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5/15/07 by True Crime Weblog Admin (Steve Huff)
Labels: CrimeBlog.US, Tech Trouble | Linkbacks
Haines Family Murdered in Lancaster, PA
by True Crime Weblog Admin (Steve Huff)
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES
NOTE, 5/18/07: If you are arriving at this entry from a certain message board, please note that I think something I wrote below has been mischaracterized in quotes on that forum. Below, I wrote this about Maggie Haines, "Unless she herself was involved." The quote on the message board stops there. It does not go on to the next statement: "Police have not indicated any suspicion towards Maggie Haines, though, and they have told the local media that she is cooperating with the investigation." The entire discussion I read was predicated on the quote stopping with the "unless" statement, leading posters who were too lazy to check to think that I left that open-ended. I did not. I know message boards are full of such nonsense and I probably shouldn't take them seriously, but if Maggie's best friend posts on that board as is claimed, I don't want that person to get the wrong impression, at the very least.
Authorities in Lancaster, Pennsylvania encountered a scene straight out of a horror film early on Saturday, May 12, 2007. In the 2-story, 4-bedroom home at 85 Peach Lane, three people were dead -- Thomas A. Haines, age 50, his wife Lisa, 47, and their teenage son Kevin, age 16.
Three members of the Haines family had been murdered. Stabbed to death.
One person was apparently unharmed, the Haines's 20-year-old daughter Margaret, called Maggie.
Maggie Haines told police that she'd been asleep. She awoke to strange noises elsewhere in the 2,368 square foot Haines residence. Maggie went to see what was up, and found her deceased dad and brother. Maggie told investigators that her mother was still barely alive, at the time.
Tom Haines was on the bed in the parents' bedroom, Kevin Haines was laying in the hallway. Lisa Haines was sitting up, and she is reported to have "quietly" asked Maggie to call 911.
Maggie Haines's call came in at 2:24 a.m., from a neighbor's home.
Police would not specify the kind of weapon that may have been used on the Haineses. Police also indicated that no weapon had been recovered. The Haines home was sealed pending further investigation.
The community was warned: keep your doors locked, report suspicious activity.
As of 3 a.m. on May 15, 2007, police in Lancaster had no suspects. They were appealing to the community not only for caution, but for help.Tonight, Manheim Township is on edge. So often, when major crimes occur, police reassure the neighbors immediately, seeking to alleviate panic. It is somewhat unusual to hear of law enforcement saying, 'We don't know what's going on yet, and you need to be wary.'
Lancaster County coroner Gary Kirchner said the following to the Carlisle Sentinel: "Who the hell did this? (...) I mean, that neighborhood is a class neighborhood."
Who would kill Kevin Haines? He was in the Scouts, Troop 99. Kevin was a good student, took German and History at Manheim Township High School. In February of this year, Kevin was the lone sophomore on a victorious Quiz Bowl team. Manheim Township High bested Penn Manor in the Conestoga Valley Quiz Bowl XV.
Who would kill Thomas Haines? He liked to run, was seen in the neighborhood jogging. He'd probably been running for years, if the cross country champ listed on this page is the same man. Sometimes Tom was seen tossing a ball with Kevin outside the home on Peach Lane. Tom Haines worked in sales for Motion Industries, a nationwide company with an office in Lancaster.
Who would kill Lisa Haines, a teacher at the Lancaster Brethren Preschool?
Why was Maggie Haines still alive?
One fact that stuck out about the surviving family member was that she'd come home after the end of the Spring semester at Bucknell, where she is attending on Thursday, May 10. Perhaps the person who killed Maggie Haines's family wasn't aware that she would be home. Unless she herself was involved.
Police have not indicated any suspicion towards Maggie Haines, though, and they have told the local media that she is cooperating with the investigation.
There may have been other events, but the last time any of the Haineses had been in the paper in relation to a crime, it was 2003. In late April that year, a Lisa Haines on Peach Lane was mentioned in the Lancaster New Era, reporting that her mailbox had been stolen. Maggie Haines was mentioned more than once in that paper, in 2006 and 2007 -- but only for her membership on the Dean's List at Bucknell.
It is unusual any time a family is murdered. Stranger still in this instance is the fact that the Haineses were stabbed. The book on stabbings seems to be that they are personal crimes, committed between people who know each other, who have a history. Multiple homicide in a family home so often seems to be committed with firearms, regardless of whether or not the killer is a family member.
A knife attack could also have been committed by a killer or killers who don't have easy access to other weaponry. A kid, a felon whose record won't permit purchase of a firearm, a robber who didn't intend for things to end so badly.
Yet a felon, an experienced criminal, might think to see if there were any potential witnesses left in the Haines home. And committed career criminals often can find a gun, ex-convict status be damned.
The Haines family wasn't considered sociable by others in the neighborhood, but early reports haven't painted them in a negative light, otherwise. If anything, the Haineses keeping to themselves makes the murder of 3 family members even stranger than before.
The local police seem to think there is someone roaming free in that part of Pennsylvania who will do this kind of thing again. They would have shied away from any warnings to other residents if they didn't.
If they are right, then the killer or killers will only improve their game as they go along. This part of Pennsylvania, called "bucolic" by at least one publication, will be haunted by such a thing with more intensity as each day passes.
Hopefully, the killer or killers of Tom, Lisa, and Kevin Haines really were inexperienced. Prone to making mistakes. In this day and age, the mistake can be microscopic, but still put a murderer on death row. Until the mistake is discovered and used to give direction to the investigation, that part of Lancaster County won't be a comfortable place to sleep. A killer or pair of killers can realistically only get so far -- statistics about population distribution indicate that there would never be any real danger to the majority of people living in the vicinity of 85 Peach Lane -- but the first act of homicidal violence has an impact that leads everyone to believe they could be next.
The sickness of some killers is such that this is precisely what they want. For the last few nights, for tonight, someone in Pennsylvania has that power over dreams.
If the murders were random, or targeted but anonymous (committed by someone who targeted the home but did not actually know the family), that power will likely persist for too long. In fact, it already has.
Updates will be posted below.
UPDATE 1, 3:34 p.m. ET
The following article was published in the Lancaster New Era today: "Rumors Swirl Around Mystery."
The piece was written by Cindy Stauffer. It listed rumors afoot in Lancaster about the Haines murders:
Police have also stated that Maggie Haines is 'not being considered a suspect.'
UPDATE 2, 5:51 p.m. ET
This article in the New Era contains the following quote about events in the Haines home as witnessed by Maggie Haines prior to her calling 911:
Why Kevin's room?
I've been wondering all along if for whatever reason, Kevin Haines might have been the central target of the attack. Why is anyone's guess -- articles focused on Kevin since the murders have made him seem about as harmless as as boy his age could ever be.
I also have a difficult time explaining why this makes some sense to me. Perhaps it is that the details of the crime as given so far indicate that it may have been committed by someone who wasn't a very accomplished criminal.
As much as anything, I'm reminded of Scott Dyleski, the Lafayette, California teen who murdered Pamela Vitale, the wife of famed defense attorney Daniel Horowitz. It was a very random-seeming crime, committed by bludgeoning and stabbing. Real motive was always elusive in that case. Scott may have intended to commit burglary, but the murder of Ms. Vitale was committed with such ferocity that it ended up appearing to be the real purpose of Dyleski's coming to the Vitale/Horowitz home that day.
Did someone target the highly intelligent, chess-playing Scout Kevin Haines at school? Was there bullying, perhaps, that escalated into something much more sinister?
If so, the murders would have to be considered "semi-random." The family was targeted in a way, by someone who knew a member of the family. A truly random murder would have been an act committed by a complete stranger who entered the home just to fulfill either a twisted fantasy life or a material need -- caught in burglary perhaps, that person could have panicked.
The FBI is involved now. This is perhaps one of the most ominous developments yet, as the FBI is called in to investigate cases where the crime may contain unusual elements -- bizarre, strange details to the eyes of city detectives, who may not work such homicides on a regular basis.
The FBI investigating, police warning locals to be vigilant... even momentary speculation on these things in the wake of a multiple knife murder committed in a nice suburban home in a non-violent neighborhood leads me to conclude that the full truth about what happened in the Haines home will be both stranger and more chilling than any fiction.
UPDATE 3, 9:36 a.m. ET, 5/16/2007
Per a post in the comments from Gary and the discussion at Websleuths, I direct you to this article at WGAL.com -- "Police Investigate Home Invasion in Lancaster County." The article, published today, states:
An article published by WHP-TV (CBS 21) provided a bit more information about the location of the home invasion. Using that info, it would appear that it occurred about 7 miles from the Haines residence. The WHP-TV post is brief, but it does indicate at the end that police think it is too early to connect this home invasion to the Manheim Twp. murders.
Also referenced in the discussion at Websleuths.com: "Police follow leads in slayings," published today in the Intelligencer Journal. Authorities have indicated that leads have bee developed in the ongoing investigation into the Haines murders. From that piece, by Brett Hambright:
**NOTES**
* Please e-mail me via this contact form if you have any tips about this developing story. Confidentiality is assured.
* There is also a discussion about this crime being held at Websleuths.com.
* If you are for some reason offended by any discussion in the comments left on this entry, you should probably go here. The link takes you to LancasterOnline's message board, and a discussion of this case that I'd imagine anyone close to the Haineses would find offensive. The discussion quickly devolved to an argument between gun lovers and gun haters, with contributions from people who just plain hate the local government, to boot. Amazing, and not in a good way.
Sources: WHP-TV, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Carlisle, PA Sentinel/Associated Press; WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, PA; Lancaster, PA New Era.
NOTE, 5/18/07: If you are arriving at this entry from a certain message board, please note that I think something I wrote below has been mischaracterized in quotes on that forum. Below, I wrote this about Maggie Haines, "Unless she herself was involved." The quote on the message board stops there. It does not go on to the next statement: "Police have not indicated any suspicion towards Maggie Haines, though, and they have told the local media that she is cooperating with the investigation." The entire discussion I read was predicated on the quote stopping with the "unless" statement, leading posters who were too lazy to check to think that I left that open-ended. I did not. I know message boards are full of such nonsense and I probably shouldn't take them seriously, but if Maggie's best friend posts on that board as is claimed, I don't want that person to get the wrong impression, at the very least.
Authorities in Lancaster, Pennsylvania encountered a scene straight out of a horror film early on Saturday, May 12, 2007. In the 2-story, 4-bedroom home at 85 Peach Lane, three people were dead -- Thomas A. Haines, age 50, his wife Lisa, 47, and their teenage son Kevin, age 16.
Three members of the Haines family had been murdered. Stabbed to death.
One person was apparently unharmed, the Haines's 20-year-old daughter Margaret, called Maggie.
Maggie Haines told police that she'd been asleep. She awoke to strange noises elsewhere in the 2,368 square foot Haines residence. Maggie went to see what was up, and found her deceased dad and brother. Maggie told investigators that her mother was still barely alive, at the time.
Tom Haines was on the bed in the parents' bedroom, Kevin Haines was laying in the hallway. Lisa Haines was sitting up, and she is reported to have "quietly" asked Maggie to call 911.
Maggie Haines's call came in at 2:24 a.m., from a neighbor's home.
Police would not specify the kind of weapon that may have been used on the Haineses. Police also indicated that no weapon had been recovered. The Haines home was sealed pending further investigation.
The community was warned: keep your doors locked, report suspicious activity.
As of 3 a.m. on May 15, 2007, police in Lancaster had no suspects. They were appealing to the community not only for caution, but for help.Tonight, Manheim Township is on edge. So often, when major crimes occur, police reassure the neighbors immediately, seeking to alleviate panic. It is somewhat unusual to hear of law enforcement saying, 'We don't know what's going on yet, and you need to be wary.'
Lancaster County coroner Gary Kirchner said the following to the Carlisle Sentinel: "Who the hell did this? (...) I mean, that neighborhood is a class neighborhood."
Who would kill Kevin Haines? He was in the Scouts, Troop 99. Kevin was a good student, took German and History at Manheim Township High School. In February of this year, Kevin was the lone sophomore on a victorious Quiz Bowl team. Manheim Township High bested Penn Manor in the Conestoga Valley Quiz Bowl XV.
Who would kill Thomas Haines? He liked to run, was seen in the neighborhood jogging. He'd probably been running for years, if the cross country champ listed on this page is the same man. Sometimes Tom was seen tossing a ball with Kevin outside the home on Peach Lane. Tom Haines worked in sales for Motion Industries, a nationwide company with an office in Lancaster.
Who would kill Lisa Haines, a teacher at the Lancaster Brethren Preschool?
Why was Maggie Haines still alive?
One fact that stuck out about the surviving family member was that she'd come home after the end of the Spring semester at Bucknell, where she is attending on Thursday, May 10. Perhaps the person who killed Maggie Haines's family wasn't aware that she would be home. Unless she herself was involved.
Police have not indicated any suspicion towards Maggie Haines, though, and they have told the local media that she is cooperating with the investigation.
There may have been other events, but the last time any of the Haineses had been in the paper in relation to a crime, it was 2003. In late April that year, a Lisa Haines on Peach Lane was mentioned in the Lancaster New Era, reporting that her mailbox had been stolen. Maggie Haines was mentioned more than once in that paper, in 2006 and 2007 -- but only for her membership on the Dean's List at Bucknell.
It is unusual any time a family is murdered. Stranger still in this instance is the fact that the Haineses were stabbed. The book on stabbings seems to be that they are personal crimes, committed between people who know each other, who have a history. Multiple homicide in a family home so often seems to be committed with firearms, regardless of whether or not the killer is a family member.
A knife attack could also have been committed by a killer or killers who don't have easy access to other weaponry. A kid, a felon whose record won't permit purchase of a firearm, a robber who didn't intend for things to end so badly.
Yet a felon, an experienced criminal, might think to see if there were any potential witnesses left in the Haines home. And committed career criminals often can find a gun, ex-convict status be damned.
The Haines family wasn't considered sociable by others in the neighborhood, but early reports haven't painted them in a negative light, otherwise. If anything, the Haineses keeping to themselves makes the murder of 3 family members even stranger than before.
The local police seem to think there is someone roaming free in that part of Pennsylvania who will do this kind of thing again. They would have shied away from any warnings to other residents if they didn't.
If they are right, then the killer or killers will only improve their game as they go along. This part of Pennsylvania, called "bucolic" by at least one publication, will be haunted by such a thing with more intensity as each day passes.
Hopefully, the killer or killers of Tom, Lisa, and Kevin Haines really were inexperienced. Prone to making mistakes. In this day and age, the mistake can be microscopic, but still put a murderer on death row. Until the mistake is discovered and used to give direction to the investigation, that part of Lancaster County won't be a comfortable place to sleep. A killer or pair of killers can realistically only get so far -- statistics about population distribution indicate that there would never be any real danger to the majority of people living in the vicinity of 85 Peach Lane -- but the first act of homicidal violence has an impact that leads everyone to believe they could be next.
The sickness of some killers is such that this is precisely what they want. For the last few nights, for tonight, someone in Pennsylvania has that power over dreams.
If the murders were random, or targeted but anonymous (committed by someone who targeted the home but did not actually know the family), that power will likely persist for too long. In fact, it already has.
Updates will be posted below.
UPDATE 1, 3:34 p.m. ET
The following article was published in the Lancaster New Era today: "Rumors Swirl Around Mystery."
The piece was written by Cindy Stauffer. It listed rumors afoot in Lancaster about the Haines murders:
Here are some of the theories making the rounds:The police are still investigating, no doubt with some added intensity. An article on WHP TV's website stated that Manheim Twp. police will not release any more info about the investigation today.
* The murder weapon was a sword.
Manheim Township High School students buzzed about this possibility Monday but Lancaster County Coroner Dr. G. Gary Kirchner said today, "No sword."
Police said Monday at a press conference the murder weapon was a knife.
* The murder was done as a gang initiation or was gang activity that spilled over from the city into the suburbs.
"I would be extremely, extremely surprised if this had anything to do with a street gang level," said Chalfant, the city police's certified specialist in gangs.
(...)
* The murder is somehow connected to the murder of Ray Diener, a 65-year-old man shot outside his West Donegal Township home two weeks ago. Northwest Regional Police are still investigating that murder.
The two cases do have some similarities.
The murders in both cases happened after dark.
The victims alerted a family member for help. Diener's wife saw two men standing outside her home after she heard her husband yelling.
The victims were well-liked. The motives remain a mystery.
But there are differences as well.
Diener was shot multiple times outside his home. The Haines family was stabbed inside their home.
Lancaster County District Attorney Donald Totaro said today, "At this point in time, we have no evidence to suggest these murders are connected."
* One of the Haines' family members was being stalked before the murders.
That's one of many other theories being floated in the community, some seemingly plausible, others not...
Police have also stated that Maggie Haines is 'not being considered a suspect.'
UPDATE 2, 5:51 p.m. ET
This article in the New Era contains the following quote about events in the Haines home as witnessed by Maggie Haines prior to her calling 911:
[Maggie Haines] never saw her brother or the assailant, offiicals (sic) said, but heard noises in his room before she fled the house.Maggie Haines never saw Kevin laying in the hallway, but she heard noises coming from Kevin's room.
"Maggie's attention was focused solely on her mother when she went to the bedroom, and therefore she did not observe the condition of her father," [District Attorney Donald] Totaro explained.
She also "did not come in contact with her brother after hearing the noises from his bedroom," Totaro said...
Why Kevin's room?
I've been wondering all along if for whatever reason, Kevin Haines might have been the central target of the attack. Why is anyone's guess -- articles focused on Kevin since the murders have made him seem about as harmless as as boy his age could ever be.
I also have a difficult time explaining why this makes some sense to me. Perhaps it is that the details of the crime as given so far indicate that it may have been committed by someone who wasn't a very accomplished criminal.
As much as anything, I'm reminded of Scott Dyleski, the Lafayette, California teen who murdered Pamela Vitale, the wife of famed defense attorney Daniel Horowitz. It was a very random-seeming crime, committed by bludgeoning and stabbing. Real motive was always elusive in that case. Scott may have intended to commit burglary, but the murder of Ms. Vitale was committed with such ferocity that it ended up appearing to be the real purpose of Dyleski's coming to the Vitale/Horowitz home that day.
Did someone target the highly intelligent, chess-playing Scout Kevin Haines at school? Was there bullying, perhaps, that escalated into something much more sinister?
If so, the murders would have to be considered "semi-random." The family was targeted in a way, by someone who knew a member of the family. A truly random murder would have been an act committed by a complete stranger who entered the home just to fulfill either a twisted fantasy life or a material need -- caught in burglary perhaps, that person could have panicked.
The FBI is involved now. This is perhaps one of the most ominous developments yet, as the FBI is called in to investigate cases where the crime may contain unusual elements -- bizarre, strange details to the eyes of city detectives, who may not work such homicides on a regular basis.
The FBI investigating, police warning locals to be vigilant... even momentary speculation on these things in the wake of a multiple knife murder committed in a nice suburban home in a non-violent neighborhood leads me to conclude that the full truth about what happened in the Haines home will be both stranger and more chilling than any fiction.
UPDATE 3, 9:36 a.m. ET, 5/16/2007
Per a post in the comments from Gary and the discussion at Websleuths, I direct you to this article at WGAL.com -- "Police Investigate Home Invasion in Lancaster County." The article, published today, states:
A family near Lititz, Lancaster County awoke to someone trying to break into their home.The suspect fled, got into yet another home, was found there and arrested. He had some type of injury and was taken to the hospital. Later in the article:
Police said the suspect broke into a locked back door at the home on Brookwood Drive.When police arrived they got the family out safely. The suspect hid in a locked upstairs bedroom...
Police are investigating whether this home invasion is related to a triple murder in Manheim Township last weekend.Specifically, the murders of three members of the Haines family, Tom, Lisa, and Kevin.
An article published by WHP-TV (CBS 21) provided a bit more information about the location of the home invasion. Using that info, it would appear that it occurred about 7 miles from the Haines residence. The WHP-TV post is brief, but it does indicate at the end that police think it is too early to connect this home invasion to the Manheim Twp. murders.
Also referenced in the discussion at Websleuths.com: "Police follow leads in slayings," published today in the Intelligencer Journal. Authorities have indicated that leads have bee developed in the ongoing investigation into the Haines murders. From that piece, by Brett Hambright:
Investigators did not elaborate on the nature of the leads, but said they have received several tips from residents.Further updates will be posted as they become available. Thanks to the people posting in the comments and those keeping the discussion going at Websleuths.
Local and national law-enforcement officials continued to search the Haines' home in the tranquil Blossom Hill neighborhood and surrounding areas for signs of the killer.
(...)
While law enforcement officials continue to search for the killer, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. G. Gary Kirchner provided some details Tuesday about the slayings.
"These killings are violent and brutal," Kirchner said. "This is not a sterile hit."
Kirchner said the term "sterile hit" is used to describe a homicide scene with little blood, often a sign the crime was done quickly.
This was done "up close and personal," Kirchner said...
**NOTES**
* Please e-mail me via this contact form if you have any tips about this developing story. Confidentiality is assured.
* There is also a discussion about this crime being held at Websleuths.com.
* If you are for some reason offended by any discussion in the comments left on this entry, you should probably go here. The link takes you to LancasterOnline's message board, and a discussion of this case that I'd imagine anyone close to the Haineses would find offensive. The discussion quickly devolved to an argument between gun lovers and gun haters, with contributions from people who just plain hate the local government, to boot. Amazing, and not in a good way.
Sources: WHP-TV, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Carlisle, PA Sentinel/Associated Press; WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, PA; Lancaster, PA New Era.
Labels: Haines Family murders, homicide, Kevin Haines, unsolved | Linkbacks
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