Wife was brains behind plot to fake husband's death
MrPepper11
May 5, 2005
Wife was brains behind plot to fake husband's death
Molly Daniels chose cemetery, researched how to burn corpse beyond
recognition
By Melissa Ludwig
GEORGETOWN - When Clayton Daniels left his Leander home the night of
June 18 with shovels and lighter fluid, his wife knew exactly where he
was going.
As the brains of a sordid plot to fake her husband's death, Molly
Daniels had selected the corpse he would dig up and researched how to
burn it beyond recognition, she testified Wednesday.
Clayton Daniels would dig up the six-month-old grave of 81-year-old
Charlotte Davis of Burnet and pry open her casket, his wife said. He
would dress her decomposed body in tennis shoes, Faded Glory jeans and
a Harley-Davidson baseball cap with a fishhook on it - a cap she
would later describe her husband as wearing when he left.
Then, she said, he would put the body in a green Chevy, push it off a
roadside cliff in Burnet County and burn up the body and vehicle.
"We felt because she was older, there would not be much family impact,
if any," Molly Daniels told the jury.
Daniels pleaded guilty in District Court in Williamson County on
Tuesday to insurance fraud and hindering apprehension. She faces up to
20 years in prison. Prosecutors say she did it to keep her husband, a
convicted sex offender, out of prison - and to collect on a $110,000
insurance policy.
The jury will begin deliberating her sentence today, after lawyers make
closing arguments.
On Wednesday, Daniels cried on the stand and told jurors she was sorry
for what she did. She had not considered the effects of her actions,
she said.
Co-worker Amy Birkenfeld told jurors that employees of the gutter
company where Daniels was a receptionist rallied around her after what
they believed to be the tragic death of her husband. They raised $1,000
to help with expenses.
They shut down the small business to attend Clayton Daniels' memorial
service, where more than 100 mourners signed the guest book, Birkenfeld
and other witnesses said.
Neighbor Jennifer Panas testified that when she saw a note tacked to a
bulletin board in her neighborhood, it pulled at her heartstrings:
"Newly-widowed mom needs a baby sitter."
Panas baby-sat 4-year-old Caleb and 1-year-old Haley Jo for $120 a
week, well below market value for child care, Panas said.
Panas said Caleb seemed to be having a difficult time with the death of
his father. She said the boy tormented her dog and tried to push the
other children down the stairs.
"He wasn't quite all there," Panas said. "It was clear there were huge
issues that weren't being dealt with."
On Tuesday, Texas Ranger Garth Davis testified that Molly Daniels told
Caleb his daddy had gone to heaven. Within weeks, she introduced him to
Jake Gregg, a new boyfriend who looked like Clayton Daniels, but with
dyed black hair.
Sympathy for the grieving widow turned cold when police arrested the
couple in December for faking Daniels' death.
"We felt used and betrayed," Birkenfeld said.
Clayton Daniels was set to begin a sentence for sex crimes against a
child, Molly Daniels testified, and she thought he would not be allowed
to live with his children.
"It was about keeping our family together," she said.
The children live with Molly Daniels' mother and Caleb has been
receiving counseling, Molly Daniels said.
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UPDATE - Associated Press:
Woman sentenced to 20 years for staging fake death
By JIM VERTUNO
GEORGETOWN, Texas - A woman who admitted to helping her husband dig
up a corpse and use it to fake his death in a fiery staged car accident
was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday.
Jurors sentenced Molly Daniels, of Leander, to 20 years for insurance
fraud and 10 years for hindering apprehension. The sentences, both
maximums, are to run concurrently. She was also fined $10,000.
"This was a ghoulish, horrific crime," said Jane Starnes, assistant
district attorney. "I think it is unfortunate she could only get 20
years."
Officials said the body of 81-year-old Charlotte Davis was used in the
fake death June 18, before husband Clayton Wayne Daniels was scheduled
to report to jail for failing to report to his probation officer. He
had been given probation for a sexual assault of a young girl.
Clayton Daniels returned a few weeks later with a different name and
his hair dyed black, and his wife introduced her 4-year-old son to her
new boyfriend, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Thomas Vasquez had asked the jury for a lesser
sentence, saying Daniels had acted out of desperation to keep her
family together.
"Her family was falling apart, and she had to take action somehow," he
said, although he also acknowledged the evidence against his client was
"overwhelming."
Daniels didn't comment after the sentence, but her father did.
"If I was on the jury, I might have gone for the max," John Honea said.
"That might make me sound like a bad father, but she did something
really wrong."
He said he had hoped for a lesser punishment but was not surprised by
the harsh sentence.
Clayton Daniels remains jailed pending trial on arson charges.
The couple's children, ages 4 and 1, are living with Molly Daniels'
mother.
On Wednesday Daniels cried on the stand and told jurors she was sorry
for what she had done.
She testified that she made plans for her husband to dig up Davis'
grave, then dress the body the way Clayton Daniels dressed. Then the
body was to be placed in a car, pushed off a roadside cliff and burned,
she said.
"It was about keeping our family together," she said.
But Starnes blamed greed, pointing to a $110,000 life insurance policy.
In court, investigators said the wreck had seemed fishy from the start.
There were no skid marks on the road, and an investigator found the
fire started in the driver's seat and was helped along by charcoal
lighter fluid, authorities said.
Texas Ranger Garth Davis also testified that Molly Daniels was
surprisingly calm when he interviewed her.
Davis said searches of the couple's home and Molly Daniels' work
computer also revealed a complicated scheme to create a new identity
for Daniels, including fake birth certificates and a Texas driver's
license under the name Jacob Alexander Gregg.
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