Souleater & the Runaway Devil: Jeremy Steinke & Jasmine Richardson

posted: 26 March 2021 | categories: Killer Couples, Killer Kids

TRIGGER WARNING: This article touches on the rape, abuse, and murder of both children and adults.

“I have this plan. It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you.”

-Jasmine Richardson

the crime

These are the chilling words of Jasmine Richardson to her boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, a month before before Jasmine’s entire family was murdered. Her parents and her little brother had been stabbed to death.

The murders were discovered on 23 April 2006, in Medicine Hat, a small city in the Canadian province of Alberta, when a neighbor boy, who happened to Jacob Richardson’s best friend, went to the house to see his friend. When there was no answer, he looked into the basement windows and saw the bodies. He ran home to tell his mother, who then called the police.

Jasmine’s 8yo brother Jacob was found in an upstairs bedroom, stabbed five times, including a deep slash across his throat. Her parents were found in the basement, both dead from repeated stabbings. Her mother had been stabbed 12 times, her father 24.[1]Bovsun, Mara. “JUSTICE STORY: The Sick, Sordid Tale of Souleater and the Runaway Devil.” Daily News, 20 Dec. 2020, Daily News, … Continue reading Two hours after the murders, witnesses saw the couple kissing and laughing at a restaurant.

When police arrived, they feared that Jasmine’s absence meant that she’d been taken against her will by whomever had murdered her family. They would soon discover that this was far from the case.[2]“Jasmine Richardson Walks Free a Decade after She and Boyfriend Massacred Her Family.” New Zealand Herald, 20 Aug. 2016, New Zealand Herald, … Continue reading

The couple was caught the next day, as they were attempting to escape with another friend driving them away.[3]Bovsun, Mara. “JUSTICE STORY: The Sick, Sordid Tale of Souleater and the Runaway Devil.” Daily News, 20 Dec. 2020, Daily News, … Continue reading Soon after their arrest, Jeremy wrote to Jasmine from jail, asking her to marry him. She accepted.[4]“Jasmine Richardson Walks Free a Decade after She and Boyfriend Massacred Her Family.” New Zealand Herald, 20 Aug. 2016, New Zealand Herald, … Continue reading

the killers…

jasmine richardson

Jasmine Richardson was only 12 years old when the murders had occured. Before that, she had, by all accounts, been a good kid. She’d gone to Catholic school, been an honor student. But things began to change about a year before the murders. She discovered the goth subculture and she embraced it. The happy, social girl she’d once been disappeared. She delved into the online gothic world, going by the handle “the Runaway Devil.” Then in early 2006, just months before her family was annihilated, she met Jeremy Steinke, otherwise known as “Souleater.”[5]Bovsun, Mara. “JUSTICE STORY: The Sick, Sordid Tale of Souleater and the Runaway Devil.” Daily News, 20 Dec. 2020, Daily News, … Continue reading

And that was the beginning of the end.

jeremy steinke

Jeremey Steinke was 23 years old when he met Jasmine. Unlike Jasmine, Jeremy’s life had been fraught with trauma. His mother was an alcoholic whose partners frequently abused Jeremy. He had few friends in school, often targeted by bullies. At a young age, Jeremy was diagnosed with hyperactivity and depression. At one point, he attempted suicide by hanging. In what I believe might have been a defence mechanism, Jeremy self-styled himself as a 300-year-old werewolf. As a part of that persona, he typically wore a vial of blood around his neck.[6]“Jasmine Richardson Walks Free a Decade after She and Boyfriend Massacred Her Family.” New Zealand Herald, 20 Aug. 2016, New Zealand Herald, … Continue reading

the motives…

Jasmine’s parents discovered the relationship between her daughter and the much older Jeremy. Not surprisingly, they immediately forbade her from seeing him. Jasmine was too involved with Jeremy by then to accept their order. She told police that she was extremely unhappy and thought killing them was the only way she could be with him.

However, her reasoning for killing her little brother is a little less obvious. At first, she insinuated that Jacob’s death was not part of the plan, that Jeremy had killed him. Later, she said that she had killed him, her reasonin that it would be too cruel to leave him without parents.

While love may have been the couple’s motive, it didn’t stop them from turning on each other. When Jasmine was first questioned, she told police that she’d had nothing to do with it, that she’d come home to find her family dead. Then she blamed it all on Jeremy. And while Jeremy did admit to killing her parents, he told police that Jasmine killed her brother herself.[7]Bovsun, Mara. “JUSTICE STORY: The Sick, Sordid Tale of Souleater and the Runaway Devil.” Daily News, 20 Dec. 2020, Daily News, … Continue reading

the aftermath…

In 2008, Jeremy Steinke was convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life but eligible for parole after 25 years. However, Jasmine’s punishment was much less severe. Because of her status as a juvenile, and despite the severity of her crimes, at the conclusion of her trial in 2007, she was sentenced to the maximum allowed for a juvenile… 10 years. 4 of those years were spent in a psychatric hospital, 4+ more in conditional community supervision while she attended college. The remaining time was time served in custody before her trial.[8]“Jasmine Richardson Walks Free a Decade after She and Boyfriend Massacred Her Family.” New Zealand Herald, 20 Aug. 2016, New Zealand Herald, … Continue reading

Not only was her sentence relatively light, so too was her treatment in the media. Canadian law prevents the identification of juvenile offenders, no matter the severity of her crime. And when she was released in 2016, she was given a new identity. Whoever she is now, she has the dubious distinction of being the youngest Canadian to be convicted of multiple murders.[9]Bovsun, Mara. “JUSTICE STORY: The Sick, Sordid Tale of Souleater and the Runaway Devil.” Daily News, 20 Dec. 2020, Daily News, … Continue reading

works cited[+]

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