The "The Demon Within" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just about finished with the yearbooks that I do for the Manheim Township Middle School and the Landis Run Intermediate School in Lancaster, PA.  For the last 15 years I have been contracted by the school district to produce the school's yearbooks and I enjoy every minute of it.  Taking the team photos, club photos, candid shots of students, staff and faculty has been fun, giving me a chance to stay active in the school community as well as earn enough money to make an annual visit to St. Martin with my wife.  But today is slightly different.  I pulled out a few of the yearbooks from a few years ago to give me some ideas for what I might want to do next year with both of the schools.  The first one I opened had a theme titled "Middle School Times."  It was meant to look as if it were a news publication with pages resembling pages in a newspaper.  

Inside page of the yearbook.  On the far right, second photo from
the top is a photo of Alec Kreider when he was in 8th grade.

As I fanned the pages, I stopped on one of the pages to look at what I had done with the heading when all of a sudden I was staring at the face of Alec Kreider.  He happened to be in the class I titled Newsmakers: Class of 2009. Instantly brought back memories of the heinous crime Alec committed on the morning of May 12, 2007 when he murdered one of his high school classmates and close buddies along with the boy's mother and father in their home about a half mile away from my house.  All three victims died from stab wounds that night, but the daughter of his best friend escaped the house before suffering the same fate.  He was questioned the next day by police, as were the majority of his friends and classmates at Manheim Township High School,  but was never a suspect in the murder investigation.  

It was on June 16th that his father, Tim, informed authorities that his son had confessed to him of the crime.  He had confided in his dad thinking he wouldn't turn him in and would give him help.  It was about three years ago, while sitting with my mother and her best friend Helen in the garden at Moravian Manor retirement community that I asked Helen about her family.  She told me she had two sons, but one had been murdered along with her daughter-in-law and grandson a few years before.  You can't imagine what went through my mind as soon as this information came out of her mouth.  I expressed my concern for her loss after she told me about what had happened.  Tough realizing what this woman must have felt and is still feeling years after the crime.  Recently the US Supreme Court ruled that life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional and can't be without a chance or release, so Alec tried to take advantage of this, but to no avail.  His crime happened before the date set by the new ruling.  Alec is now in prison for three consecutive life sentences without the hope of ever getting out.  What must his life be like.  I just can't imagine what he must be going through.  The grief his father has for what he did to his son is immense.  Tim Kreider recently self-published a book titled Refuse to Drown: A Father's Unthinkable Choice.  In the book he talks about what he could have and should have done differently when raising his son.  His depression for so many years was immense.  His daughter will no longer talk to him.  But, he felt a need to tell his story which he did in his book.  He is hoping that his book will "change one life for the positive."  His son never gave him a reason for the murders, but Alec's journal does reveal a few thoughts why he committed the crime.  He said he wanted to know what it would feel like to kill someone.  Tim visits with his son in prison monthly, but wonders who will visit when he is gone. Sad, sad story!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.