from her latest sentence review hearing in October, 2012.

Facebook Weighs in on Runaway Devil
View and discuss two opposing Facebook pages debating the future of the teen killer.

Runaway Devil Attending Grant MacEwan University?
Not exactly the most reliable source, but Facebook says she's switched schools!

Runaway Devil: More Facebook Fodder
A summary of the more informative posts snipped from the bastion of present-day communication.


Outside Links

Runaway Devil
Site related to the book about the case against J.R. and Jeremy Steinke, by Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose