Teen gets 3 life terms for triple slaying

LANCASTER - A teenager who wrote in his journal about having a compulsion to "kill people" was sentenced yesterday to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally stabbing a classmate and the classmate's parents in a middle-of-the-night attack inside their home.

Alec D. Kreider, 17, displayed no remorse and offered no explanation for the grisly murders in May 2007 of Tom and Lisa Haines and their 16-year-old son, Kevin, despite emotional statements by family members and the judge's repeated offers to let Kreider speak on his own behalf.

Judge David Ashworth sentenced Kreider to three consecutive life terms without parole.

Kreider, who lived with his mother about a 10-minute walk away from the Haines home, attacked the victims in their bedrooms - first the parents, then Kevin, Stedman said.

Maggie Haines, Kevin's sister and a Bucknell University student who was at home that night, escaped and ran to a neighbor's home to call the police.

Kreider was arrested after he confessed to his father about a month after the murders. He also confessed to a fellow inmate at Lancaster County Prison, where he has been held since his arrest. He has never confessed to police, but their case was buttressed by an assortment of physical evidence.

As part of his sentence, Kreider also was ordered to pay as much as $140,000 in restitution to the victims' family, the state and other parties.

The judge said he would insert a note in Kreider's file to register his strong objections should Kreider ever be considered for clemency.