Saturday marks 10 years since a 12-year-old Medicine Hat girl made headlines around the world in one of Alberta’s most horrific multiple murders.
The girl and her 23-year-old boyfriend were convicted of first degree murder in the brutal killing of the girl’s parents and her 8-year-old brother in their Medicine Hat home on April 23, 2006.
The girl, known only as J.R., cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
She is now in her early 20s and is attending university in Calgary.
Her 10 year sentence – the maximum for a young offender that age – will be completed next month.
Inspector Brent Secondiak with the Medicine Hat Police Service was the first on scene that day.
“It was horrific, it was gruesome, it was something I never wanted to see again,” Secondiak said. “I’ve come to terms with it, but it wasn’t pretty. It was the worse scene I’ve ever had.”
The girl’s boyfriend Jeremy Steinke, now 33-years-old, continues to serve a life-sentence, with eligibility for parole after 25 years.