Alec Devon Kreider

Alec Devon Kreider
Born	(1991-02-04) February 4, 1991
Occupation	Prisoner
Criminal charge	Murder
Criminal penalty	Three life sentences without parole
Criminal status	Incarcerated, State Correctional Institution-Camp Hill
Parent(s)	Timothy Scot Kreider, Angela Parsons Kreider

Alec Devon Kreider (born February 4, 1991) is a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, criminal who was convicted for the three murders of a Manheim Township family on May 12, 2007. Kreider entered guilty pleas to three counts of first degree murder on June 17, 2008.

Kreider is now serving three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Some controversy remains as to the validity of Kreider's convictions. Judge David Ashworth denied Kreider's post-sentence challenge to his consecutive sentences. The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Ashworth's denial. Kreider filed a petition under Pennsylvania's Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act on December 8, 2009. Common Pleas Court Judge David Ashworth denied the PCRA on June 15, 2010. An appeal to Pennsylvania Superior Court was later discontinued by Kreider. Despite this development, the legal wranglings continue.

Background of killings

The victims, Thomas Alan Haines (age 50), an industrial-supplies salesman, Lisa Ann Haines (née Brown, age 47), a preschool teacher, and their son Kevin (age 16), a high school sophomore, were found on May 12 at their house in Manheim Township after their daughter Maggie, a student at Bucknell University, was awakened by a noise in the middle of the night, "smelled blood", and was told by her mother to go for assistance. Alec and Kevin were in the same German class and were reported by a fellow student to be "close buddies". Alec attended the family's memorial service on May 19, 2007.

Murders, police response, and investigation

On the morning of May 12, 2007, Kreider (then age 16) entered the Haines' residence without force. All three victims died from stab wounds. The daughter, Maggie, escaped physical harm. She ran from the home and across the street to a neighbor who called 911 for help. Communication between the neighbor, the call taker at 911, and the dispatcher caused extreme unnecessary delay in police response to the "unknown disturbance". The official timeline notes that it took the first responding officer nearly twelve minutes to arrive from a distance of four miles, in the middle of the night with no traffic barriers. Police say this delay had no bearing on the survival of the victims.

The parents were found in their bedroom and Kevin was found at the opposite end of the upstairs hallway on the floor outside his bedroom. According to police reports, bloody shoeprints go away from Kevin's body and enter the parents' bedroom, and then to the common upstairs bathroom where a shoeprint was found on the linoleum in front of the sink. Police presume the murderer attempted to clean up at the sink as blood was also found therein. Bloody shoeprints appeared on lower carpeted steps as the perpetrator exited the house. Blood transfer was also found on the rear sliding glass door.

The law enforcement investigation began around 2:40 a.m. on May 12, 2007. The victims were declared dead shortly after 5 a.m. by deputy county coroners, and autopsies were performed two days later. The day after the murders, bloodhounds tracked "a strong scent of fear" along a path that led down the hill to PA Route 501 and north to an ice cream/fast food restaurant, where the trail vanished. Police presumed the perpetrator had a vehicle waiting and used it to escape. Upon Kreider's arrest, all information associated with the bloodhounds was dismissed, as it did not match law enforcement's new theory. The police explanation was simple: "the dogs made a mistake".

Arrest, trial, and aftermath

During a month of intense national and regional media coverage and speculation, including tracking by bloodhounds and an intensive search by PSP cadets, Kreider was arrested on June 16, 2007, after his father, Timothy Scot Kreider, informed authorities that his son had confessed to the killings two days earlier. Police said Kreider was a friend of victim Kevin Haines (16), a fellow sophomore at Manheim Township High School. Kreider pleaded guilty to three counts of first degree murder and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole on June 17, 2008. His age prevented him from being sentenced to death due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Roper v. Simmons (2005). Kreider's motive for the killings is unclear, although according to an entry investigators found in his journal, he claims to have "despised happy people".

A financial reward offered on behalf of the Haines family remains unclaimed.

Kreider pleaded guilty to three counts of first degree murder and was sentenced to the mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. On June 25, 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that a sentencing scheme that includes mandatory life in prison for juvenile offenders violated the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Kreider is among several juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole who are returning to court to have their cases evaluated in light of the Miller decision.

In the media

The murder of the Haines family was subject of the Season 3 premiere of Investigation Discovery's Unusual Suspects; the network revisited the case in a 2014 episode of its Nightmare Next Door series. Author Michael W. Cuneo also wrote about the case in his true crime book A Need to Kill: Confessions of a Teen Killer. Alec Kreider's father, Tim Kreider, also wrote a book Refuse to Drown concerning his son's involvement in the killings, and the emotional turmoil the Kreider family went through in the aftermath.

Further reading

• Kreider, Tim. Refuse to Drown.

External links

• Affidavit for Kreider's arrest