UPDATE/ Haines Family Murders/Affidavit: Intent to kill Kevin
tinydancer
By MARIA COOLE, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: Jun 17, 2007 12:16 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - The arraignment for the young man charged in the
killing of three members of a Manheim Township family that has left the
community fearful and on edge for more than a month was a low-key, almost
private event that lasted maybe 10 minutes.
Alec Devon Kreider, 16, a Manheim Township High School student, was
arraigned Saturday in the homicides of three members of the Haines family
who were stabbed to death in their home at about 2:15 a.m. on May 12.
While about a dozen news people filled a room at the Manheim Township police
station for a press conference scheduled for 5:30 p.m., a lone reporter sat
in the courtroom of Magisterial District Judge David P. Miller at 2205
Oregon Pike.
About 10 minutes before the 5:30 p.m. arraignment, two Manheim Township
police officers in two police cruisers pulled into parking spaces in front
of the district judge's office and stood in front of the building. Miller
was already inside.
Then, two more vehicles arrived, and Kreider was escorted rather quickly
from an unmarked van and into the building.
The rising Manheim Township High junior had his hands and feet shackled.
Wearing a black T-shirt, long blue denim shorts and black flip-flops, the
slender teen sat on a metal folding chair beside his defense attorney, Jack
Kenneff, former county assistant district attorney.
As he was arraigned in the homicides of the Haines family of 85 Peach Lane,
Kreider showed no emotion.
He seemed placid as he was escorted into the courtroom and while he was
being arraigned.
Kreider was charged with three counts of homicide in the first degree and
one count of burglary in the first degree for entering the Haines home with
the intent of committing a crime.
He was charged as an adult because of the seriousness of the charges and was
committed to Lancaster County Prison without bail and with no prospect of
being released on bail, Miller said.
Miller advised Kreider that if he could not afford a lawyer, he would be
appointed a public defender.
Kenneff told Miller that he was representing Kreider privately but that if
the Kreider family could not afford to pay for his services that he would
ask to be appointed as the public defender.
Kenneff would not comment when he was asked when Kreider had secured him as
his lawyer.
Kreider's preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. June 20.
The judge questioned Kreider, going over facts in the criminal complaint,
such as his address, to which Kreider answered that he spent equal time with
each of his parents, who are divorced.
Kreider gave his mother's address as 1264 Cobblestone Lane and his father's
as 443 Dolly Drive.
Newspaper records show that his parents were married in 1988 and divorced in
2002.
Miller asked how long Kreider had lived in Lancaster County.
"I think my entire life," Kreider answered.
The judge asked Kreider if he went to Manheim Township High School and what
grade he was in. Kreider said he was going into 11th grade.
The judge asked him if heworked, and Kreider answered that he used to work
at McDonald's.
When asked if he had ever been arrested, Kreider said, "No."
After the arraignment, Kreider was taken to Manheim Township police station
to be processed, and then to Lancaster County Prison.
Miller said he was called Saturday afternoon about the arraignment.
In the affidavit of probable cause, police state that Alec Kreider went to
the Haines home with the intent of smothering Kevin but then used a knife to
kill Kevin and his parents.
Police did not give a motive for the killings.
In the affidavit, police state that Thomas Haines, 50, Lisa Haines, 47, and
Kevin Haines, 16, were found dead inside their home, stabbed to death. The
autopsies showed that Thomas Haines died from stab wounds to the chest, that
Lisa Haines died from a stab wound to the abdomen, and that Kevin Haines
died from stab wounds to the neck and chest.
The affidavit states that Margaret Haines, 20, went to her neighbor's house
across the street after she heard someone inside her house yell for help.
The Manheim Township officer who was dispatched at 2:24 a.m. arrived at 85
Peach Lane at about 2:36 a.m., the affidavit states.
June 12, Alec Kreider told his father, Timothy Scot Kreider, 40, that he
killed Kevin Haines and Kevin's parents, the affidavit states.
Joseph Marschka, 16, a student at Manheim Township High School who was a
classmate of both Kevin Haines and Alec Kreider said Alec was a quiet person
and a good student.
Marschka said he didn't know Alec well; he sat behind him in family and
consumer management class last year, but they didn't talk much, he said.
Marschka said Alec didn't seem like a person who would commit the homicides
he is charged with.
Marschka, Kreider and Kevin Haines were classmates in fifth grade, and
Marschka sat on the bus every afternoon with Kevin Haines on the way home
from school. But Marschka said he and Kevin did not associate much after
that.
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/205779