Alec Kreider was a 16-year-old high school student in Manheim Township, Pennsylvania, who attacked the Haine family.
Early in the morning on May 12, 2007, Alec crept into the family home of his best friend, Kevin Haine, in Manheim Township. Once inside, he attacked Kevin’s parents, Thomas and Lisa while they were sleeping. Thomas gave up the ghost before Alec left the room; Lisa was still alive.
Image: Alec(top frame). Kevin, and his parents( the bottom frame)
He left the couple’s room which was downstairs and moved upstairs where Kevin was sleeping in his room. He attacked him, kîlling him after a struggle. He then returned to the room downstairs and slit Lisa’s throat.
Alec attended the family's memorial service on May 19, 2007, and escaped being captured for more than a month. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole but took his own life in 2017.
Why did he kîll them? There was no obvious motive other than him saying he ‘hated happy people’.
Alec Devon Kreider was born to Timothy Scot and Angela Parson Kreider on February 4, 1991. Alec was known for his labile emotions; he had severe anger issues and once tried to strangle his little brother.
Alec lived with his mother in Manheim, Pennsylvania, and was a sophomore student at Manheim Township High School before he committed the horrific crime.
The Haines Family
Alec got to know the Haines family through their son Kevin Haines.
Thomas Alan Haine, Kevin's father, was a 50-year-old industrial supplies salesman in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His wife, Lisa Haines, was a 47-year-old preschool teacher at Lancaster Brethren Preschool. Kevin had an older sister, Maggie, who was four years older than him. Maggie was a college student at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Kevin was in the same school as Alec Kreider and was also the same age as him. The pair attended the same German class, and those who knew them in school considered them best friends. Sadly, darkness lurked in Alec's heart and for no clear reason decided to attack the Haines family.
The Attack
In the early morning of May 12, 2007, Alec made his way to the Haines family home armed with a nine-inch hunting knife. He crept into the house unnoticed and went straight to the couple's room downstairs.
In the bedroom, he brutally attacked the couple. He stabbed Thomas so badly that he lost his life on the spot, Lisa was still hanging on when he left the room. Alec stormed out of the bedroom and quickly moved upstairs where Kevin was sleeping in his room.
He entered the room and without hesitation used his hunting knife to maniacally stab the one people thought was his friend. Kevin fought back, but the stab wounds had done so much damage that he succumbed to his wounds. Alec then left the room and moved downstairs to enter the couple's room where he then slit Lisa's throat to make sure she was gone.
When Alec came to the house he had one aim: to kill everyone. However, he had no idea that Maggie had returned from school. Maggie was awakened during the struggle. She ran out of the house to a neighbor's when she smelled blood in the house.
The neighbor quickly called 911, but it took time before the police arrived at the scene. A series of communication issues between the Haines' neighbor, the 911 call-taker, and the dispatcher resulted in a significant delay in the police response to the reported 'unknown disturbance'. According to the official timeline, the first responding officer took nearly 12 minutes to arrive, despite being located just 4 miles away and with no traffic impediments at that time of night. The police have stated that this delay did not impact the eventual outcome for the victims.
The officers arrived at the house and met a bloody scene. The investigation started without delay.
Investigation and Arrest
The police tried to solve the case as soon as they could, but they were not making any progress. Alec even attended the Haines family memorial service on May 19 and raised no suspicion. He was never looked at as the culprit until his father contacted the authorities on June 16, 2007.
Alec's father, Timothy Scot Kreider, reported to the authorities that his son had confessed to the murders two days prior. Kreider subsequently pled guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced on June 17, 2008, to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
He was spared the death penalty because of his age as he was sixteen when he committed the crime.
While the precise motive for the killings was unclear, investigators found an entry in Kreider's journal in which he claimed to have "despised happy people".
He took his life on January 20, 2017.
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