Canada's youngest mass murderer prepares for 'real life in the real world'
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
First posted: Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:28 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:38 AM EDT
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. -- A woman who was 12 when she helped murder her family because they disapproved of her relationship with an older man is preparing to live a "real life in the real world" when her sentence ends next spring.
The woman, who is now 21 but can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was convicted along with her then-boyfriend of killing her mother, father and eight-year-old brother in the family's Medicine Hat home in April 2006.
Her 10-year youth sentence expires May 7, 2016, and she continued on her path toward freedom Thursday when a judge removed her weekday curfew. Her curfew on weekends was removed at an earlier court date.
"For the last portion of her sentence she'll be living as a normal individual in society so we'll be able to tell and see that this sentence has done what it was supposed to do, which is to reintegrate her and prepare her to live a real life in the real world," her lawyer Katherin Beyak said outside court.
"I think everyone's looking forward to the end of the sentence."
Court heard how the young woman, who appeared via video link from Calgary, has progressed in her rehabilitation to the point where she is at extremely low risk to reoffend.
"It's another positive report. In fact, all the reports I've received since I imposed this sentence a number of years ago were positive," said Justice Scott Brooker. "The risk level, according to the reports, remains low and, in fact, her score measures at the lower end of the lowest level."
She is living on her own in Calgary and has been enrolled in university.
Her sentence was the maximum for young offenders between 12 and 14 and included four years in a psychiatric institution and 4 1/2 years under conditional supervision in the community.
Her former boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, who was 23 at the time of the killings, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
The Crown argued she and Steinke concocted a plan to kill the girl's parents because they disapproved of the 10-year age gap between him and the girl.
It was suggested the crime was loosely based on Steinke's favourite movie "Natural Born Killers," Oliver Stone's twisted love story about a pair of young serial killers who get their start by killing the girl's parents.
Steinke admitted in court that he stabbed the mother and the father after he snuck into the family's home. But he argued that he did not plan the killings.
He said he attacked the mother, who was wearing only a nightgown, after she turned on a light switch and found him huddled in the darkened basement.
She screamed. Her husband came running with a small screwdriver and rushed Steinke. The man died in a fighter's stance, his arms still raised above him with loose fists in a room splashed with blood.
Steinke steadfastly maintained the boy's death came at the hands of the girl.
At trial, police officers and other witnesses became emotional as they recalled seeing the body of the small boy, found on his bed with a deep slash to his throat, his eyes and mouth wide open. Stuffed animals and a toy light sabre spattered with the boy's blood could be seen next to his body.
Steinke and the girl were arrested in Leader, Sask., about a 90-minute drive away, the day after the bodies were found.
The young woman spoke briefly in the court hearing Thursday expressing her "gratitude" for the team that has worked with her.
The final review of her sentence is to be scheduled for April 2016, a month before she goes free.
Canada's youngest mass murderer prepares for 'real life in the real world' | Can
Gang buries hacked-up teen alive; 2 have sex near grave: Cops
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, August 20, 2015 05:34 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 20, 2015 06:21 PM EDT
Florida police say four teens hacked a 17-year-old boy half to death with a machete before ordering him into a hole and burying him while still barely alive. Then two of the alleged attackers celebrated by having sex nearby.
Desiray Strickland, 18, was arrested Wednesday in the sickening murder of Jose Amaya Guardado on June 28. Kaheem Arbelo, 20, Jonathan Lucas, 18, and Christian Colon, 19, were arrested last week, and reportedly confessed to the crime.
The foursome apparently plotted the gruesome killing for a couple of weeks, according to court documents obtained by the Miami Herald. They allegedly dug a hole and hid the machete in advance. The motive is still unknown, but police believe Guardado owed one of them money.
All five attended the Homestead Job Corps campus, a government-run free education centre. According to the documents, the four allegedly lured Guardado from the school to a nearby wooded area, where they attacked him.
"The victim made one last attempt to fight off the attackers," the Herald quotes the police report, "at which time, (Arbelo) struck the victim with the machete several more times until the victim's face caved in."
Then they ordered Guardado into his shallow grave and buried him while he was still clinging to life, police say.
According to the report, Lucas and Colon headed back to the centre, but Strickland and Arbelo lingered behind to have sex.
Guardado's body was reportedly discovered three days later by his brothers, who were searching for him after he was reported missing.
(Clockwise from top left) Desiray Strickland, Kaheem Arbelo, Christian Colon and Jonathan Lucas are pictured in these undated Miami Police handout photos. The four Florida students are charged with hacking 17-year-old Jose Amaya Guardado to death. (Handout/Postmedia Network)
Gang buries hacked-up teen alive; 2 have sex near grave: Cops | World | News | T
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
First posted: Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:28 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:38 AM EDT
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. -- A woman who was 12 when she helped murder her family because they disapproved of her relationship with an older man is preparing to live a "real life in the real world" when her sentence ends next spring.
The woman, who is now 21 but can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was convicted along with her then-boyfriend of killing her mother, father and eight-year-old brother in the family's Medicine Hat home in April 2006.
Her 10-year youth sentence expires May 7, 2016, and she continued on her path toward freedom Thursday when a judge removed her weekday curfew. Her curfew on weekends was removed at an earlier court date.
"For the last portion of her sentence she'll be living as a normal individual in society so we'll be able to tell and see that this sentence has done what it was supposed to do, which is to reintegrate her and prepare her to live a real life in the real world," her lawyer Katherin Beyak said outside court.
"I think everyone's looking forward to the end of the sentence."
Court heard how the young woman, who appeared via video link from Calgary, has progressed in her rehabilitation to the point where she is at extremely low risk to reoffend.
"It's another positive report. In fact, all the reports I've received since I imposed this sentence a number of years ago were positive," said Justice Scott Brooker. "The risk level, according to the reports, remains low and, in fact, her score measures at the lower end of the lowest level."
She is living on her own in Calgary and has been enrolled in university.
Her sentence was the maximum for young offenders between 12 and 14 and included four years in a psychiatric institution and 4 1/2 years under conditional supervision in the community.
Her former boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, who was 23 at the time of the killings, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
The Crown argued she and Steinke concocted a plan to kill the girl's parents because they disapproved of the 10-year age gap between him and the girl.
It was suggested the crime was loosely based on Steinke's favourite movie "Natural Born Killers," Oliver Stone's twisted love story about a pair of young serial killers who get their start by killing the girl's parents.
Steinke admitted in court that he stabbed the mother and the father after he snuck into the family's home. But he argued that he did not plan the killings.
He said he attacked the mother, who was wearing only a nightgown, after she turned on a light switch and found him huddled in the darkened basement.
She screamed. Her husband came running with a small screwdriver and rushed Steinke. The man died in a fighter's stance, his arms still raised above him with loose fists in a room splashed with blood.
Steinke steadfastly maintained the boy's death came at the hands of the girl.
At trial, police officers and other witnesses became emotional as they recalled seeing the body of the small boy, found on his bed with a deep slash to his throat, his eyes and mouth wide open. Stuffed animals and a toy light sabre spattered with the boy's blood could be seen next to his body.
Steinke and the girl were arrested in Leader, Sask., about a 90-minute drive away, the day after the bodies were found.
The young woman spoke briefly in the court hearing Thursday expressing her "gratitude" for the team that has worked with her.
The final review of her sentence is to be scheduled for April 2016, a month before she goes free.
Canada's youngest mass murderer prepares for 'real life in the real world' | Can
Gang buries hacked-up teen alive; 2 have sex near grave: Cops
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, August 20, 2015 05:34 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 20, 2015 06:21 PM EDT
Florida police say four teens hacked a 17-year-old boy half to death with a machete before ordering him into a hole and burying him while still barely alive. Then two of the alleged attackers celebrated by having sex nearby.
Desiray Strickland, 18, was arrested Wednesday in the sickening murder of Jose Amaya Guardado on June 28. Kaheem Arbelo, 20, Jonathan Lucas, 18, and Christian Colon, 19, were arrested last week, and reportedly confessed to the crime.
The foursome apparently plotted the gruesome killing for a couple of weeks, according to court documents obtained by the Miami Herald. They allegedly dug a hole and hid the machete in advance. The motive is still unknown, but police believe Guardado owed one of them money.
All five attended the Homestead Job Corps campus, a government-run free education centre. According to the documents, the four allegedly lured Guardado from the school to a nearby wooded area, where they attacked him.
"The victim made one last attempt to fight off the attackers," the Herald quotes the police report, "at which time, (Arbelo) struck the victim with the machete several more times until the victim's face caved in."
Then they ordered Guardado into his shallow grave and buried him while he was still clinging to life, police say.
According to the report, Lucas and Colon headed back to the centre, but Strickland and Arbelo lingered behind to have sex.
Guardado's body was reportedly discovered three days later by his brothers, who were searching for him after he was reported missing.
(Clockwise from top left) Desiray Strickland, Kaheem Arbelo, Christian Colon and Jonathan Lucas are pictured in these undated Miami Police handout photos. The four Florida students are charged with hacking 17-year-old Jose Amaya Guardado to death. (Handout/Postmedia Network)
Gang buries hacked-up teen alive; 2 have sex near grave: Cops | World | News | T
