Great review from Lethbridge Herald’s Alisha Sims…
Alisha Sims
books editor
Lethbridge Herald
Books, Saturday, October 3, 2009, p. d8
CHILLING TALE
It’s no secret journalists live and die by deadlines. However, that time crunch combined with space constraints on newspages can make it difficult for journalists to give readers anything more than an absolute must-have nugget of information.
When three members of a Medicine Hat family were brutally stabbed to death April 23, 2006, the news reports focused on the motive behind the murders – the 12-year-old girl’s parents were against her relationship with Jeremy Steinke, a high-school dropout 10 years her senior. (Members of the slain family can’t be named to protect the identity of the daughter under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.)
Journalists Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose reported on the story from the beginning but their book “Runaway Devil: How Forbidden Love Drove a 12-Year-Old to Murder Her Family,” isn’t a re-examination of the murders. This time around, the reporting duo have the luxury of time to pour over court documents and conduct interviews with prosecutors, police officers, and family and friends of the victims and killers to piece together a comprehensive look at the events that led to the murders and the people whose lives were taken. The result is a book that brings the victims to life on the page.
Most who read or heard about the murder knew little about the couple other than the mother was wearing only a nightgown when she was stabbed to death after finding Steinke huddled in the darkened basement of their home blocks away from the Medicine Hat Mall. The father died in a fighter’s stance, his arms raised above him, his hands balled in loose fists. He had been stabbed 24 times. The eight-year-old boy was found on his bed with a deep gash to his throat, his eyes and mouth wide open.
As more details came to light, many were left scratching their heads wondering how a rebellious teenager becomes Canada’s youngest multiple murderer. These weren’t neglective parents. They were two happily married and employed individuals whose world revolved around their two children. They didn’t stand idly by as this honour student dipped into Goth subculture and death metal music, and developed a romance with Steinke. The authors reveal the parents were concerned about their daughter’s computer usage, even seeking the help of a computer-store employee to look into the girl’s online activity. Unfortunately, he couldn’t offer much help. The store’s staff said it’s a situation they see many times – parents without a clue about technology and unaware of the dangers of the Internet. The daughter’s Internet access was restricted to limit contact with Steinke. However, the strict rules at home couldn’t keep her from using computers at the public library and YMCA to contact her boyfriend and continue to develop her disturbing alter ego online.
There are other exclusive elements to the book, including the graphic 12-panel stick-man drawing the 12-year-old drew of her family being set on fire and burned alive. It also contains her jailhouse interview with police as well as Steinke’s interrogation in the days following the murders. Neither were admitted as evidence at their trials and were not widely reported in the media.
“Runaway Devil” features exclusive commentary from Steinke’s mother, and revelations from jurors who made comments on a social networking website, now removed, about how they were affected by the case.
Remington and Zickefoose did their homework. They gathered insights from a professor of criminology and a recognized expert in the psychology of the multiple killers. The book doesn’t provide a simple answer to what makes a girl conduct such a heinous act but it does show how two parents’ love for their daughter ultimately led to their demise.
The girl and Steinke were convicted of first-degree murder. She was given the maximum youth sentence of 10 years, with an order for Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision, and Steinke was handed life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
The book is not as graphic as I expected. There aren’t pages upon pages dedicated to the slayings and blood-splashed rooms. In fact, media reports following the discovery of the bodies and during the court trials were far more disturbing. But that’s not to say the book isn’t hair-raising. Reading how a pretty girl, who spends time at her best friend’s house or hanging out at the mall like any other typical 12-year-old, could have a hand in murdering her own family is downright chilling.
If you’re planning on picking up this book, be sure to set aside a couple of evenings. Once you pick it up, it’ll be hard to put it down. And once you’ve finished the last page, the subject matter will stick with you for a long time.
In keeping with the wishes of the victims’ families, a portion of the book’s proceeds have been donated to the victim assistance unit of the Medicine Hat Police Service and Rockhaven Recovery Centre in Sudbury, Ont.
© 2009 The Lethbridge Herald. All rights reserved.
