VA - Man accused of killing wife with crossbow found guilty
E/C Annie
Photos at site; I'd like to have been at this trial. The wife died
with no will and more than a million in life insurance policies, but
her husband turned all of the $$$ over to his 11 year old son.
Nothing I've read gets to a motive.
e/c annie
Posted: June 2, 2008 04:28 PM
Updated: June 4, 2008 09:16 PM
Day 3 trial coverage:
UPDATE: Jury finds Kenneth Creamer, who was accused of killing his
wife with a crossbow, guilty. Stay with WAVY.com and watch continuing
live coverage on WAVY News 10 at 11.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. (WAVY.com) -- Both sides have rested in the jury
trial of 47-year-old Kenneth Creamer. Closing arguments began
Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday morning, Creamer took the witness stand in his own defense,
to say he would never intentionally kill his wife, 44-year-old Anna
Creamer, a Chesapeake teacher.
When asked by his attorney if he would harm his wife he answered "no."
But prosecutors contend he did just that when a crossbow arrow pierced
her back and killed her as she worked out on a treadmill in the
couple's garage.
Day 2 trial coverage:
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. (WAVY.com) - The defense is now presenting its
case in the jury trial of accused killer Kenneth Creamer. He's charged
with using a crossbow arrow to kill his wife, 44-year-old Anna
Creamer, a Chesapeake teacher.
As the prosecution wrapped up its case, late Tuesday afternoon, a
forensic scientist testified that the crossbow had no defects, was in
good working condition and does not accidentally fire, as Creamer has
claimed.
Creamer told police, in a videotaped statement, that he was in the
garage moving a bag of Christmas decorations when the crossbow fired,
hitting Anna Creamer in the back and killing her as she exercised on a
treadmill.
The chief medical examiner told the court the lethal injury caused
Mrs. Creamer to lose a substantial amount of blood. She says she
determined the manner of death was homicide caused by the "penetrating
crossbow arrow shot to the back and chest."
Anna Creamer's brother also testified. He says one of the letters he
received from Kenneth Creamer said, "she died in my arms. I will see
that forever."
A detective told the court he searched a storage unit and found nearly
10 life insurance policies in Anna's name. Prosecutors claim that was
the motive for the killing, but his attorneys say he had no financial
motive at all.
Previous Coverage:
Trial underway for man accused of killing wife with crossbow
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va (WAVY.com) -- Testimony continues in the case of
Kenneth Creamer. Prosecutors are trying to prove Creamer shot and
killed his wife with a crossbow arrow. He maintains it was an
accident.
Day two of testimony opened with the Chief Medical Examiner. She used
a foam model of a human body to show where the crossbow arrow hit Anna
Creamer. The doctor testified the arrow was a straight shot into her
back and it almost came out of the front of her body.
The Medical Examiner also testified that the manner of death was
homicide and the cause of death was acute chest injury due to crossbow
arrow to back and chest. She bled to death.
Creamer's videotaped four hour statement to police is being played for
the jurors. In it, Creamer recounts coming into the garage and
throwing a bag of Christmas decorations against a refrigerator. The
bag continued the crossbow. Creamer says he heard a noise, then looked
and saw his wife lying down on the treadmill.
Creamer says he ran to call 911 and put ice on his wife.
Day 1 trial coverage:
A Virginia Beach man is on trial for using a crossbow arrow to kill
his wife back in January 2006. Kenneth Creamer (Kray-mer) could spend
the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.
Creamer has maintained his innocence from the start claiming it was
all an accident but prosecutors paint a picture of a husband bent on
collecting insurance money after the death of his wife.
46 year old Kenneth Creamer is charged with killing his 44 year old
wife Anna...shot in the back with an arrow from a crossbow as she
exercised on a treadmill in the garage of their home. This as the
couple's son, then 11 years old, played inside.
A judge read aloud the first degree murder charge to Creamer . After
jury selection, among the first prosecution witnesses were paramedics
who testified Anna Creamer was dead on arrival from her injuries.
A neighbor testified the couple's 11 year old son came next door to
ask for help. Randall Howes testified when he went over to the
Creamer's garage "I saw Anna laying down with an arrow square in her
back."
He says he saw the crossbow lying on top of a box nearby.
Creamer is facing a minimum 20 years and a maximum life term in
prison. The trial is expected to end on Thursday.
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8413151&nav=23iiNU2hl
tiny dancer
"E/C Annie" <blake_s...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:bdb969dc-45a3-4c9c...@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> Man accused of killing wife with crossbow found guilty
>
> Photos at site; I'd like to have been at this trial. The wife died
> with no will and more than a million in life insurance policies, but
> her husband turned all of the $$$ over to his 11 year old son.
> Nothing I've read gets to a motive.
My god, what a horrible way to die, and her son saw her.
td
jerry warner
tiny dancer wrote:
> "E/C Annie" <blake_s...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:bdb969dc-45a3-4c9c...@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> > Man accused of killing wife with crossbow found guilty
> >
> > Photos at site; I'd like to have been at this trial. The wife died
> > with no will and more than a million in life insurance policies, but
> > her husband turned all of the $$$ over to his 11 year old son.
> > Nothing I've read gets to a motive.
>
> My god, what a horrible way to die, and her son saw her.
>
> td
>
why would anyone be carrying a cocked crossbow in a box?
JonesieCat
"tiny dancer" <tinyda...@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6cJ1k.4655$h05....@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
The motive obviously would be the life insur, and even if the $ was "turned
over" to the boy, the father would be the one with control of it, if he's
found not guilty. But accidental? Whose to say? How odd the arrow hit her
square in the back ~by accident~. I assume forensics used the usual methods
to determine angles and origin of the firing and so forth.
jc
tiny dancer
"JonesieCat" <jonesi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dXm2k.8457$IK1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
How *fortunate* he 'accidentally' killed somebody with 10 life insurance
policies though, 'eh?
td
>
>
E/C Annie
wrote:
> "JonesieCat" <jonesiecac...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:dXm2k.8457$IK1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
>
>
>
>
> > "tiny dancer" <tinydancer...@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:6cJ1k.4655$h05....@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
>
> >> "E/C Annie" <blake_swann1...@comcast.net> wrote in message
earlier. Much better story. At least the child wasn't watching as
she died.
e/c annie
Man convicted in his wife's crossbow death
He calls it an accident, but jury disagrees since she'd been hit
before
Friday, Jun 06, 2008 - 12:15 AM Updated: 01:13 AM
VIRGINIA BEACH -- A jury didn't believe that Kenneth Creamer could
accidentally shoot his wife twice with a crossbow in just four months.
So on Wednesday, after more than two hours of deliberation, jurors
convicted the 47-year-old man of first-degree murder, deciding he
deliberately shot a hunting bolt through her back as she walked on a
treadmill in their garage in Courthouse Estates.
Prosecutors argued that the first shooting, in September 2005, in
which Anna Creamer survived a practice arrow that grazed her chest,
was a prelude to what Creamer thought was the perfect crime.
Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Connelly told jurors that
Kenneth Creamer made several mistakes when he staged the crime scene
to make it look like a second crossbow accident.
Anna Creamer was killed Jan. 8, 2006, after a three-pronged hunting
tip impaled her heart and severed her aorta. Crime scene photographs
shown on a widescreen television indicated that she bled to death on
the floor of her garage while her 11-year-old son watched television
in the nearby living room.
Defense attorney Afshin Farashahi tried to show that the shooting was
an accident and that Kenneth Creamer had no motive to kill his wife.
He said that after his wife's death, Creamer had relinquished any
rights to her insurance policies.
Witnesses testified that after she survived the first shooting, Anna
Creamer begged her husband to get rid of the crossbow.
Creamer, who appeared jittery when he took the witness stand Wednesday
morning, told jurors he thought his wife had given the crossbow away.
He testified that he hadn't seen the weapon, much less loaded it,
since it accidentally discharged while he was passing it to his wife
three months before the shooting.
Creamer, his voice cracking, described how he had tossed a large
Christmas bag behind him while he was cleaning up the garage the
morning she was killed.
That bag contained the crossbow, which, he said, struck a refrigerator
and fired the razor-tipped bolt into his wife's back. She groaned and
stopped breathing in his arms, he said.
"Use your common sense," Connelly told jurors during his closing
argument.
He noted that it was unlikely anyone would store a crossbow fully
drawn with a hunting bolt in place or that Creamer wouldn't look
inside that bag before tossing it.
Connelly also pointed out an inconsistency in the story Kenneth
Creamer told police. He said the shot that killed the special-
education teacher was not consistent with an arrow fired after hitting
the refrigerator.
"It was not the perfect crime scene, and it was not the perfect
murder," Connelly said.
JonesieCat
Ah, sounds like he got his just desserts. What's with him denying he knew
the thing was loaded and in the bag? Oh nevermind. Cripes.
jc