Hastings (alleged) murderers & newspaper photos

Details are emerging on the horrific double murders in Hastings, MN of Patricia and Peter Niedere, struck down in broad daylight at their family business. As if that weren't bad enough, we learn that one of the (alleged) killers is their son, Matthew.

The son of a Hastings couple conspired with two other teenagers to kill his parents because of recent arguments and to cash in on their estate, prosecutors said today in Hastings. Matthew Niedere, 17, of Hastings; Clayton Keister, 17, of Blaine; and Jamie Patton, 18, of East Bethel are charged in the deaths of Niedere's parents, Patricia and Peter Niedere, both 52.

These young men were overcome with evil:

Matthew Niedere killed his father with a .22-caliber handgun, prosecutors said. Patricia Niedere was shot several times with a handgun, but died of a single shotgun blast to the head fired by Keister, prosecutors said.

The killings appear to have been premeditated, and the motive was money.

Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in court today that Matthew Niedere organized the killings, which had been in the planning for about two weeks. Matthew Niedere recruited Keister and Patton with promises of thousands of dollars from his parents' estate, Backstrom said. The three met four or five times to discuss how to stage the killings and apparently tried unsuccessfully to kill the Niederes during a staged burglary the night before their deaths, he said.

This privileged young man certainly had every reason to be angry:

According to a criminal complaint, he told investigators he and his parents had argued over many things in recent years: his desire to change churches, missing a church service because he overslept, and his flirting with younger girls while at church.

Who wouldn't kill after those traumas?

Well certainly this innocent looking young man wouldn't:

Or would your impression change if you saw the booking photo that the MSM, including the Red Star, has not used:


Or how about the accomplices? This is the photo published by the MSM:


Versus the booking photo:


The small details, such as which pictures are used, go mostly unnoticed by the casual MSM reader. It's Rambix' role to point out how impressions can be manipulated to sensationalize or promote an agenda. Were the photo choices an attempt to manipulate, or editorial laziness? Always consider the story within the story.