A 13-year-old Alberta girl has been found guilty of murdering her parents and younger brother in a bloody attack in their Medicine Hat home.

The jury handed down its guilty verdict on three counts of first-degree murder after just three hours of deliberations on Monday in the Court of Queen's Bench in Medicine Hat.

The girl will be sentenced Aug. 23 and faces up to six years in jail, followed by up to four years supervision in the community.

As the verdict was read Monday, the girl wept quietly in the prisoner's box, her hand placed over her mouth. Her lawyer, Tim Foster, went over to her and put his arm around her.

"You develop relationships with your client, and sometimes people just need a hug," an emotional Foster told reporters outside the courtroom.

The girl, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was accused of killing her mother, father and her eight-year-old brother on April 22, 2006, when she was just 12.

She is believed to be the youngest person in Canada to be convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder.

During the trial, which began June 4, the girl testified that her 23-year-old boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, broke into her home and attacked and killed her mother and father.

Source

My question is what was a 23 year old guy doing with a 13 year old girl?

This topic goes well with the topic about giving girls this age the morning after pill at schools.
I have heard and read many times that those who use very young females for sex are usually far older than them and that here in the States most offenders are in their thirties.

It would appear that in many ways young females are being exposed and unwatched in the west in ways that they just should not be.

Reminds me of the Ammityville Horror

actually she was 12 at the time of the crime. It was said they were killing her family so that she could be with this guy, the parents were trying to stop her from seeing him. Bloody ridiculous.

i wonder if she is going to be suicidal later in life. Thats some tuff stuff to swallow killing your mom and brother.

Well, for her to do it in the first place, I have no pity for her. So, if she became suicidal, oh, well. At 12 you should know the difference between right and wrong. And this was so wrong.

and her dad to.

This is just sickning and I can't believe this happened less then 2 hours from my home town. The girl is going to have a tough time living with this, but as far as her (boyfriend) goes, hang em damn I wish Canada would bring back the death penalty !!!

She got off way to lightly !My husband read that she told her boyfriend (If you love me you,ll do this )And i know that a 24 year old shouldn,t be with a 13 year old,but i was only 13 when i dated guys in thier mid and late 20,s,and i knew how to manipulate them into giving me whatever i wanted,and at 16 i married my husband who was 24 at the time and we are still togeather 32 years later. So i just don,t buy the poor ,dumb,young and manipulated child crap! She wanted her family dead and she seduced her boyfriend into getting what she wanted! And now she gets to take a walk before she even hits 20!?! Thats nuts!!!

I have to agree that she knew what she was doing. At 12 you know that murder is wrong. She's just as guilty as he is. Hang 'em both as far as I'm concerned.

I know, our laws are lax here. I also wish they would bring back the death penalty. People who do this should not be supported in jails on our tax dollars. And the rights that they have in jail! They have more than the victims. If they commit a heinous crime like that, they should have no rights. If they want food, they should have to work for it, if they want a bed, they should have towork for it.....

I agree and it was one of the first things that I thought that the two topics go together. I agree with everything you've stated here. The only thing that I'll add is young girls are as savvy about the seduction that an older males will do. They are thrilled and feel that they are more mature than their peers when an older guy gives them attention. An older male is more likely to have a car or money than someone of their own age etc.
And the distinction that she was twelve when the crime was committed rather than being thirteen is nit picky. There isn't a magic wand that gets waved from one year to the next to make a 13yr old more accountable or less than a 12 yr old in this instance. She killed three members of her family, helped plan it because she wasn't getting to date a guy that should have had a restraining order placed on him and depending if their relationship was sexual a rape charge.
I just can't believe that she'll only serve 6 years????

Mabon.

Amen Ladies!!!

Well your entitled to your own opinion, but i disagree with you. I cant even imagine a little girl doing that and believe me i have some weird and sick fantasies. However if everybody new the difference between right and wrong, there would be no judicial system, no lawyers, jails etcc. Besides the homeless who would want to go to jail. So what im understanding from you is killing was her choice ,fully aware, and in a state of mind knowing the difference and reprocusions, and not under the influence of a substance or person. I seriously dont think this litle girl is evil, maybee shes has been led astray. Its difficult fora single mom to raise kids properly and pay the bills.

Thats no excuse!During my 32 year marriage we sepperated for a few years and i was raising our daughter alone, and i know about poverty, without the food banks and government aid we would have been homeless and starving and even with the help there were times there was no food in the house! And when i was young i was always getting in trouble! But it was that good old Healthy dose of fear of what might happen to me that kept me from becomming a little criminal! Back when i was a kid they didn,t make so many excuses for bad behavior,and being affraid kept me just this side of the law and i am so grateful for that fear and the knowledge i would have been held accountable!
No fear+No accountability =naughty children turning into dangerous offenders!

I know at 12 I knew that murder was wrong and no one would have been about change my mind!

I honestly think both of them are responsible. I think they manipulated each other. We will never really know what was happening in their heads at the time.

Hello Hnnjsn.

Not everyone knows the difference between right and wrong those who are deemed of diminished capacities aren't held to the same standards. Most people know the difference between right and wrong this was a choice to commit murder. The judicial system is there because people know the difference if they didn't know the difference there wouldn't be a judicial system. So in this we disagree.
Levels of maturity are difficult to judge. Two children of the same age and from similar backgrounds may have widely different maturity levels, however unless the girl is of diminished capacities at twelve it is unimaginable to think that she didn't know what dead means or murder. She would have to live in a vacuum not to know what murder is.

I agree I don't think that she is 'evil' but let loose to wander for taking the lives of three people after serving six is inexcusable IMHO.
Mabon.

Yes but she wasn't in a single parent family, as far as I know they were typical well respected members of the community. If my memory serves me, the police found notes in her school locker referring to her fantasies of killing them, the boyfriend wouldn't be allowed in the school so who was she keeping the notes for?

I know, eh? She only gets 6 flipping years! 6! Thats all! Canada's justice system is flawed, its now a pity we ever gave up the hangmans noose.

And in Medicine Hat too? Thats dangeously close to home.

Mwahahaha, that girl has to be the most pathetic thing ever, right along with that 23 year old pathetic boyfriend of hers.

I too came from poverty, my mother worked full time, my father worked full time. My parents were divorced when i was one. I had noone leading by example for the most part in my life. The slum i grew up was the place where breaking the law was the fun thing to do. So idisagree with you, she is twelve. I robbed a house when i was thirteen and got caught. I didnt learn my lesson then i just got smarter. i remember my childhood very well and a lack of self control is a difficult thing to overcome at any age let alone at such a young one.

Without thier having been any extreme abuse of any kind to make the young girl lash out then this is a case of two evil like minded people meeting and making a lethal combination that culminated in a triple murder.

I,m sorry you had such a tough start in life! And thats what i,m talking about, There are so many young people with no one to set the example,boundaries and limits,so these kids behave in a way that does a lot of damage to others and themselves!And self controle needs to be learned and practiced from the time you are young or you end up wiyh an adult commiting horrible crimes and saying DUH I didn,t know, no one showed me !Well thats why we as a society have to step in and say this is the line,If you can,t controle yourself we will controle you by puting your butt in a cell or if nessasary we ,ll execute you to keep others who respect others by practicing self controle safe from you!

WHAT! That is crazy I dont care if she's 13 she should fry her and that boyfriend. There is no real justice in any country if she did it here in the U.S.A she would have gotton off with a light sentence to because of her age.

I AM a single mother. My daughter is 8 and she knows right from wrong. I talk to her a lot about what is wrong to do and what repercussions are. Too many kids think they won't be touched because they are minors. Kids who do stuff like this have no excuse. I watched a show about two men who grew up in a slum on the same block. One became a lawyer through hard work and perseverance. The other was a criminal who blamed the "system". Now, there are those who want to blame everyone else for their problems and there are those who stand up and take the blame. This girl was working everyone she could. She knew what she was doing, she knew it was wrong. In her testimony she was holding her brother while he pleaded for his life. Pleading for his life from his big sister and what did she do? She took a knife to him. Anybody else would have helped her family get out of the house if it was just the boyfriend who wanted to kill. She was just cold hearted and selfish to get what she wanted.

Yeah, this whole thing is absolutely ridiculous... really disturbing.


She will certainly have some issues to say the least.



This girl should be in for way longer than 6 years. And the boyfriend needs the death penalty. That is such a horrible tragedy.

Now days, our 8 year old girls have put away the Barbies, and want their own real life Kens! 13, and that girl knew full heartedly what she was conspiring.. Pathetic!

wow only 6 years for killing family?WOW

I never used to support capital punishment until now. Hearing that theres sick and twisted killers who are willing to kill their own family that close to my own community and that our justice system is only throwing 6 years at them has pissed me off. Along with her 23 year old boyfriend, that sick and twisted son-of-a-b*tch, not only preying on 12 year old girls but twisting her mind aswell enough to murder her own family.

It especially makes me mad that countries like Iran will execute 16 year olds for lipping off to a judge, but we let our murderers off with a mere slap on the wrist! Though we should not go even closely as far as Iran, we should still bring capital punishment back to do away with people such as this 23 year old pedophile/murderer.

I don't think he twisted her mind. I think she had these thoughts already and just needed someone to give her a hand. Scary.

^ Sometimes all it takes is that extra little push in the wrong direction...

I totally agree. I'm sure she already had the fantasy she just needed someone to tell her it was "okay".

Yes, that's the thing about maturity and assuming that she didn't know what she was doing or wanting to do. People have this idealized picture of children and assume that they don't possess the emotions of adults and somehow their reasoning abilities are frozen until someone waves a wand over them at specific ages depending on what argument the individual wants to make. Again unless diminished mentally there is no reason to assume that her boyfriend put her up to this. Someone stated earlier that it was an unfortunate lethal combination and that I can agree with.

12-13 at one time was considered old enough to marry and raise your own family and that wasn't that far back. In some cultures it still is considered old enough to be considered accountable for your actions maybe not emotionally mature but then that argument can be made about people well over the age of 21, or whatever is considered legal age in respective countries.

I do feel that it is a difficult time in a persons life what are referred to as teen age years. You're expected to act like an adult but not have the privileges of an adult and when you act like a teen your frowned at and told to grow up and stop being childish. It's a difficult time and the way that teens are treated is ridiculous yet I don't delude myself and say that children are all sweet innocent and led astray. Some can be, some can't, it's as individual as the person not their age.


Mabon.

Six flipping years? Ship her off to Texas; I'll even pitch in for the ticket.

Six years is terrible and at 12 she would have known what she was doing.

I want to know if the guy will face any charges for being with a minor?

What the hell is that supposed to mean? It appears the young boys in the east are getting molested by priests!

Ya cause killing the father is the easy part.

actually i didnt read the story. I was under the assumption she only killed two people. Her mom and brother. I dont believe in capital punishment. why not keep those sick moe foes under lock and key in a heavily fortified position. ironically they are kept safe from natural disasters and other potential harm. I wonder if somebody will open the doors if some sort of ELE (extinction level event) is in the near future?????IN a world of human wreckage

I don't believe in capital punishment or locking people up.

So what would you do with them?

No government no law, people solve all problems by themselves!
I guess you could compare it to the wild west type of law, shoot first ask questions later.


But of course that wont happen anytime soon.

Typical! Somehow I knew it was something like that. >.<

That wouldn't be a society many people could survive in though would it?

Crime would be rife as there would be no consequences, society would break down.

so what happend to her brother? didnt she kill him?

Yeah, when that kid got possesed and killed his dad and all of those little sisters? Haha, that was a kickass movie, I saw it on TNT Halloween special, or whatever.

Yes. The brother was killed too, Eric.

Crazy stuff.

Over population is becoming a big problem these days isn't it



Sure there'd be consequences... like a home invader getting shot in the face on entry, instead of raping and killing the occupants and then being brought to justice... if you call living comfy in a jail justice for such an act of flawed human conduct.

Better them than me. And crime would be slim to none, you miss behave you get put in the ground.

No comment its just plain sick