Runaway Devil: How Forbidden Love Drove a 12-Year-Old to Murder Her Family - Hardcover

Remington, Robert; Zickefoose, Sherri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0771073607 ISBN 13: 9780771073601

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

In April 2006, a twelve-year-old girl named J.R.* (known online as Runaway Devil) committed a brutal crime that horrified Canadians across the country: after weeks of plotting, she took part in the savage stabbing deaths of her parents and little brother in the family's home in Medicine Hat, Alberta, making her the youngest multiple killer in Canadian history.

J.R. was a quiet honour-roll student and a member of a local swim club whose middle-class existence concealed an ominous alter ego. Her Internet persona professed a fondness for a darker world of death metal music, the goth subculture, and her love for Jeremy Steinke, a twenty-three-year-old high-school dropout. When J.R. got involved with the much older Steinke, her concerned parents tried all the Dr. Phil strategies to restrain her and interrupt the relationship, to no avail.

Was J.R. simply growing up too fast and under the spell of a Svengali-like Steinke, who is alleged to have committed the murders with her help? Or was she really the puppet master who manipulated her boyfriend to do her bidding?

Based on the trials and exclusive interviews with the prosecutors, police officers, and family and friends of the victims and murderers, Runaway Devil gives the full, compelling truth behind the shocking tragedy.

*As a young offender, her full name cannot be used.

About this title

Review

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"A page-turning thrill."
-- Publishers Weekly

"The authors have done a masterful job of crafting the true story like a crime novel ... chilling and compelling."
-- Fast Forward Weekly

"An authoritative account of the murders that rocked this city."
-- Medicine Hat News

"Runaway Devil tells a story you don't forget.... gripping ... I also commend Zickefoose and Remington on humanizing the victims."
-- Peterborough Examiner

"A great read ... powerful, scary, maddening, but you can't put it down."
-- Gord Gillies, Global TV Calgary

"In spite of severe legal restrictions, Runaway Devil effectively details ... a shocking Canadian triple murder... it brings to life the characters -- the victims, the criminals and the supporting cast. This book does a better job than many in the genre."
-- Winnipeg Free Press

"Well written, excellent, highly recommended."
-- Reg Hampton, CTV News Calgary

"The book is a cautionary tale on several fronts: the perils of the Internet, Goth culture, heavy-metal music, violence in film."
-- National Post

"Dogged reporting had led the pair to countless scoops and insights into the bizarre case even before the girl was taken to trial and found guilty of murder....[it's] as full a picture as we are likely to get into how the unimaginable happened."
-- Calgary Herald

"Expert journalistic handling ... Runaway Devil will have you checking the contents of your daughters' iPod and watching how much time she spends on social networking."
-- January magazine

"Elegantly crafted and written, Runaway Devil is a fine attempt to explain the inexplicable."
-- Elliott Leyton, author of Sole Survivor: Children Who Murder Their Families

"A finely constructed narrative of a horrific crime that shocked a nation ... never again will I see youths hanging around a mall with nothing to do and not think about JR and Jeremy."
-- Nick Pron, author of Lethal Marriage: The Unspeakable Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Robert Remington, a journalist for thirty-three years, has worked for the National Post, the Edmonton Journal, and the Edmonton Sun, and is currently senior news columnist at the Calgary Herald.

Sherri Zickefoose is a crime reporter for the Calgary Herald. Her tenacious reporting on the murders led her to an exclusive interview with Steinke's mother, who revealed a different side of the man being called a monster.

About this edition

• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0771073607
• ISBN 13: 9780771073601
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 270