At age 12, Jasmine Richardson helped her adult "boyfriend" Jeremy Steinke plot the fatal stabbings of her parents and her younger brother in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada in April 2006.
Wikimedia CommonsJasmine Richardson’s yearbook photo, taken before she and Jeremy Steinke plotted the Richardson family murders.
In April 2006, almost every member of the Richardson family was brutally murdered inside their home in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. There was only one survivor in the family: 12-year-old Jasmine Richardson.
But this was no miracle. The reason why Jasmine survived the slayings is because she was responsible for the gruesome crimes. As it turned out, Jasmine and her 23-year-old “boyfriend” Jeremy Steinke had planned the fatal stabbings of Jasmine’s parents and her younger brother. The horrifying killings shocked the local community and the entire nation.
Jasmine Richardson had once been a bright student, sociable, and generally well-liked. She eventually became interested in social media and goth culture, hinting at changes in her. Of course, having a “goth phase” or using social media alone isn’t normally a cause for concern. What was concerning, however, were the “relationships” Jasmine had with older men online.
As she fell further into her rebellion, she became obsessed with controversial musicians like Marilyn Manson and even serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer. Then, Jasmine Richardson met Jeremy Steinke, straining her relationship with her family. Forbidden from seeing the older man, she became determined to get rid of her parents once and for all.
The youngest person in Canada ever convicted of multiple counts of murder, Jasmine Richardson only received a 10-year Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision sentence due to her young age at the time of the crimes. And in 2016, the then-22-year-old became a free woman.
How Jasmine Richardson Went From Honor Student To Troublemaker
Jasmine Richardson/MyspaceShortly after Jasmine Richardson gained reliable access to the internet, she became obsessed with social media.
Jasmine Richardson was born on October 21, 1993, to Debra and Marc Richardson in Canada. Debra and Marc Richardson were former drug addicts, but they had maintained their sobriety by the time they became parents. They later welcomed a second child, their son Tyler Jacob.
Things were difficult for the young family at first, and the Richardsons sometimes relied on food banks for their meals, but they eventually saved up enough money to buy a home in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Around this same time, the young Jasmine began to use the internet more often, especially early social media platforms like Myspace.
Jasmine had always been a good student. She made the honor roll at school, and she participated in several activities, including a fine arts program. But at home, Jasmine was spending more and more time online — and then, at some point, something in her changed.
While at a local mall in the summer of 2005, Jasmine and her friends met a group of older goth kids and became obsessed with the goth subculture. Jasmine began dressing in goth fashion, but she also became rebellious in other ways — some of which were very dangerous.
Online, she lied about her age, claiming to be an older teen. She became a member of VampireFreaks.com. She posted photos that were inappropriate for her age. She claimed to be a Wiccan. She developed an interest in serial killers, especially Jeffrey Dahmer, and what she described as “kinky sh*t.”
Then, she met Jeremy Steinke.
Inside Jeremy Steinke’s Troubled Past
Medicine Hat High SchoolJeremy Steinke’s yearbook photo, taken before he dropped out of high school.
Jeremy Allan Steinke was born on January 15, 1983 to Jacqueline May in Medicine Hat. Steinke’s upbringing was turbulent. His mother was an alcoholic, and her partners regularly abused him. Her third husband, for instance, once pushed Steinke’s head into a deep freezer.
According to journalists Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose’s book Runaway Devil, Steinke’s mother also moved around a lot, so Steinke never made any genuine, long-lasting friendships. He was diagnosed with ADHD, he was often bullied, and he began drinking and experimenting with drugs early on. By the 10th grade, he had dropped out of high school.
Meanwhile, Steinke had also developed an elaborate persona. Wearing a vial of blood around his neck, he claimed to be a “300-year-old werewolf.” By age 16, he had left his mother’s home to live with his biological father, only to find the situation there wasn’t much better. He moved out again shortly after, and for a time, he seemed to want to build a better life for himself.
Steinke worked various jobs while attending Medicine Hat College, only to drop out and effectively give up on looking for a full-time career.
Jeremy SteinkeJeremy Steinke was often mocked by his peers, some of whom called him “Stinky” because of his last name.
Like Jasmine Richardson, Jeremy Steinke immersed himself in goth culture, hoping to become a metal musician. Lacking real friends, he started offering younger goths drugs and alcohol so they’d spend time with him.
He also signed up for VampireFreaks, where he made disturbing posts about “liking to kill” prostitutes and “then playing with their insides.” His listed “dislikes” notably included a racial slur for Black people.
In January 2006, the then-23-year-old Jeremy Steinke was introduced to 12-year-old Jasmine Richardson by a mutual friend, and they quickly began “dating.” Steinke claimed that Jasmine lied to him about her age, but according to his acquaintances, they frequently told him that the relationship was grossly inappropriate and that he needed to end it.
Jasmine’s family certainly felt the same. They forbade her from seeing Steinke, but she still regularly snuck out to see him. The two also often communicated online, more determined than ever to stay together.
The Gruesome Richardson Family Murders
Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Steinke claimed to be in love. Furious at Jasmine’s parents, Steinke raged on a blogging platform:
“Their throats I want to slit. They will regret the sh*t they have done. Especially when I see to it that they are gone. They shall pay for their insulince [sic]. Finally there shall be silence. Their blood shall be payment!”
But according to police reports, it was Jasmine who first proposed the Richardson family murders. In an online message, she told Steinke she had a plan: “It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you.”
Calgary HeraldThe front page of the Calgary Herald, featuring a photograph of Jasmine Richardson’s parents.
Jeremy Steinke was receptive to the idea, replying, “Well I love your plan but we need to get a little more creative with like details and stuff.”
Jasmine Richardson reportedly told friends about the plans to kill her parents, but they either didn’t believe her or thought she was joking.
Shortly before the murders, the duo purportedly watched Oliver Stone’s 1994 film Natural Born Killers, which sees a serial killer couple murder the woman’s parents before killing numerous other people across three states. Then, in April 2006, at her parents’ home on a quiet residential street in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, Jasmine Richardson and her adult “boyfriend” Jeremy Steinke followed through with their planned massacre.
On April 23, 2006, a young local boy who was walking by the Richardson family home spotted what he thought was a body through a window. He immediately told his mother, who quickly called the police.
Inspector Brent Secondiak of the Medicine Hat Police Service soon arrived on the scene and looked into a basement window, where he saw at least one person on the ground. He called other officers for backup, thinking they may be able to save someone in the house. But nobody inside was alive; Marc Richardson, his wife Debra Richardson, and the couple’s eight-year-old son Tyler Jacob Richardson had all been fatally stabbed. And one family member, the 12-year-old daughter of the dead couple, was missing from the scene. It was initially thought that she might have been kidnapped.
PinterestJasmine Richardson before the murders.
“I truly believed that this person was missing and possibly abducted. It wasn’t even in the realm of possibility that she was an accused,” Secondiak later said of the initial investigation into the Richardson family murders.
Piecing the events together, the police determined that Debra was killed first after being stabbed at least a dozen times. Marc fought back against his killer with a screwdriver, but he was ultimately stabbed to death as well, over two dozen times. Both parents’ bodies were left in the basement.
Tyler Jacob was left upstairs in his blood-soaked bed. Like his parents, he had been stabbed, but his throat was also slashed open.
Fearing Jasmine Richardson was a victim too, the police announced that they were searching for her, “regarding a serious family matter.”
But after recovering evidence in her room and school locker, investigators realized that she was actually one of the prime suspects.
Jasmine Richardson’s Arrest And Conviction
Internet ArchiveJasmine Richardson’s profile on Nexopia, where she listed her age as 15.
A trail of digital evidence led to Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Steinke, mainly consisting of online messages between the two. They were soon tracked down — just one day after the bodies were found — and they were promptly arrested in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Before long, police determined that Steinke had murdered Jasmine’s parents downstairs, while Jasmine was upstairs in her brother’s room.
Witnesses later testified that the two had admitted to the murders. One witness recounted Steinke saying that the victims had been “gutted like fish,” and Jasmine said her brother had “gargled” after his throat was cut.
As for how the Richardson family murders were carried out, police believed that on the night of the killings, Jasmine left her home’s basement window open so Steinke could break in. When Debra woke up and investigated the scene, Steinke began to stab her, and when Marc tried to help his wife, Steinke stabbed him too. Meanwhile, Jasmine began stabbing her younger brother, later claiming she thought it would be “too cruel” to leave him as an orphan, and Steinke finished that murder by slitting the boy’s throat.
Internet ArchiveJasmine Richardson’s profile on Zorpia.
At her 2007 trial, Jasmine Richardson, who was only identified as J.R. at the time because of her age, pleaded not guilty. She said she had “hypothetical” conversations about killing her family, but didn’t intend to actually do it.
But she was ultimately found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and given the maximum sentence for a youth of her age — a 10-year Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) sentence, which included four years in a psychiatric institution and four-and-a-half years under conditional supervision. She was 13 at the time of her conviction.
By 2008, Jeremy Steinke had been convicted of three counts of first-degree murder as well. Since he was an adult, he was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility for parole after 25 years behind bars.
Early on, Steinke and Jasmine exchanged letters from jail, promising to marry each other. None of these letters expressed remorse.
After A 10-Year Sentence For Killing Her Family, Jasmine Richardson Walked Free
Google MapsThe Richardson family home. Some believe Jasmine Richardson lives near her old community today.
Psychiatric assessments later revealed that Jasmine Richardson was diagnosed with conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, so she underwent extensive rehabilitation after she was sentenced.
Then, in 2016, when she was just a year younger than Steinke was when they committed the Richardson family murders, Richardson was freed. It was initially thought that she was released into the same community where she grew up, but it’s unclear where she is today or what her new name is.
Using reports from Richardson’s probation officer, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Scott Brooker told Richardson, “You’ve indicated through your conduct… you have a desire to atone for what you did.” Brooker added, “Clearly you cannot undo the past, you can only live each day with the knowledge that you can control how you behave.”
Not everyone was so confident, though. In an interview with CBC, Brent Secondiak, one of the first officers on the scene after the murders, expressed fear that Richardson would eventually reoffend.
“I don’t truly understand it — an act of horror and violence like that. But I hope we can just find peace and move on,” Secondiak said. “My biggest fear is that she hasn’t [been rehabilitated], that she’s tricked those in the system, that she hasn’t moved forward.” He added, “I hope that she’s truly taken responsibility for this and is able to move forward.”
In the years since she was released, Jasmine Richardson has faded into relative obscurity and has seemingly not reoffended. Now in her early 30s, her record has been formally expunged since 2020.
After learning about the Richardson family murders committed by Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Steinke, read about the infamous Ken and Barbie Killers who terrorized Ontario. Then, go inside the horrific story of Luka Magnotta’s murder and dismemberment of Jun Lin in Montreal.
