Medicine Hat is a small city in southeastern Alberta, Canada. Locals often call it the gas city because it sits on one of the world’s largest natural gas fields, an industry that has long powered its economy. The city is known for more than that. Medicine Hat is also called the sunniest place in Canada, averaging over 330 days of sunshine each year.
For Mark Richardson, moving to the city felt like a fresh start. He had struggled with substance use for much of his life. But in 1986, just 2 months before his 23rd birthday, he entered a 12step rehab program at Rockhaven Recovery Home for Men in Sunbury, Ontario. Despite the large number of members there, Mark quickly made a reputation for himself.
Patricia Delea, Rockhaven’s director, remembered he knew exactly what he wanted. He came into Rock Haven motivated and prepared to do the intensive inside work that is required in order to succeed with addiction recovery. Staff described him as a good-looking man with dark hair, someone who had a deep interest in motorcycle culture, but was serious about turning his life around.
Two years later, in 1990, Mark met Deborah at a gym. Deborah, too, had a history with drugs, but by then both of them had left those struggles behind. Deborah was 6 years older than Mark, but he was drawn to her beaming smile and lively personality. Deborah also had feelings for Mark. She liked him for his spirituality as Mark was raised in a Catholic family.
Their chemistry was undeniable. So much so that within just a year in 1991, Deborah and Mark were married. On October 21st, 1993, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Jasmine. Three years later, near the end of Deborah’s second pregnancy, the family decided to move to Okatokes, Alberta, hopeful for a brighter future.
It was there that they welcomed their son, Jacob. Jasmine adored her baby brother and was always seen playing with him. Reverend Paul Orit, pastor of a local church, remembered Jacob’s christening in Oktokes as a picture perfect moment. He recalled, “Jacob never made a fuss. Mark held him tight in his arms, and Deborah looked on.
It was a special day for a family who had overcome some of life’s struggles.” Even though the Richardsons seemed like a perfect family, their life was not without challenges. They struggled to make ends meet. And according to Judith, a close family friend from Calgary, Deborah sometimes had to rely on the food bank to get through tough times.
While it was possible to make quick money in Alberta, Mark and Deborah believed in moving forward slowly and steadily. Judith later explained it was just slow, steady progress like the 12 steps. Deborah became a mentor and sponsor at Narcotics Anonymous, a 12-step recovery program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous.
Mark’s older sister, Mo’Nique, described that both he and Deborah had devoted their lives to helping people break free from addiction. Judith described the couple as models of recovery success. Over time, things started to look better for the family. Mark was skilled in mechanics in several trades, including welding.
However, Mark eventually sought a more advanced career path, which led him to return to school for courses in electrical engineering. By September of 2003, the Richardsons had managed to leave their financial struggles behind them. Mark had secured a job as an instrument technician within Kana Corporation, which is a major Canadian oil and gas company.
According to co-worker Wayne Chopic, he was a guy who took interest in anything he got his hands on. If he had to calibrate an instrument or something, everything, he just got into it. His position required him to relocate to Medicine Hat, where he worked at the company’s natural gas storage facility near Sufffield, about 50 kilometers west of the city.
After relocating, the family also purchased their dream home, a three-bedroom house in the suburban neighborhood of Ross Glenn. The Richardsons were thrilled about their new home. The children were especially drawn to the large tree in the backyard. It had a rope swing in a wooden platform with a makeshift ladder.
Jasmine and Jacob spent countless hours playing there, and on some mornings, Jacob would climb into the tree fort or play ball hockey before heading off to school. Neighbors also spoke positively of the family. Once, Jacob accidentally broke a basement window near the deck. Instead of being upset, the neighbors watched as Mark insisted his son learn responsibility by doing chores in order to pay for the damages.
Jacob was growing into a lively and spirited boy. He adored hockey player Dave Tiger Williams and was a huge fan of Star Wars. even referred to himself as a Jedi. He loved playing with his neighbor Danielle’s younger sister. Danielle remembered him fondly as the most joyful, energetic kid she had ever met. At school, Jacob was seen as the class clown.
His kindergarten yearbook, he wrote, “When I grow up, I want to be a policeman or a soldier. Thing I like best about me is that I have a family and I’m very fast.” Meanwhile, Deborah was building her own path at home. She started a small business as a Raiki practitioner and completed a two-month entrepreneurs course to improve her business skills.
She once won a makeover contest hosted by a local radio station. Jasmine, in many ways, was growing into her mother’s image. She had a bright smile, clear blue eyes, and long dark hair. Her new bedroom was filled with stuffed animals, books, and a small wooden jewelry box with glass doors. medicine hat.
Jasmine attended a Catholic school where she stood out as a studious, well-groomed honor student who found it easy to make new friends. Jasmine was also involved in her school’s fine arts program. According to her best friend, Aubrey, “We used to draw a whole bunch. We used to draw our band teacher as a duck. Jasmine was an understanding, decent, outgoing, absolutely amazing person.
” Jasmine also embraced many of her mother’s new age interests such as Reiki, crystals, and meditation. Over time, she developed a fascination with Wikah and created a pentacle on her bedroom wall using black tape. For those unfamiliar, Wikah is a modern nature-based pagan religion that emerged in the mid 20th century.
During this period, Jasmine and several classmates also began questioning the religious upbringing. Her friend Nora later said, “If God was so loving, why would he torture people?” All of us shared our frustrated feelings about this. Jasmine did also. It was clear she had no desired belief in God at all. As Jasmine entered adolescence, she, like many teenagers, began pushing back against the rules and boundaries.
It started one day at Medicine Hat Mall, where she and a friend noticed a group of local goth kids. Jasmine was instantly drawn to their dark fashion and style. Soon after, she and a small circle of friends began dressing in similar ways. But this wasn’t without critique from the other kids at school.
According to Nora, there was a clear divide in their class. One group included her, Jasmine, and a few close friends, while the rest of the students labeled them as the dark side or the bad group. Jasmine and her friends were reportedly upset about this. Unlike most of her peers, Jasmine matured quickly. By the summer of 2005, between grades six and seven, she was only 11, but could easily pass for 15 or 16.
She was reportedly frustrated with this. Judith remembered Deborah once saying after dropping Jasmine off at a friend’s house, “Oh, she struggles so much with that, my poor honey.” Around the same time the internet was exploding and Jasmine was captivated by it. On August 27th, 2005, she registered on mind.com, a popular social platform at the time that offered instant messaging in online chat rooms.
On her profile, she described herself as by single and a dog owner. She left her age blank, but her profile photo showed her holding a replica handgun, giving the impression that she was much older than she said she was. Jasmine went on to create more online identities on MySpace under the username x_xmadness_x. She claimed to be 16 years old.
Her listed interests included hatchets, serial killers, criminal psychology, blood, moonlight, human anatomy, and what she called kinky. She even described Jeffrey Dmer as one of her heroes. Alongside Jeffrey, she named Batman, illusionist Chris Angel, as well as Marilyn Manson and Danny Filth, who is the founder and lead singer of the band Cradle of Filth.
In the fall of 2005, during her seventh year, school counselor Sandra Richard began to notice a sharp change in her, particularly her short skirts and the chains she wore. Sandra met with Jasmine several times over her dress code violations. Rather than scolding her, she tried to have open conversations, encouraging students to make good choices on their own without outside pressure.
Still, Jasmine didn’t care, and the school even called Mark and Deborah multiple times over this. According to Jasmine, her parents weren’t particularly concerned about her short skirts or heavy eyeliner. But at school, she and her friends were often scolded for this. In one of her seventh grade school photos, Jasmine showed up dressed according to the rules.
But just before the picture was taken, she switched accessories with her friend Aubrey. The final image showed her in a black mesh top with a spiked dog collar fastened around her neck. Jasmine and her friends started expressing their identity by wearing black Marilyn Manson hoodies. The Catholic school strongly disapproved of this, but that didn’t deter the group whatsoever.
Before long, Jasmine and her friends began connecting with members of the local Goth community. Among them were a 19-year-old who went by Raven and another around 20 or 21 known as Trench Coat. Unlike Jasmine and her classmates, these new friends cared little about consequences or rules. Despite their much younger age, Jasmine and her friends were welcomed in.
While you or I might find it alarming that middle schoolers were hanging out with 21-year-olds, allegedly nobody found this unusual, as one other girl from the group explained, “Our group of friends doesn’t discriminate based on age. It’s just a number. It shouldn’t inhibit friendship. Most of us have very alike backgrounds, so we get along perfectly. It’s just friendship.
” Allegedly, some kids even stole for fun and later compared the size or value of what they had taken. When security caught wind of such incidents, the offenders were banned from the premises. Fights broke out now and then, too. Over time, the group split into two distinct clicks.
One that gathered at the mall and the other that hung around downtown. As we mentioned previously, Jasmine could easily pass as someone older. She also never revealed her true age to the group. On November 10th, 2005, she signed up on vampirefreaks.com where she claimed to be a 15-year-old and used the screen name xkillerkitty x. A couple of weeks later, on November 26th, she created an account on zorpia.
com under the profile name Runaway Devil. On December 28th, 2005, Jasmine created a profile on nextopia.com. This is a social networking site popular among teens in Western Canada, especially in Edmonton, Alberta. She registered under her now familiar alias, Runaway Devil, and linked the account to a Gmail address she had created under the name Dying Resurrection.
That same email was also used to open a Geio’s profile under the name Meow_mix66, though Jasmine never posted anything on that account. It was her Nexopia page where she became a regular user and often posted about her interests. On her profile page, she wrote, “I am the almighty Jazz X. Bow down. I think deep thoughts.
I am quite emotional and my mood is everchanging, although I can be very good at hiding my feelings. I don’t trust easily. I either have lots of energy or very little. I like to make attempts at poetry and anime. I make woogie noises and often scare small children. I am afraid of llamas. I am told I am mentally arler often. I am loud and bounce a lot.
When I’m hyper, I like to dress up and want an Edward Scissor Hands outfit. Other people live in my head with me. I like random questions. I like to pretend I’m a gangster sometimes. Don’t worry, I’m not. Yeah, I sometimes watch Teen Titans because I’m that cool. I play guitar and I suck. Me, too, Jasmine. She also often posted lyrics from her favorite metal songs.
On her profile, Jasmine listed her likes, some of which are nonsensical, as cream, jumponies, tricycles, suy men, and killing livestock, dark poetry, loud music. And yes, we looked up some of these. Some of these are completely made up words. Her favorite bands include corn, cradle of filth, children of bowm, Marilyn Manson, Murder Dolls, and Slipnot.
Jasmine was also spending more and more hours with the group at the mall. It was during one of those gatherings that she met Kaye, a girl her peers described as wild. Jasmine and Kaye also attended the same school, and by the fall of 2005, the two had grown close. Although Kaye eventually quit school in January of 2006, she remained in contact with Jasmine through their shared circle.
Not long after Jasmine’s 12th birthday, Kaye introduced her to 22-year-old Jeremy Steini. Like everyone else, Jeremy didn’t believe Jasmine was only 12 when they first met. While this was their first time formally exchanging names, Jasmine had already seen him before. One afternoon, she and a few friends had piled into the back seat of his 1981 Firebird, where Jeremy performed donuts in a parking lot.
Jasmine later remembered, “It was a cool night.” Jeremy had already been hanging around the group since the summer of 2005. But Jeremy’s story was very different from Jasmine’s. Unlike her suburban upbringing, his childhood had been scarred by instability. He was the target of bullying in school, where classmates and even some teachers called him stinky instead of stanky.
According to his mother, Jacqueline May, Jeremy endured years of mental and physical trauma from his alcoholic father and two stepfathers who followed. Jacquine later testified in court that Jeremy’s biological father came home drunk nearly every night, often being the boy with a belt or dragging him to his room by his ear.
She separated from his biological father when Jeremy was just 2 years old, but later reconciled and had another child, a daughter four years younger than Jeremy. The relationship never stabilized and collapsed for good after 7 years. Jacqueline’s later relationships proved to be no better than her first. Throughout them, Jeremy endured both physical and emotional trauma.
He recalled that his mother had been using alcohol for as long as he could remember. Jeremy recalled one incident where he defended his mother after her boyfriend shattered her cheekbone. In retaliation, Jeremy chased the man with a lead pipe and broke his arm. Because of Jacine’s unstable relationships, she and Jeremy moved constantly.
He rarely stayed in one place long enough to form real friendships. At the age of 14, Jeremy had begun using weed and ecstasy. At some point, he tried acid and shrooms. Jacine later admitted that Jeremy always struggled with ADHD. She even rationalized his substance use, saying it made him calm and not so hyper. Jacine recalled that her son often wished that he had never been born.
At one point, he even became a danger to himself. One winter when Jeremy was 15, he drank so heavily that he passed out outdoors. By the time he was found, he was suffering from hypothermia and had to be admitted to the hospital. This soon became another coping mechanism for Jeremy and he would engage in such behaviors in the privacy of his room hidden from others.
Reportedly, he avoided seeking medical attention for his injuries as he disliked going to the doctors. In 10th grade, Jeremy was enrolled in the integrated occupational program or IOP for short. This is a course designed for students with learning difficulties. But the bullying even followed him here as other students referred to the program as idiots on patrol.
Jeremy also studied woodworking and mechanics during his time in the IOP program. Around then he decided to join the school’s football team. At 5’7 with a medium build, he wasn’t physically imposing, but he quickly earned a reputation for being troublesome. His former teammate, Spencer Chu, recalled, “There’s people that are teased in high school, and there are people who are asked to be teased because it’s an attention getter. He loved it.
He fueled off it. When we played football, he would try to get hit and try to be big and tough, but he never really was. He was a pretty small kid. He wanted to cause trouble. Still, Jeremy put effort into football drills and practices, but just within 3 months of starting 10th grade, he dropped out of school as his mother was ill and he was unable to focus on his studies.
Jacqueline had been diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a serious and progressive lung disease that permanently scars lung tissue. The condition qualified her for a medical benefit of about $850 a month. At 16, Jeremy moved in with his father and started working in a dusty underground potach mine. But after a dispute with his stepmother, he moved back to Medicine Hat and started renting lowcost apartments with friends.
To cover rent and bills, he picked up a series of entry-level jobs he despised. including pizza delivery, grocery and hardware store shifts, sporting goods sales, and various day labor positions through a youth employment agency. Despite the instability, Jeremy occasionally tried to get his life on track.
In 2004, he enrolled at Medicine Hat College to upgrade his high school courses. But by Christmas, he had dropped out again and went back to living with his mother in the trailer she inherited from her father at Tower Estates. At age 20, Jeremy dated a 17-year-old girl who later claimed he was the father of her child. Jacqueline, however, disputed this since a paternity test was requested and never delivered.
The girl described their relationship as impossible to sustain because of Jeremy’s Jacqueline Hyde personality. She explained, “I probably only know 10% of him. He can change in a blink of an eye. He’d sit up in the middle of the night and start talking to himself. After the breakup, Jeremy began a troubling pattern of dating younger and younger girls.
He picked up short stints at places like the local Tim Hortons and even tried working in the oil fields. But no matter where he went, he couldn’t seem to hold a steady job. Restless and drifting, his days soon fell into a cycle of drinking, smoking weed, strumming his guitar, and writing poems and unfinished song lyrics. One of his poems, named Eternal Scars, read as follows. There are scars on my arm.
They appear every other day. The scars on my arm are with me to stay to serve as a reminder of the pain I receive. Even though the world I live in is hell, I believe. That the world goes on even after life. No, the question is, should I use that knife to end all the pain? To stop all the rain? To never know if there’s something to gain? Can I set myself free of all this misery? Or shall I remain drowning in pain? No matter which path I choose, eternal scars remain.
His room in his mother’s trailer was plastered with posters and a painted portrait of a bane wolf also hung on the wall. He frequently ran into trouble with the police through various offenses, including shoplifting, bouncing checks, and causing minor disturbances, none of which were serious enough to land him in jail. He was once summoned for a court hearing, but misled the judge, saying he was going through a divorce and that his bills were piling up.
The judge believed Jeremy and even awarded him an extension to pay his bills. But despite this, Jeremy’s life never improved. He started to become so unhinged that he even started to believe that he was a werewolf. He also claimed to be part of the Lykan Brotherhood whose empire would one day rise. On Exopia, Jeremy went by the username Soul Eater.
He had listed Cradle of Filth, Dying Fetus, Murder Dolls, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Stone Sour, Meadeath, Slipnot, and Pantara among his favorite artists. He also joined vampirefreaks.com where he went by soul eater 52. He wrote there, “I believe in blood, destruction, gut score, and greed.” He listed interests including the dark, the moon, the stars, and biting with a particular fascination for lychans, while his dislikes bluntly stated the sun.
In private messages from his vampire freaks account, Jeremy even told others that he’s a 300-year-old immortal and would go on about a Lykan Empire uprising. Jeremy also had an account on Windows Live under the alias Death Spade. He listed his age as 213 years old. On a personal blog, Jeremy posted, “We must meet in the cemetery 1 hour before the full moon is at its fullest to speak of a tragedy within the coven.
Those who have not overcome the mindless rage need not attend.” He even he’d even say to others not to go near the thick underbrush. I can’t do this. This guy is so goofy. He’d even say to others not to go near the thick underbrush of Medicine Hat’s treed river valley whenever the moon was on the rise, or else he’d eat them.
To most people, this was nothing more than melodramatic posturing. But Jasmine was captivated by him. She later said, “I thought he was good-looking. A lot of people thought he was. We just hung out for the day. I wanted to be friends with him. He was really hyper and the center of attention. People loved him.
Unlike Jasmine, Jeremy wasn’t particularly interested in her at first. He initially thought that Jasmine was dating Trench Coat. By December of 2005, however, the two began seeing each other more often. They’d hang out casually at punk shows, and as those outings became more frequent, the bond between them grew stronger.
Bark and Deborah were far from pleased. They didn’t like that their 12-year-old daughter was spending time with people much older than her, especially when these older friends would call the house asking for Jasmine. Arguments became routine, so she found a loophole and asked her younger friends to stay on the call for as long as her parents were on the other end.
That Christmas, Deborah sent her friend Judith some family photos. Judith exclaimed that Jasmine seemed markedly different from the girl she had been just months before. Deborah was quoted as saying she’s 12 going on 20. At school, concerns were rising as Jasmine’s counselor, Sandra, had begun noticing more dress code violations and her defiant attitude.
One afternoon, Jasmine appeared in her office visibly upset, venting her frustrations about her parents, saying, “These rules are too much. I hate it there. I hate it there.” At one point, she even told Sandra she wanted to be placed in foster care. But after a more extensive conversation, Sandra concluded that there was no violence or neglect at home.
Jasmine was simply mad at her parents over her loss of control. Sandra gently explained that frustration alone is not reason enough for a foster care placement. On another day, Jasmine came into the office asking for a bandage. Here, Sandra noticed a pentacle on her hand. To Sandra, it was offensive as Jasmine was in a formal Catholic school.
Jasmine told Sandra it was nothing sinister, just a Wiccan symbol. Sandra asked Jasmine to wash it off out of respect for the faith and for the school. For Jasmine, though, it felt like yet another example of being misunderstood. She started to seek solace in Jeremy, who allegedly was engaged to a girl named Danielle at the time, but claimed he hadn’t seen her in a long time.
Jasmine and Jeremy then started talking about their issues with each other. In early February of 2006, Jeremy announced that he and Danielle were no longer engaged. He even posted a poem in regard to this, saying, “My love left me hanging by a rope.” In his other online text and messaging, he spoke harshly about his former fianceé.
Meanwhile, Valentine’s Day was just around the corner. Jeremy took his chance with Jasmine. Jasmine recalled the moment saying, “Jeremy gave me this really sweet poem. It was about me. I was flattered.” A few days later, he asked me out on the phone. I liked him. He was really sweet and attentive. I really liked him.
Now, I really hope this wasn’t like any of other of like Jeremy’s poems because good lord. Anyway, their first date was at a punk show. Jasmine was aware that Jeremy was older than her, but she didn’t know by how much. She was also hesitant about whether Jeremy knew her actual age or not. At the show, she sent one of her friends to Jeremy and asked her to tell him that she was 13.
But even after knowing that, Jeremy casually walked up and asked her out. Over the next couple of weeks, the relationship grew closer. Jasmine had long night talks with Jeremy. She’d sneak the cordless phone to her room or go down in the basement where her parents couldn’t hear her. Jasmine even once invited Jeremy and other friends to her house when she knew her parents would be away for some hours.
He would often pick Jasmine and other friends up from their school or the mall and bring them home to his mother’s trailer where they hung out. By now, Jeremy was unable to afford repairs and insurance on his Firebird, so he was forced to use his mother’s gray 1987 Dodge Dakota pickup truck. Meanwhile, Jasmine was drifting further and further away from her parents.
One afternoon, Mark and Deborah left Jasmine and her 8-year-old brother, Jacob, at home while attending a company event. Although they intended for Jasmine to watch Jacob, she left with Aubrey to a nearby 7-Eleven. Realizing he was alone in the house, Jacob grew frightened and called his mother, which caused them to leave the event early.
At home, Mark and Deborah were furious. Jasmine was drifting away from their control and was getting more irresponsible by the day. They grounded her indefinitely for leaving her brother alone. According to Jasmine, that was the breaking point for her. In her words, “I couldn’t take them anymore.” Mark’s coworker Wayne Chopic also recalled seeing Jasmine grow noticeably irritated with her younger brother Jacob during a family open house at the gas plant.
According to family friend Judith, Jacob had grown increasingly afraid of his sister to the point where he didn’t even want to walk home from school with her. She recalled one disturbing incident where she witnessed Jasmine choking Jacob. Since Jasmine wasn’t allowed to attend shows or go out with her older friends anymore, she began to grow envious of her friend Kayle’s freedom.
Kaylee was a runaway and unlike Jasmine wasn’t held back by consequences. Jasmine started to fantasize about a life without parents. By March of 2006, Jasmine was spending long nights talking with Jeremy on Nexopia. Sometimes she’d sneak over to his trailer or meet him at the mall. She recalled those moments saying, “I felt really flattered and loved.
He was really romantic. He told me that he loved me all the time. I was falling in love with him.” Jeremy also reportedly felt the same way about Jasmine. One poem he wrote for Jasmine reads as follows. There’s something about your beauty that makes life with you feel like a movie. It’s like a dream come true. The skies are always blue.
And when I’m with you, I feel alive. You make me want to take that dive. I swear to you that I could never lie. Your soft, sweet lips could get me high. Jeremy once gave Jasmine a small vial filled with his own blood. He later shared that Jasmine had a strong fascination with blood and would sometimes bite him during intimate moments hard enough to make him bleed.
Meanwhile, Mark and Deborah, concerned about their daughter talking to older guys, started monitoring her social media pages and restricting her calls. Because of that, Jasmine stuck to emails and instant messaging. Some of their messages revealed Jeremy’s simmering fascination with brutality. He shared that back in 2005 when he went to see George A.
Romero’s Land of the Dead, he found himself laughing and cheering in the theater during the gorious scenes. Jeremy also mentioned that his favorite movie was Naturalborn Killers. The film Mickey Knox and his wife Mallerie kill her toxic parents before going on a murderous spree. Little did anyone know that to some extent this was about to happen in Jasmine and Jeremy’s lives as well.
In fact, Jeremy had been harboring these dark thoughts for some time. On March 9th, he posted a poem titled The World on his Nextopia blog. Poem spoke openly about his desire to kill with some lines reading, “The world I live in is dark and cold. The things these pitiful souls do seem to never get old. I wish they would all die.
The earth can burn. To hear them all scream, I yearn. Their blood should be spilled. For some of them, my heart they killed. But it is not that for which I wish they die, but for this planet being filled with hatred, deceit, and lies. It remains unclear whether the poem was directly referring to Jasmine’s parents.
However, on several other occasions, Jeremy posted poems and even song lyrics that explicitly mention them. On the other hand, Mark, increasingly worried about his daughter, decided to take her computer away. But even that didn’t stop Jasmine. She simply turned to the public library where she could use the computers freely and talk to whomever she wanted without any adults watching over her.
Even Jasmine’s friends grew concerned about her relationship with a grown man. And tried to reason with her. When he confronted her, Jasmine simply said, “It’s my choice. Leave us alone.” One friend highlighted the fact that Jeremy was in his 20s, but Jasmine argued back, saying, “He is not. He’s 17.” Jasmine allegedly didn’t know his true age.
She later admitted, saying that she didn’t want to know for sure. Her best friend, Aubrey, later described Jeremy as very immature for his age. She explained that nobody took him seriously and he often acted on impulses as he’d get into heated arguments with mall security for no real reason, which eventually led to him being banned.
In a Facebook post, she wrote, “I hate Jeremy Slime Ball.” Jeremy was frustrated with everyone saying he and Jasmine shouldn’t be together. He wrote a song which he called the intervening. This is a sample of his lyrics. They’re not very good. And I quote, “We’ll never listen to you or your lies. Why don’t you just go ahead and die? We all know you are going to burn in hell.
We’ll all keep asking, but we should never tell.” On March 13th, 2006, Jeremy sent a message to Jasmine that read, “How goes it? You were a sight for sore eyes and I miss you more than killing people. Can we get together and kill people together? I have a poem for you and you shall see it when I see you. Teehe. Well, I guess I should go.
I love you tons. Jasmine responded saying, “Aha, yes, we shall. I miss you, too. A large large amount that cannot be contained in mere words. I wish to see this poem. Love you.” A couple of days later, on March 16th, Jeremy wrote to a friend. The message read, “The whole point of killing them would be to start a spree across Canada emoji.
Kind of like the legendary Mickey and Mallerie love birds.” Now, have you seen that movie? It’s called Naturalborn Killers. It’s the best love story of all time. I loves it so much I want to do it myself. On the other hand, Mark and Deborah were doing everything they could to get on good terms with Jasmine again. They suggested that the three go to counseling, which Jasmine surprisingly agreed to.
She probably looked at it as a way to get back some of her freedom. Within just a few sessions, Mark and Deborah saw that their daughter had grown less hostile. They even agreed for Jasmine to go to a local punk show that she had wanted to attend on the condition that they accompanied her. Jasmine agreed as she wanted to see Jeremy.
The show took place on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at a local community hall featuring the Johnson’s, Radio for Help, and One Shot Left. Jasmine had been buzzing with excitement, but for her, the real highlight wasn’t the music. It was Jeremy. She had been desperate to see him, and now the moment had finally come. During a break, Jasmine stepped outside with Aubrey, Jeremy, and a few other friends.
The group was running around the streets laughing and messing around. But in the middle of it, Aubrey dropped something from her pocket and turned back to pick it up. By the time she returned, Jeremy and Jasmine were nowhere in sight. Jasmine later said the two had wandered off for some privacy.
She recalled, “We started making out in the alley.” Mark and Deborah began running up and down the block hysterically calling out their daughter’s name. Deborah eventually turned into an alley and there she saw her daughter wrapped around the arms of someone much older. Mark arrived on the scene after her and the sight crushed him.
When Jeremy spotted Mark, he bolted and ran off into the night. Mark took his daughter and went to the car. At home, Jasmine was grounded like never before. Her parents took away her MP3 player, her eyeliner, and her hair straightener. She was instructed strictly to go to school and get right back home. When Fred showed up in the morning to walk Jasmine to the school bus, they were turned away.
Jasmine was no longer allowed to go to the mall or even see Aubrey. Jasmine recalled, “I was under quarantine. It was like I was under house arrest. They took everything out of my room except my clothing and my bed. I was really angry. I was so close to my mom, I could tell her anything.
But now, I felt like she didn’t love me anymore. Over the next couple of days, Mark and Deborah decided to give Jasmine back her PC on the condition that they can monitor her activity, and she removed all the men from her friends list. Jasmine agreed. On March 20th, she wrote to Jeremy, “Raar, I hate them. So, I have this plan.
It begins with me killing them and ends with me living with you. So, we are set. I’m going to try and call you, but I really don’t know if I’ll be able to. They are treating me like I hate them so much. But I hope this won’t bring us far apart. I hope to talk to you soon and love you with all my heart. Jeremy replied the next day saying, “Well, I love your plan, but we need to get a little more creative and think like details and stuff.
I wish they wouldn’t treat you that way. Gr. It angers me to hear that. I dislike them very much. Don’t worry. I love you too, my sexy beast. I hope to hear from you soon, too. Take care, my love. You have the key to my heart, and soon enough, you shall have my heart. If I die anyway, cuz if I give it to you now, I’ll die.
Then you won’t be able to hear me say how much I love you. On Friday, March 24th, 2006, Jeremy posted a poem about this situation. And I quote, “My girlfriend’s family are totally unfair. They say that they really care. They don’t know what is going on. They just assume as their greed continues to consume. She is slowly going insane.
She continues to thank that I came into her life to help her out and to stop what they keep trying to shout. It’s all total Their throats I want to slit. They will regret the they have done. Especially when I see to it that they are gone. They shall pay for their insulence. Finally, there shall be silence. Their blood shall be payment.
One night near the end of March, Jasmine tried to sneak out at night to meet up with Jeremy, but her parents caught her. In April, she’d try this again, but this time she was successful as she used a basement window to sneak out. She met Jeremy at a previously decided rendevous point.
Jeremy had come in his mother’s pickup truck. He drove Jasmine to his mother’s trailer at Tower Estates. The two there watched a movie, cuddled, and hooked up. Jasmine later said about the hangout, “We made love because I loved him so much. I thought it would bring us closer together. I thought it would make him happy.
I knew he wanted to have sex with me. Afterwards, Jasmine went back to her place. She put on a pair of pajamas she had previously left on the deck, but the family dog started barking, which woke up her parents. Jasmine explained to them that she simply had a bad dream and went out for some fresh air. But Deborah and Mark didn’t buy the whole story.
Jasmine had been pushing Jeremy for a while to kill her whole family. Murder was Jeremy’s darkest fantasy. He’d always talked about killing and loved gory films, but at first he hesitated. He even tried to recruit friends to help, but this time he sensed something was real and dangerous. Most refused to get involved, and some even drifted away because Jeremy was becoming too insistent.
Jeremy, on the other hand, was allegedly afraid that if he didn’t kill Jasmine’s parents that she would break up with him. Mark and Deborah were on his hit list. And as for her brother Jacob, the couple decided that they couldn’t leave him alone in the world without parents. So in their minds, they thought the moral thing to do was to murder him out of mercy.
On the night of April 22nd, 2006, Jeremy snuck to the front of Jasmine’s house. He picked up a pine cone and threw it at her window. Jasmine gestured to Jeremy to go to the basement window by the deck in the backyard. Jeremy arrived. He saw the basement window cracked open. He had never dared to sneak into Jasmine’s house before, but this time he climbed inside. The noise woke Deborah.
First, she thought her daughter was trying to sneak out again. When she went down to the basement, she was met with a man in a black hoodie and a face mask holding a knife. Jeremy, high on coke, lunged at her, stabbing her in the torso. The commotion jolted Mark awake. During his wife’s screams, he rushed to the basement.
There he saw the hooded figure stabbing Deborah. In a desperate move, Mark grabbed a screwdriver and tried to save his wife. Jeremy later recalled, “He came at me real fast. I was scared shitless. I thought I was going down. I went to back up and I tripped and fell and he jumped on me and attempted to knee me in the chest.
He grabbed my face and shoved his thumbs in my eye.” Jeremy had both drugs coursing through him and the advantage of a knife. He quickly overpowered Mark and stabbed him so many times that he lost count. Mark in his final moments never even realized who his attacker was. His last words were reportedly a faint desperate why.
Jeremy screamed back at him cuz you treat your daughter like it’s what your daughter wanted. Tragically, those would be the last words that Mark ever heard. After Jeremy went upstairs and was met by Jasmine. She embraced and kissed the man who had just murdered her parents and confessed her love to him.
Jasmine then went to finish their plan. 8-year-old Jacob had been cowering in his room, confused and terrified. Jasmine entered, wrapped her arms around his neck, and began to squeeze. Jacob broke free, and bolted into the hallway. Jasmine chased him up the stairs to the bedroom level where Jeremy was already standing, breathing heavily.
He looked at her and said, “We can’t just leave him.” Jacob fought back with all the strength he had. Later, investigators would commend his strength during the struggle, but the odds were against him. Blood was splattered across the walls, his toys, and the floor as the little boy met the same tragic fate as his parents.
After Jacob’s murder, Jasmine calmly went to rinse off the knife she had used. She returned to Jeremy, hugged him, and told him to wait while she grabbed some things. But Jeremy, shaken by the horror of what they had just done, panicked and fled in his mother’s truck without her. When Jasmine came back down with a canvas bag stuffed with clothes, toiletries, and her mother’s purse, Jeremy was already gone.
Around 5:30 a.m., she walked to an ATM near 7-Eleven, withdrew cash from her mother’s account, and took a taxi to Jeremy’s mother’s trailer. By then, Jeremy had already showered. Jasmine and Jeremy also reportedly cuddled there. Mick, a friend of Jeremy’s who happened to be staying at the trailer that weekend, recalled seeing the couple stuff something into the garbage before leaving.
Inside the bag were Jeremy’s blood soaked clothes crammed into a plastic grocery bag. Afterwards, they headed to an apartment of a friend, Cam Barkley. According to Cam, Jeremy looked rough. He later recalled that Jasmine was spaced out and acted like she’d seen a ghost. Jeremy asked Cam for some ice to press against his badly swollen eye, which happens during the confrontation with Mark.
He asked how to clean blood off knives, which was something that immediately spooked Cam. Still showing sympathy, Cam offered the couple his bed while he and his girlfriend took the couch. Even with the blood of an entire family still fresh, their lust and recklessness didn’t end. As Cam and his girlfriend slept, Jeremy and Jasmine slipped out and drove to a nearby liquor store right by the same 7-Eleven where Jasmine had withdrawn money hours earlier.
From there, they went to a party at an apartment on Kleen Crescent. When they arrived, the party was already in full swing. People had been drinking and smoking weed since noon that day. Jeremy, who was wearing dark sunglasses to hide his swollen eye, introduced Jasmine to the crowd. Jeremy had been telling people weird, madeup stories for years now.
But now he was about to tell him about a real encounter, lifted his shades to show everyone his bruised eye and boasted about his bravery. James Why, a close friend of Jeremy who had just arrived at the party, was bewildered when Jeremy said, “We killed my girlfriend’s family last night. I gutted them like a fish.” James was in disbelief, but Jasmine admitted her boyfriend’s claim and said, “My little brother gargled.
” The whole conversation hardly lasted 30 seconds before James went on saying, “You guys are crazy.” Throughout the party, witnesses recalled Jeremy and Jasmine being unusually intimate with each other. One said their kissing was so intense that it made several people, including herself, uncomfortable. She also noted that the couple didn’t seem to show any signs of stress whatsoever.
Asmin later explained that Jeremy had been acting a bit off that night. She said she was trying to be physically affectionate, kissing and hugging him to reassure herself that he was still there since she believed he was the only person left alive who truly loved her. Soon after, Jeremy approached a girl named Casey Lancaster and asked her for a favor.
Told her he needed help cleaning his mom’s truck before giving it back to her. Casey pulled in another friend, Jenny, and the two of them drove off in the pickup. Interestingly, Jeremy stayed behind at the party. The girls scrubbed down the truck, wiping away what they later described as palmsized splotches from the seat in the armrest in the lock.
They parked the pickup there and returned to the party in Casey’s Mazda. By the time they got back, the radio and TV were already buzzing with breaking news about the Richardson murders. Earlier that afternoon, at around 1:15 p.m., the Richardson’s neighbor, Sarah Penner, pulled into their shared driveway. Her young son grew excited when he spotted Mark’s pickup still parked outside.
He wanted to play with Jacob and rushed towards the house. Moments later, he returned panicking. He had seen the bloodied bodies of Mark and Deborah through the basement window. At first, Sarah thought he was just making some kind of strange joke, but just to be sure, she checked for herself. Looking through the window, she realized that her son was not exaggerating.
The nightmare was real. Shaken, Sarah bolted for her phone inside of her apartment. She first called her mother and asked her to call emergency services. By 1:50 p.m., Constable Gerald Saddle Meyer, who had been at a shooting range, received a message instructing him to contact Sergeant Brett Sakandiac, head of the patrol unit.
Sergeant Sakandiac was among the first responders at the Richardson home. The constable, who had been part of the forensic unit for nearly 15 months, was no stranger to difficult scenes. But nothing in his experience could have prepared him for what awaited inside the Richardson basement. The police team along with investigators entered through the front living room.
At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary there, but the staircase leading up to the bedroom was a whole different story. Blood was smeared across both walls of the stairwell as though someone had dragged a brush dipped in red paint from top to bottom. The carpet outside Jacob’s room was still damp with his blood, and inside the nightmare only grew worse.
Constable Saddle Meer would later describe the site, and I quote, “There was a lot of blood all over the walls of the boy. There was blood on the floor, the sheets, everything was soaked in blood. The boy was covered with blood from head to toe, all over the boy’s body. There was blood on the walls and a large wound to his neck.
Moreover, a blood trail led them to the basement where Deborah was lying lifeless, covered in blood from head to toe. A few feet away from her was her husband, Mark. His hands were still clenched as if he were fighting. Sergeant David Brandreth described the scene, noting that the blood was splattered across the entire room, even reaching the ceiling.
This gruesome discovery made it evident to investigators that the murders were fueled by rage. Reports later confirmed that Deborah had been stabbed 12 times, while Mark, who had tried desperately to fight back, was stabbed more than 24 times. The officers finished their walkthrough at roughly 5:07 p.m.
They took some photos of the family portraits and noticed that one member was missing, Jasmine. At first, police feared she had been abducted by the killer. Their greatest worry was that the teenage girl might have walked into her home and discovered the unspeakable scene inside. What they didn’t yet realize was that Jasmine wasn’t a victim at all, but the perpetrator.
The breakthrough came when Conible Gordon Stall reached out to Sandra, Jasmine’s school counselor. Although it was a Sunday, Conible Stall and Sandra went to the school in hopes of finding a lead. There, Conipal obtained Jasmine’s school photo and mailed it back to headquarters. Sandra suggested that students sometimes kept personal notes or phone numbers inside their lockers.
While Conible Stall had no legal authority to open it without a warrant, Sandra did. What she found inside was chilling. Jasmine had drawn a 12 panel cartoon strip that depicted the family of three being burned alive while two other stick figures stood by and watched. The final frame, one of the figures was seen running happily towards a vehicle labeled Jeremy’s truck.
If that wasn’t disturbing enough, Sandra uncovered another note inside the locker which read, “May the hatred and anger built of blazing infernos fill you and overcome you. May the pains of a thousand tortured souls come upon you like sthing blades and eclipse all other noble feelings. May your hopes, dreams, and happiness fall into the swirling pits of despair never to return.
May your peace of mind and safety be gone to you to be forever afraid and ellayed. May the black overcome you and the pain never ending. May all you love be stolen and destroyed just out of reach to never again feel such joys. Amen. XX. One of Jasmine’s classmates later confirmed the disturbing drawings and notes were indeed her handwriting.
Meanwhile, Jasmine’s photo was already circulated across the media as police urgently appealed for help to locate the missing child in connection with what was first described as a family tragedy. The discovery at the locker completely changed the story and Jasmine was being treated as a suspect in her own family’s murder.
When James Whley saw the broadcast, he was bewildered. He had just seen Jasmine a few hours earlier at the party, and to his surprise, Jeremy’s little boast about killing the parents was actually the truth. James first hesitated to call the police as he had problems with the law himself. But he eventually decided to do the right thing and told the police everything he knew about Jeremy’s confession.
Meanwhile, Jeremy and Jasmine were growing increasingly anxious, knowing that the police were actively searching for them. Around 700 p.m., Kaye phoned Casey and asked if she could drive Mick back home and could offer her a ride as well. She even offered her 30 bucks for gas. Although Casey had only met Mick twice, she couldn’t turn him down.
Before leaving, she also asked Jeremy and Jasmine if they wanted to ride along. Sure enough, the couple took her offer. Casey reportedly had no idea that Jeremy and Jasmine were being hunted by the police. She simply believed that they were running away and trying to keep a low profile. Casey stopped at Cam Barkley’s apartment before leaving town.
She gathered a few things, including blankets to cover Jeremy and Jasmine, and also picked up the white plastic grocery bag containing Jeremy’s blood soaked clothes. With everything loaded, they set off. Her friend Jenny sat in the front passenger seat while Mick and Kaye rode in the back.
The hunted couple lay hidden beneath the canopy of the truck bed concealed under blankets. By 8:30 p.m., she was reportedly out of Medicine Hat. Their destination was a town called Leader in Saskatchewan. Some undercover police agents entered the apartment party in search of Jeremy and Jasmine. By then, the gathering had wound down with only a few stragglers left behind.
The officers detained three highly drunk young men for questioning. Back at the Richardson home, investigators pressed on through the night in search of any evidence or leads. Relatives were also notified of the murders. Over 300 kilometers away in the small town of Leader, Saskatchewan, rookie Constable Aaron Eert had been put on alert.
A bulletin had gone out Sunday evening warning about suspects tied to a medicine hat triple homicide. And Conipal Eert spent most of the night circling the quiet town in case the fugitives appeared. By 2:00 a.m., he went for a short nap, but woke up earlier at around 5:30. He suspected that the perpetrators might need to fill up on gas and parked around the main ESO gas station in town.
Sure enough, his instincts were right. Around 7:00 a.m., a small pickup with Alberta plates matching the description of the wanted vehicle pulled into the station. Three girls hurried out of the truck and into the store to use the restroom. Inside, they came across the latest issue of the Medicine Hat news.
Plastered on the front page was Jasmine’s school photo. Kaye carried the newspaper back to the truck and showed it to Jeremy and Jasmine who were still hiding under the canopy. Shockingly, Jasmine showed no reaction at all. Said the couple joked, saying the photo looked nothing like Jasmine. Group drove to the parking lot of Leader Composite High School where they stopped and started wondering about what to do next.
Consible Eert parked his vehicle a block away where he had the vehicle in sight. There he radioed for backup. Soon, Constible Andre Galant and a corporal joined him and they worked out a plan together. Conible Galant and the corporal approached the front of the truck from opposite sides while Constible Eert quietly made his way to the back.
With one swift motion, he pulled back the blanket covering the bed of the pickup. There they were, Jeremy and Jasmine exposed and caught off guard. Jasmine bizarrely wasn’t wearing any pants. Everyone in the truck was taken into custody. Even in the back of the police cars, the teenage girls refused to take the situation seriously.
They laughed, cracked jokes, and hurled insults at the officers. Conible later even discovered that the plexiglass divider of his almost new patrol car had been cracked and the back seat was damaged. The group lied to the police and claimed they were on a two-day camping trip, but the officers obviously didn’t buy it and held them at the police station.
While on holding, the girls made unauthorized phone calls, and Kaye even stole notepads and pens, stuffing them down her pants and shirt. entire act was caught on surveillance. At around 8:00 a.m., forensic experts arrived at the Richardson home to document the crime scene and gather concrete evidence. Not long after, Sergeant Shehan, who had just landed from Ottawa, drove straight from the airport to the police headquarters and then later on to the house.
He shared what he saw there, saying, “I’m an ex-military guy. I’d seen some bad stuff before. It was the worst crime scene I had ever been in.” At the same time, Medicine Hat police were informed of the arrests in leader. Officers were dispatched to bring back the suspects, and by 6 p.m. on Monday, April 24th, Jasmine and Jeremy were returned to Medicine Hat.
Both were formally charged with three counts of first-degree murder. The next day, they were interrogated. Both Jasmine and Jeremy sat blankly at first, but the investigators tried to gain their interest with a pep talk. They’re also fed McDonald’s. Jasmine changed her story several times during the interview.
First, she told Sergeant Shehan she had simply snuck out with Jeremy that night to drink. When he dropped her back home, she claimed she walked in to find the lifeless bodies of her family. Jad that she had been planning to run away for a long time. And with the chaos that night, it felt like the perfect opportunity. So, she fled with Jeremy.
Sergeant Shehan, who knew most of the story through police findings, wasn’t buying it. Jasmine then revised her story, slightly hinting that Jeremy was involved or had known about the murder. Said she couldn’t bring herself to believe what she had seen, so she left the house. Throughout the interview, Jasmine spoke slowly as though she were carefully searching for words that might keep her from deeper trouble.
When she recounted the events of seeing her dead family, Sergeant Shehan said, “You’re not showing any emotion at all. That’s strange, isn’t it?” Jasmine replied, “All day yesterday, I didn’t cry. Am I a terrible person for not feeling this? And then last night, I started crying. I don’t know how I’m not crying now.” Jasmine continued to insist that she and Jeremy had simply stumbled upon her family’s bodies by accident.
However, Sergeant Shehan wasn’t convinced and urged her to tell the full truth without holding anything back. Sergeant Shehan also told Jasmine that the police had already discovered the pickup truck Jeremy used in the murder, filled with the family’s blood stains that had been half cleaned. Jasmine changed her story again.
She told the sergeant that when Jeremy dropped her back home, she went upstairs to pack her things. While gathering her belongings, she suddenly heard loud noises coming from the basement. She said, “My mom was coming downstairs. Jeremy was moving around downstairs and then my dad came downstairs so I bolted up to my room. I grabbed my stuff.
I didn’t want my brother to see because I know how fragile he is. He’s so sensitive. My mom was screaming and it was happening. I couldn’t stop this from happening. I stated this is what I wanted, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I kept my brother upstairs and Jeremy came upstairs. He couldn’t just leave him there.
He was so sensitive and he got so scared. And the sergeant then asked Jasmine why she killed Jacob. She said, “Because we talked about that, because of the kind of person he was, and he needed that support, I guess, or love, and we couldn’t just do that to him.” The sergeant then asked Jasmine if she had stabbed any of her family members or even held them.
She initially responded negatively, but when he pressed further, asking why Jeremy had gone into the house, if she was only supposed to grab her belongings, Jasmine shifted her story again. This time, she admitted that she had indeed held her brother. She also confessed that she stabbed him, but could not finish him.
So, Jeremy did it out of love for her. Jasmine further admitted that she had taken the knife from the kitchen, the very weapon used to murder her brother. After this confession, Sergeant Shehan left the room and returned with a pen and paper. He asked Jasmine to write an apology to her family. Jasmine wrote, “Dear my lovely parental units, I am writing in response to the events of Sunday morning. Terrible thing happened.
Something I feel was all my fault. You must know I love you all dearly and are in my prayers. I wish peace upon your souls in the summerland. My little brother, I apologize for letting you hear what had happened. Also for causing you any pain and for frightening you so much. To my parents, I hope you know that through all that has happened, I loved you the whole while.
I wish I could take everything back. I wish it hadn’t happened. I wish you were with me right now because now I have no one. I pray you can forgive me and Jeremy, too, because he was under the influence of mindaltering substance and did it out of love for me. He is most possibly the kindest person I’ve ever met.
His wish being for my happiness. Through all the fights and hatred exchanged, I still loved you. I’m sorry my sarcasm was taken to heart. I never meant to harm you. I pray you can be at peace somehow. Following the interrogation, Jasmine was placed in a cell. Sergeant Shehan, however, gave her a book and a pen to write with.
even offered to deliver the letters personally to Jeremy that she wrote. These letters would prove to be really depressing as Jasmine, even locked up, continued to write love notes to the very man who had murdered her parents. After this, Jeremy was interrogated. At first, he refused to cooperate with the officers and demanded a lawyer, but no lawyer in Medicine Hat wanted to take on his case.
His interview was cut short because he had to make his first court appearance that day in March. Jasmine also made her first appearance that same day. The next morning at 8:40 a.m., Jeremy was brought back for questioning. Although he initially kept the same defiant attitude, midway through the interview, he broke down and confessed everything to the sergeant.
He admitted that he committed the murders because of his deep love for Jasmine, claiming she had been crying and urging him to do it all along. Unlike Jasmine, Jeremy displayed a flood of emotion, crying hysterically, swearing, and even banging his head against the desk multiple times. He also insisted that Jasmine was the one who slit Jacob’s throat.
After the interview ended, Sergeant Shehan gave Jeremy some paper and made him the same offer he made to Jasmine. In this exchange of disturbing love notes, Jeremy asked to marry Jasmine and she excitedly said yes. Since they were held in confinement, they argued that their marriage would be a verbal agreement. In another note, Jasmine told Jeremy she wasn’t pregnant despite the fact they had unprotected.
The situation outside the jail cells was also chaotic. The entire town had been shaken to its core by the murders. Jeremy’s mother, Jacqueline, was overwhelmed by the gossip surrounding her. She told the police, “He’s not the man everyone thinks he is.” Most of the town’s people expressed resentment and disgust towards Jeremy.
Some within the goth community saw him differently. In fact, a number of young girls admired his actions to an unsettling degree. Many of these fan girls showed up at his court appearances, though they were often banned from entering since most were underage or not listed as witnesses. Other members, however, were appalled by such behavior and strongly condemned it.
One woman posting under the name liberal-minded mom on a community-based website wrote, “Something that really disturbed me was the picture on the front of the medicine hat news yesterday. the one of all the young girls crying and hugging outside of the courthouse. Cannot believe this sick freak has a fan club now. Most of these girls look to be about junior high age and one of them had a Finding Nemo backpack for crying out loud.
What is inside these girls’ heads that is drawing them to feel sorry for a triple murderer. And then she writes, “Sorry, I guess he isn’t convicted yet. Where are these girls’ parents? Shouldn’t these kids be in school? If I had a daughter that was down at the courthouse crying over such a person, I think that maybe there might be something wrong with her.
On Nexopian similar pages, there was an even more prominent exchange of heated arguments between the two groups. May 3rd, Jeremy sent his final letter to Jasmine. Letter read, I’m glad to hear that you accepted my proposal and you make me incredibly happy as well. I too am going for psychiatric assessment.
I’m not sure where I’ll be yet, but I’ll let you know. The world may be against us, but remember that nothing beats love. The next day, Jeremy was scheduled to be moved for a psyche vow. Sergeant Shehan saw it as the perfect chance to slip in an undercover agent for more information. Consible Cory Both was chosen for this job.
Disguised as an inmate, he was placed in the same transport van as Jeremy. During this trip, Jeremy opened up and talked at length about the murders and his relationship with Jasmine. He still insisted that Jasmine was the one who killed her brother. And at ease with the disguised agents, he spoke about the conditions of his cell and then started making absurd comments about some of the inmates he was with.
By the end of the ride, Constable Both claimed he was sick to his stomach from the graphic details that he heard about the murder. Over the next couple of months, subsequent court hearings took place to address Jeremy and Jasmine’s trials. On June 12th, 2007, a jury ruled that there was sufficient evidence to prove Jasmine had planned the murders of her family so she could be with Jeremy.
Several of Jasmine’s old neighbors and friends were called to testify as witnesses. Her paternal aunt and uncle were the only surviving family members to attend the trial. Her 76-year-old grandfather stated he forgave Jasmine, believing she had been under a bad influence. However, he did not attend the court hearing. Just the graphic briefing of the murder of his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson was far too terrifying for him.
He said, “I can’t live that again. It’s too hard.” Meanwhile, Jeremy’s mother had temporarily relocated to Saskatchewan to escape the constant glares and gossip and medicine hat. Still, she made sure to attend the court hearings. On June 20th, 2007, Jasmine’s former friends, including her best friend Aubrey, were summoned as witnesses.
All four girls, now 14 years old at the time, broke down in tears as they testified, recalling how Jasmine had repeatedly talked about killing her parents and had even tried to enlist the others to help her do it. Several of Jeremy’s friends were also called to the court. But unlike Jasmine’s more composed circle, Jeremy’s friends were mostly troubled youths, people addicted to drugs, dropouts, or runaways.
There were five in total, ranging from ages 15 to 23. On the stand, every one of them admitted to substance use that fogged their memory. Jasmine altered her version of events yet again. This time, she claimed that when she wrapped her arms around Jacob, it wasn’t to choke him, but to help him fall asleep. She insisted she cared deeply for her brother and only wanted to shield him from the terrifying noises coming from the basement.
Jasmine’s love for Jeremy also faltered here. Maybe she had realized her wrongdoings, but didn’t want consequences as she had run away from them her whole life. Jasmine told the jury that she had panicked during the killings. She said she had taken the kitchen knife only to protect herself, claiming that Jeremy had been too aggressive and she feared he might turn on her.
According to Jasmine, when Jeremy came upstairs, he was furious and pressured her into killing Jacob. She admitted to stabbing her brother lightly, saying she was too afraid to do more. According to her, Jeremy would later come by and slit Jacob’s throat himself. This testimony came during questioning by her lawyer, Tim Foster, who treated her with care and gentleness.
Following day, prosecutor Stephanie Clearary took over the cross-examination. Her approach was the complete opposite. She asked Jasmine about certain stuff she was missing and repeated her answers for more explanation. Her relentless questioning made a point that Jasmine didn’t try to save her family or call 911. Cross-examination had a dire effect on the jury as it revealed too many holes in Jasmine’s story.
In subsequent days, attorney Foster argued against prosecutor Clearary’s cross-examination and the lawyer proved to be adept at defending his client. Or so it seemed since initially the jury couldn’t find Jasmine guilty of first or seconddegree murder. The final verdict took place on July 8th, 2007, in which Jasmine was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder.
At just 13 years old, she quietly broke down in tears. She had just become the youngest person in Canadian history to be convicted of multiple homicide. On November 8th, 2007, Justice Scott Brooker sentenced Jasmine to 10 years under an intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision or IRCS order, a specialized program designed for young offenders with mental health challenges.
In his remarks, he spoke tenderly about her parents, calling them wonderful parents who loved Jasmine and were at all times acting in her best interests. They were concerned for Jasmine’s welfare. They never gave up on her, and I do not think that they would even now. Moreover, he described the murder of Jasmine’s 8-year-old brother as utterly incomprehensible.
He continued by noting that under Canadian law, minors must receive the least restrictive sentence possible while still being held accountable for their actions. Justice Burker explained that the maximum penalty in Jasmine’s case would be 6 years in custody followed by 4 years of conditional supervision in the community.
Clinical neurossychologist Roger Maro evaluated her and reported that with treatment she could potentially become a productive member of society. Under her sentence, Jasmine was required to serve 4 years in a psychiatric facility followed by 4 and 1/2 years of conditional community supervision.
She was also credited for 18 months she had already spent in custody. However, Jeremy faced far harsher consequences. Defense attorney, Alan Hapner, argued that Jasmine had orchestrated the murders and that Jeremy merely acted as her means of carrying out this plan. This time, Jacqueline’s lung condition had deteriorated so severely that she needed to carry an oxygen tank everywhere that she went.
Still, she faithfully attended her son’s trial. Jeremy’s final court hearings took place in December of 2008, where he plead guilty to killing Mark and Deborah, but claimed he never went to their home with the intent to kill. When asked why he carried a knife, Jeremy explained that he had once been jumped by five guys in his early teens and ever since had developed a habit of carrying a weapon everywhere he went.
Jeremy continued to deny responsibility for Jacob’s death. The only forensic evidence tying him to Jacob’s murder was a trace amount of the boy’s blood on his shoelace. Attorney Heapner argued the blood could have easily transferred there, as Jeremy stepped through a pool of blood at the crime scene. Attorney Heapner also attempted to sway the jury by highlighting Jeremy’s troubled upbringing by rationalizing the disturbing material he had posted online.
Despite these efforts, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on all three counts. Lead prosecutor Remora Robbins argued there are a lot of ab children. There are a lot of children of alcoholic parents. There are certainly a lot of people who are bullied in school and their lives don’t end with triple homicides. Justice Adele Kent could have sentenced Jeremy immediately, but prosecutor Ramona Robbins requested that the sentencing take place in Medicine had as final justice for the community.
The hearing was held on December 15th, 2008, lasting nearly an hour. During the proceedings, prosecutor Robbins read some emotional victim impact statements from the Richardson family’s relatives. Among them was one submitted by Mark’s sister Monnique, which read, “You’re nothing but a punk with evil tendencies, a coward.
You partially did this for love, and you both turned on each other. I hope this teaches other people who glorified you for this that it didn’t work out and never does. Your choices hurt us all, Jeremy. There were broken relationships because of this. Lost jobs, heart attacks, drug abuse, and much, much more. Both families endured so much pain.
I stopped going out for my daily walks in the beautiful sunshine. I feared someone would run out and stab me. I would wake up every morning and felt every stab wound you inflicted on Deborah. She’s like a real sister to me. You stabbed me every morning for at least 7 months. It’s going on 3 years and I am still in disbelief.
Deborah’s brother, Peter Dulan, was the only family member who personally attended the sentencing. Instead of anger, he chose forgiveness. Looking directly toward Jeremy, he said, “I’ll never understand why she was taken. I’ll never understand the workings of sick and twisted minds, but I do understand about forgiveness. Deborah taught me that.
” Jeremy didn’t look up throughout most of the hearing. When Justice Kent offered him the chance to speak, he simply shook his head in silence. Moments later, the sentence was handed down. Life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Sentence made it clear that Jeremy’s life would be spent pretty much behind bars.
This following year, he legally changed his name to Jackson May. However, Jasmine still had a chance at redemption. On November 10th, 2010, Jasmine began serving her open custody sentence in a Calgary group home with all outings requiring approval from Alberta’s solicitor general. By February 7th, 2011, reports showed that Jasmine was making significant progress in her rehabilitation program.
She was excelling academically, consistently earning straight A’s in school. The now 16-year-old girl is currently in close custody at the Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. in order to begin her reintegration. Her treatment team and her lawyers say she needs more exposure to the outside world. We have to appreciate, of course, that she’s been in custody uh for four years, and it’s a big four years given that she’s now 16, and so um certainly there have been a number of changes, and as the treatment team indicated, she’s not in a normal
situation, and so she’s a very different person now than she was then. Crown prosecutor Ramona Robbins did express some issues with the report that was given to the court by the treatment team. Specifically, a part that mentioned the girl was having issues understanding the severity of the murders. We all know she’ll be out in the community one day that’s inevitable.
And what kind of person is she going to be? What kind of adult is she going to be? So, those are the types of questions I I have daily and especially when there’s an annual review. If her treatment team decides to plan any trips off of the Alberta hospital facility, they will need to submit those plans in detail to the solicitor general, who will then approve the plans, deny the plans, or make amendments to them to asssure that there is no risk to the community.
I have every confidence in the solicitor general’s department. Um, I work with them every day and so I have every confidence that whatever risk is presented to the public will be very carefully managed and no changes will occur without them making sure that that that the whole community is safe. I think it’s going to be beneficial to her in treatment in terms of a gradual reintegration instead of doing it in big jumps.
It can be a much smoother transition this way. The girls team says they are continuing to assess her and stress that any reintegration will be done in baby steps starting with walks around the facility going into other buildings in the facility before going out into the Edmonton community. The girl herself did appear in court today via closed circuit television and when asked if she had anything to add only said to the judge, “Thank you for the opportunity.
” Her next court appearance will be in 6 months. By September of 2011, just shy of her 18th birthday, Jasmine had enrolled in classes at a Calgary University. A month later, in October of 2011, the court acknowledged for the first time that she had shown genuine remorse for her actions, something that had not been concluded in any of her previous hearings.
Her final court appearance came in April of 2016. A month later, Jasmine was released. Mark, Deborah, and Jacob were laid to rest on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 at Lu St. Church in Sudbury. They were buried at Civic Memorial Cemetery in Sudbury, Ontario. Nearly two decades later, the community continues to honor their memory through vigils and remembrance events as the cries of their tragic loss still lingers on the streets of Medicine Hat.
