As Jasmine Richardson's relationship with her boyfriend Jeremey Steinke grew, so did their heinous plan to massacre her family.
Jasmine Richardson/MyspaceJasmine Richardson was just 12 years old when she planned her family’s murder with her 23-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke.
In April 2006, every member of the Richardson family was brutally killed inside their home in Medicine Hat, Canada — except one, the family’s 12-year-old daughter Jasmine Richardson.
But this was no miracle. The reason Jasmine survived when her family did not is that she was responsible for their murders. She and her 23-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke had planned the whole thing. The horrifying killings shocked not only the 60,000 person community but the entire nation.
Jasmine Richardson had always been a bright student, sociable, and generally well liked. Unfortunately, she also became heavily involved in social media, and her sudden interest in goth culture hinted at some change in her. Of course, having a “goth phase” alone isn’t a cause for concern. What was concerning, however, were the relationships Jasmine had with older men online.
As she fell further into her rebellious phase, she began drinking. She became obsessed with serial killers and figures like Marilyn Manson. And then, eventually, she met Jeremy Steinke — all of which strained her relationship with her family. Then, she reached a breaking point and devised a plan to rid herself of them, once and for all.
Yet despite being the youngest person in Canada ever convicted of multiple first-degree murder counts, Jasmine Richardson only received a 10-year sentence. And in 2016, she became a free woman.
How Jasmine Richardson Went From Straight-A Student To Troublemaker
Jasmine Richardson was born on October 21, 1993, to Debra and Marc Richardson in Ontario, Canada. The Richardsons were recovering drug addicts, but they had maintained their sobriety and eventually moved from Ontario to the small farming town of Okotoks shortly before having a second child, their son Jacob.
Things were difficult at first, as the Richardsons struggled to get by and relied on food banks for their meals, but eventually they saved up enough to buy a home of their own.
They settled into their new home in Medicine Hat in 2005, thanks to a promotion Marc had received. Their daughter, meanwhile, was now in her pre-teen years at a time when Myspace was at its peak popularity and the online community was rapidly growing.
Wikimedia CommonsJasmine Richardson’s 7th-grade yearbook photo.
Jasmine had always been a good student. She made the honor roll at school, and she engaged in several social activities, including a fine arts program. But at home, she was spending more and more time online — and then, something in her changed.
While at the Medicine Hat Mall in the summer of 2005, Jasmine and her friends met a group of older goth kids and became obsessed with the subculture. She began dressing in goth fashion, but it didn’t end there. She had started to become rebellious, to a dangerous degree.
Online, she lied about her age and said she was older. She became a member of VampireFreaks.com. She posted photos that were not appropriate for a girl her age. She said she was a Wiccan and began drinking. She developed an interest in serial killers, scarification, and what she described as “kinky shit.”
Then, she met Jeremy Steinke.
Jeremy Steinke’s Troubled Past Was Riddled With Abuse
Jeremy SteinkeJeremy Steinke was bullied as a child. Children would call him “stinky” because of his last name.
Jeremy Allan Steinke was born on January 15, 1983 to Jacqueline Ann May in Medicine Hat.
Steinke’s upbringing wasn’t as wholesome as Richardson’s. His mother was an alcoholic, and her partners regularly abused him. His second stepfather, for instance, once locked Steinke in a deep freezer. In another altercation, Steinke fought back against his mother’s abusive ex-boyfriend, breaking his arm with a lead pipe.
These violent situations made it impossible for Steinke to have a stable home life.
According to journalists Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose’s Runaway Devil, his mother moved frequently, and as a result, Steinke never really made any long-lasting friendships. He was often bullied, was diagnosed with ADHD, and began drinking at the age of 14. He followed this up with a series of drugs, including shrooms, ecstasy, acid, and marijuana. He dropped out of high school that year as well.
He had also developed an elaborate persona. Wearing a vial of blood around his neck, he claimed to be a “300-year-old werewolf.” By the time he was 16, Steinke 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 seemed to want to build a better life for himself.
Steinke worked various jobs while attending Medicine Hat College, only to then drop out and effectively give up on looking for a full-time career.
Internet ArchiveJasmine Richardson’s profile on Nexopia, where she lists her age as 16.
Like Richardson, Steinke then immersed himself in online goth culture. He wanted to be a metal musician and, to make himself feel like he had a close-knit group of friends, he started supplying some younger goth teens with drugs and alcohol so they’d spend time with him. He also signed up for VampireFreaks, where he made posts about “liking to kill” prostitutes, “then playing with their insides and eating him.”
His listed “dislikes” notably included a racial slur.
In January 2006, the now 23-year-old Steinke was introduced to Jasmine Richardson by a mutual friend, and they quickly began dating. Steinke claimed that Richardson lied to him about her age, though according to friends of his, they frequently told him that the relationship was grossly inappropriate and that he needed to end it.
Richardson’s family certainly felt the same. At home, her behavior only got worse, and she was even behaving violently toward her younger brother. Twice when she was grounded, stuck at home babysitting Jacob, she snuck out to go see Steinke. She managed to convince her parents to let her see a punk show, though — only to then sneak away and be caught making out with Steinke and told that she was no longer allowed to see him.
Steinke and Richardson decided then that they would do anything to stay together.
The Grisly And Brutal Murder Of The Richardson Family
Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Steinke were in love, or so they said. Livid at Richardson’s parents, Steinke wrote on his blogging platform on April 3, 2006:
“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!”
But according to police reports, it was Richardson who first proposed the plan. In an email, she told Steinke she had a plan.
“It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you,” she wrote.
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.
The night before the murders, the duo watched Oliver Stone’s 1994 film Natural Born Killers. Then, on April 23, 2006, at her parent’s home on a quiet residential street in Medicine Hat, Jasmine Richardson and her boyfriend followed through with their massacre.
The next day, a neighbor told reporters that a young boy went over to his friend’s house – Richardson’s little brother – and thought he saw a body through the window. He ran home and told his mother, who then called the police.
Inspector Brent Secondiak 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, Debra Richardson, and their eight-year-old son had all been brutally murdered. And one family member, the 12-year-old daughter of the dead couple, was missing from the scene.
PinterestA photograph of Jasmine Richardson before the murders.
“It wasn’t even in the realm of possibility that she was an accused,” said Secondiak.
Piecing the events together, the police found that Debra was killed first after being stabbed at last a dozen times. Marc fought back with a screwdriver but was stabbed to death as well. Both parent’s bodies were found in the basement.
Upstairs in his blood-soaked bed, the youngest Richardson had his throat slashed open.
Fearing Jasmine Richardson was a victim too, the police released a statement that said they were searching for the Richardson’s daughter “regarding a serious family matter” and sent out an Amber Alert.
But after recovering evidence in her room and locker, investigators realized she was the prime suspect.
Jasmine Richardson Goes From Victim To Criminal
A trail of digital evidence led to Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Steinke, mainly consisting of the email exchanges between the two. They were tracked down and arrested in Steinke’s truck.
It was indicated that Steinke killed Richardson’s parents downstairs, while she was upstairs in her brother’s room.
Witnesses testified that the two had admitted to the murders. One witness recounted Steinke saying that the victims had been “gutted like fish.”
Internet ArchiveJasmine Richardson’s profile on the forum 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 on ever going through with it.
But she was found guilty by a jury for three counts of first-degree murder and given the maximum sentence for a youth — six years in jail followed by four years of supervision in the community. She was 13 by the time she was convicted.
In 2008, Jeremy Steinke was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder as well. As he was 25 at the time of the conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for 25 years.
The couple exchanged letters from jail, promising to marry. None of the letters expressed guilt or remorse.
After 10 Years Behind Bars For Killing Her Family, Jasmine Richardson Walks Free
Jasmine Richardson underwent extensive rehabilitation and treatment after she was sentenced. Psychiatric assessments revealed she was diagnosed with conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. In 2016, at just a year younger than her partner-in-crime was when they committed the homicides, Richardson was freed from the criminal justice system.
Using reports from Richardson’s probation officer, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Scott Brooker said, “You’ve indicated through your conduct … you have a desire to atone for what you did,” adding, “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, who now goes by J.R., would 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,” he 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. I hope she’s truly taken responsibility for this and is able to move forward.”
In the years since she was released, Richardson has faded into relative obscurity and seemingly not reoffended. Now in her early 30s, her record was formally expunged in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After learning about the Richardson family murders committed by Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Steinke, read about Issei Sagawa, the cannibal killer who walked free. Then read about Rose Blanchard, the “sick” child who killed her even “sicker” mother.
