True Crime Collection

Richardson Family Murders

At 1pm on 23rd April 2006, the bodies of husband Marc Richardson, 42, and wife Debra, 48, were found in the basement of their home, and the body of their son Tyler Jacob, 8, was discovered upstairs. Absent from the home at the time was the couple's 12 year old daughter Jasmine. For a time it was feared that she might have also been a victim, but she was arrested the following day in the community of Leader, Saskatchewan, about 81 miles away, with her 23 year old boyfriend Jeremy Allan Steinke. Both were charged with the 3 murders. Later, on 3rd May 2006, Jeremy's friend Kacy Lancaster, 19, was charged with being an accessory, for driving them away in her pickup truck later in the day and for disposing of evidence. 

According to friends of Jasmine, her parents had punished her for dating Jeremy due to the age disparity. Her friends had also criticised their relationship. Shortly after her arrest, Jeremy asked her to marry him, and she agreed. According to friends of Jeremy, he told them he was a 300 year old werewolf. 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. Jasmine had a page at the same site, leading to speculation they met there. However, an acquaintance of Jeremy later said he 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. 

Jasmine'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, Jeremy and some friends reportedly watched the 1994 film Natural Born Killers, about a young couple who go on a violent killing spree. Jeremy told his friends that he and his girlfriend should go about their plans in a similar manner, but without sparing her little brother. Jeremy 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...". 

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, Jasmine's name could no longer be published in Canada after she became a suspect. Under the same act, 12 is the youngest possibly age at which a person can be charged with a crime; convicts who are under 14 years of age at the time they committed a crime cannot be sentenced as adults, and cannot be given more than a 10 year sentence. On 9th July 2007, Jasmine, who had by then turned 13, was found guilty of 3 counts of first degree murder in the killings. She is believed to be the youngest person ever convicted of a multiple murder in Canada. 

On 8th November, 2007, she was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment. Her sentence included credit for 18 months already spent in custody, to be followed by 4 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 10 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. 

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

Jeremy 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 3 counts of first degree murder for the killings of the 3 Richardson victims. On 15th December 2008, Jeremy was sentenced to 3 life sentences one for each first degree murder count. The sentences are to be served concurrently, and Jeremy will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years. 

The accessory to murder charge against the couple's friend Kacy Lancaster was dropped, and she pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge in Medicine Hat provincial court. She received 1 year house arrest as part of the plea bargain, and was ordered to refrain from drugs and alcohol.