CALGARY — An Alberta man confessed to killing a Medicine Hat couple, but blamed the death of their young son – and the plot to murder all three – on his 12-year-old girlfriend, who wanted her family dead so they could be together, a court heard yesterday.
Jeremy Steinke, 25, sat in the prisoner's box with his head down and his mother in the gallery, as the prosecution outlined disturbing evidence – including the dying words of one of the victims – it plans to present to the jury in an attempt to prove he is guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the 2006 slayings.
In her opening address, Crown prosecutor Ramona Robins told the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary that Mr. Steinke bragged to other inmates about the stabbing deaths and confessed to an undercover police officer that he did it for love.
“[J.R.] wanted her parents dead,” Ms. Robins said. “She was the motive. He was the means. Mr. Steinke would do anything for [J.R.].”
Police placed an officer posing as a prisoner in a court transfer van with Mr. Steinke and recorded their chilling conversation regarding the deaths of the 42-year-old man, his 48-year-old wife and their eight-year-old son, according to Ms. Robins.
As the man was being stabbed in his own home, he asked his attacker, “Why?” Ms. Robins said.
Mr. Steinke allegedly responded: “Because your daughter wanted it that way,” she added.
During that conversation in the van, Mr. Steinke also allegedly provided other details about what happened.
“He tried to talk [J.R.] out of it, but she wouldn't have it that way and that he was a man of his word,” Ms. Robins said.
Prison guards will say they overheard a confession Mr. Steinke allegedly made to other inmates after he was arrested, Ms. Robins added.
“He did his girlfriend's mother and father and she did her little brother,” she said, referring to upcoming witness testimony.
J.R.'s parents did not approve of the unseemly relationship with a man nearly twice her age, the six-man and six-woman jury was told.
The Crown also plans to introduce evidence from Nexopia, an online social-networking site, which shows the young lovers conceiving the unthinkable.
“Rawr I hate them. So I have this plan. It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you,” J.R. wrote to Mr. Steinke in March, 2006.
“Well I love your plan but we need to get a little more creative,” Mr. Steinke allegedly replied.
The bodies were discovered by a neighbour on April 23, 2006. At trial yesterday, one officer choked up while recounting events at the time. Ms. Robins, who plans to call up to 50 witnesses over the next three weeks, said some people will testify that the day after the killings Mr. Steinke and J.R. bounced around other residences in the city, where they were allegedly spotted “eating fast food, making out, talking about the murders, talking about the cleanup.”
The trial was moved to Calgary from the southeastern Alberta city in an effort to ensure a fair hearing of the evidence with an unbiased jury pool.
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