A 16-year-old boy was arrested Saturday in the stabbing deaths of a Lancaster couple and their teenage son last month, authorities said.
Alec Devon Kreider, 16, of Lancaster, was charged with three counts of murder after his father informed police that he had confessed to the killings, Manheim Township Police Chief Neil J. Harkins said at a news conference.
Police said Kreider knew the teenage victim, but they declined to comment on a possible motive.
The bodies of Thomas Alan Haines, 50; Lisa Ann Haines, 47; and their son Kevin, 16, were found on May 12 at their house in Manheim Township.
Their college-age daughter Margaret “Maggie” Haines told police she was awakened by a noise at about 2 a.m. and went into her parents’ bedroom, where she said she found her father lying on the bed and her mother sitting nearby. The mother quietly told her to get help, according to police.
When police arrived a short time later, they found the parents dead in their bedroom and the son in a hallway.
Police said they found the family’s back door open, and no signs of forced entry. Nothing was taken from the house.
Kevin Haines was a sophomore at Manheim Township High School, where he was a member of the German club and Quiz Bowl team.
Maggie Haines, a 2005 graduate of Manheim Township, had returned home just days earlier after finishing her sophomore year at Bucknell University.
Thomas Haines was a salesman at Motion Industries in Lancaster, while his wife taught at Lancaster Brethren Preschool.
