Portrait of a young killer

Court testimony and his own journals show triple murderer to be an evil, merciless, mocking and tormented teenager.

Lancaster New Era

Published: Jun 18, 2008
11:55 EST

Lancaster

By AD CRABLE and RYAN ROBINSON, Staff

After the murder, 16-year-old Alec Kreider went back to Manheim Township High School and did exceedingly well on his finals.

He went to the funeral of the close buddy he had murdered and expressed irritation that people who were not friends of Kevin Haines would attend.

He was interviewed, along with 150 other students, at least twice, and suggested police check out three students who picked on Haines.

At home, he watched television coverage of the case and chuckled to himself that he had outwitted the FBI.

Everyone said Kreider and Haines were close buddies. Kreider, who lived nearby, spent a lot of time in the Haines home playing board games. The parents encouraged their son to be Kreider's friend.

There was nothing to indicate a break in the two friends' relationship before the slayings, District Attorney Craig Stedman said Tuesday.

But under the politeness and quiet demeanor, a psychopath was taking shape, what Stedman would call a "merciless murderer."

In one of three journals recovered from Kreider's room after his arrest, he writes that his "want/need to kill people increased."

In another journal entry, Kreider chillingly writes, "Never once did I believe killing a man is wrong. No, no killing out of cold blood is wrong."


     Alec Kreider's journals: Samples of separate entries (PDF)


Early in the morning of May 12, 2007, Kreider dressed in all black, including gloves. He knew the Haineses did not lock their front door, which ultimately may be as close to a motive as anything for why he chose the family.

He carried along a knife, with a 4-inch blade, that his father had given him.

Kreider would later tell his father he set out initially to kill only his classmate. Why he killed the entire family is unknown.

But after the grisly murders in which he had to basically hack two of the three family members to death, Kreider wrote this: "Alexander was born on May 12 at 3:30."

He never did show remorse for the killings, Stedman said. The only break from his auto-pilot demeanor at his sentencing Tuesday in court was when Maggie Haines, her family's only survivor, spoke emotionally of the debilitating pain of losing her parents and brother.

Kreider, who stared blankly ahead for most of the two-hour proceeding, lowered his chin to his chest during the 10-minute videotaped statement, raising it again as soon as it was over.

But in conversations with a fellow inmate at Lancaster County Prison after his arrest, Kreider gloated over his killings, Stedman said.

Wasn't Haines a good friend? Kreider was asked.

"Yes, that's what makes it interesting."

"Was the boy scared?" Stedman said the inmate asked Kreider.

"He laughed and said, 'Yes, very!'"

Kreider also said he would have raped Maggie if he had caught her, but she escaped from the house during the attack.

He also said he would kill again if given the chance, Stedman told the court.

The evidence does not provide many hints of what watered the seeds of violence that built in the 16-year-old. Acquaintances said Kreider was withdrawn but polite.

One of his entries in his grammatically proficient journal noted, "Ever since I was young I was defiant of rules and their consequences, which of course laid the foundation for my current anger, depression and violent nature."

At his sentencing, Kreider's defense attorney, David L. Blanck, told the court that Kreider was pleading guilty to the maximum offense to accept responsibility for his crime and as a gesture to help the Haines family heal and not draw out the grieving a trial would entail.

But when Kreider was implored by the judge to give the family and community some explanation for the seemingly senseless murders, Kreider refused.

"I have nothing to say," he said. "There is not anything further."

Again, before being sentenced, the judge urged Kreider for a why.

"There is none," he replied in a monotone.

Indeed, no one could have seen this explosion of brutality coming, Stedman told reporters after Kreider had been sentenced to life in prison.

"You saw him," Stedman addressed reporters, referring to Kreider's quiet yes and no answers and dispassionate appearance in court. "Did he look like a monster walking around with a knife killing people?

"I think it's difficult for anybody and the community to say we have that kind of person in our community, going to our schools with our children, with our brothers, sisters, what have you, interacting. But I think that's the harsh reality of this case. It's much more disturbing than it seems."


Staff writer Ad Crable can be reached at acrable@LNPnews.com or 481-6029.