Willie Crain was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of seven year old Amanda Brown
According to court documents Willie Crain would kidnap, sexually assault and murder the little girl
William Crian would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Willie Crain Case
Willie Seth Crain, a then fifty-two-year-old Hillsborough County fisherman and crabber, was charged with the September 1998 kidnapping and first-degree murder of seven-year-old Amanda Brown. At the time, Amanda was three feet, ten inches tall and weighed approximately forty-five pounds.
The evidence introduced at trial establishes that on September 9, 1998, Crain’s daughter, Cynthia Gay, introduced Willie Crain to Amanda’s mother, Kathryn Hartman, at a bar in Hillsborough County. Willie Crain and Hartman danced and talked for four hours, until 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, then went to Hartman’s residence, a trailer located in Hillsborough County, where they remained for approximately thirty minutes. Amanda was spending the night with her father and was not present. However, two photographs of Amanda and some of her toys were visible in the trailer. Before Crain left, Hartman made it clear to Crain that she wanted to see him again.
The next afternoon, September 10, 1998, Willie Crain returned to Hartman’s trailer. Hartman testified that Crain smelled of alcohol and carried a cup with a yellow liquid in it. Amanda was present. Willie Crain began talking to Amanda about her homework. He pulled some money out and told Amanda that if she got her homework right, he would give her a dollar. He eventually gave her two dollars. Willie Crain and Amanda sat at the kitchen table playing games and working on her homework. At some point during the afternoon, Willie Crain became aware that Amanda had a loose tooth. After wiggling the tooth,Willie Crain offered Amanda five dollars to let him pull the tooth out, but she refused. Hartman testified that the tooth was not ready to be pulled out. Willie Crain remained at Hartman’s residence for approximately one hour. Before he left early in the afternoon, Willie Crain accepted Hartman’s invitation to return for dinner that evening.
Crain returned to Hartman’s trailer shortly after 7 p.m. Willie Crain still smelled of alcohol and carried the same or a similar plastic cup with a colored liquid. After dinner, Hartman and Crain played more games with Amanda. At some point, Willie Crain mentioned that he had a large videotape collection and invited Hartman and Amanda to his trailer to watch a movie. Amanda asked if he had “Titanic,” which she stated was her favorite movie. Willie Crain stated that he did have “Titanic” and Amanda pleaded with her mother to allow them to watch the movie. Hartman was initially reluctant because it was a school night, but she finally agreed. Willie Crain drove Hartman and Amanda approximately one mile to his trailer in his white pickup truck.
They began watching the movie in Crain’s living room but were interrupted by a telephone call from Crain’s sister. Willie Crain said he did not get along with his sister and asked Hartman to speak to her. At the conclusion of a twenty- to twenty-five-minute phone conversation with Crain’s sister, Hartman found the living room unoccupied. Hartman opened a closed door at the rear of the trailer without knocking, and found Amanda and Crain sitting on the bed in Crain’s bedroom, watching the movie “Titanic.” Both were dressed and Amanda was sitting between Crain’s sprawled legs with her back to Crain’s front. Crain’s arms were around Amanda and he appeared to Hartman to be showing Amanda how to work the remote control. Hartman testified that although she was not overly concerned about what she observed at that time, she nevertheless picked Amanda up and sat Amanda beside her on the bed. Willie Crain, Hartman, and Amanda then watched the movie together in Crain’s bedroom. Crain testified at trial that they watched the movie in his bedroom because it was the only air-conditioned room in the trailer.
At some point in the evening, Amanda and Hartman used Crain’s bathroom together. While they were in the bathroom, Hartman did not notice Amanda bleeding from any location that Hartman could observe. Hartman did notice a blue cover on the back of the toilet seat. Amanda did not use the bathroom at any other time that evening.
At another point in the evening, Hartman asked Willie Crain if he had any medication for pain. Willie Crain offered her Elavil and Valium. He also offered her some marijuana, which she declined. Willie Crain told Hartman that the Elavil would “really knock the pain out” and would make her sleep for a long time. Hartman elected to take five, five-milligram Valium tablets.2 Crain took one Valium tablet.
Eventually, Hartman decided that it was time to leave. Crain drove Hartman and Amanda back to their residence and accompanied them inside. Amanda took a shower. While checking on Amanda during the shower and helping her dry off and get ready for bed, Hartman did not notice any sores or cuts on Amanda’s body. According to Hartman, Crain suggested that Amanda should not go to sleep with wet hair, so Crain blow-dried Amanda’s hair in Hartman’s bathroom without Hartman present. According to Hartman, when Amanda went to sleep in Hartman’s bed around 2:15 a.m., the loose tooth was still in place and it was not bleeding.
According to Hartman, she told Crain, who appeared to be intoxicated at that time, that he could lie down to sober up but she was going to bed. The time was approximately 2:30 a.m. Within five minutes of Hartman going to bed, Crain entered Hartman’s bedroom and lay down on the bed with Hartman and Amanda. Hartman testified that she neither invited Crain to lie in her bed nor asked him to leave. Crain was fully clothed and Amanda was wearing a nightgown. Amanda was lying between Hartman and Crain.
Penny Probst, a neighbor of Hartman, testified that at approximately 12 midnight on September 10-11, 1998, she saw a white truck parked immediately behind Hartman’s car in Hartman’s driveway. In the early morning hours of September 11, Probst observed the truck parked at the side of Hartman’s residence with the lights on and the engine running.3 Probst heard the truck leave after about five minutes.
Hartman slept soundly through the night. When she awoke in her bed alone the next morning, she discovered that Amanda was missing. Hartman testified her alarm clock read 6:12 a.m. when she awoke. Hartman immediately called Crain on his cell phone. At that time, he was at the Courtney Campbell boat ramp in Hillsborough County loading his boat. He told Hartman that he did not know where Amanda was. Hartman then called the police and reported Amanda’s disappearance.
At trial, the State presented the testimony of fisherman Albert Darlington, who witnessed Crain towing his boat into the Courtney Campbell loading area at approximately 6:15 a.m. on September 11, 1998. Darlington testified that Crain pulled up to the boat ramp and backed his boat trailer and truck into the water until the truck’s front tires were halfway submerged. Crain then got out of his truck and boarded his boat wearing what appeared to be a two-tone maroon shirt and dark slacks, and carrying what appeared to be a rolled-up item of clothing. Crain unhooked his boat and launched it in an overall “odd” manner. Darlington further testified that in the eighteen months prior to Amanda’s disappearance, on two occasions Crain told Darlington that Crain had the ability to get rid of a body where no one could find it.4
At around 8:30 a.m. on September 11, Detective Mike Hurley located Crain in his boat in Upper Tampa Bay. Crain was dressed in “slickers” (rubber pants fisherman wear over their clothes), a blue t-shirt, and loafers. Crain and Hurley returned to the boat ramp in Crain’s boat. On the ride back, Hurley noticed a small scratch on Crain’s upper arm. At the boat ramp, Crain removed his slickers, revealing jeans with the zipper down. Hurley took Crain to the police station for questioning. Crain was cooperative but denied having anything to do with Amanda’s disappearance.
At the police station, Detective Al Bracket interviewed Crain. Crain told Bracket that he left Hartman’s house alone at about 1:30 in the morning,5 went home and accidentally spilled bleach in his own bathroom. Crain claimed that he did not like the smell of bleach, so he spent four hours cleaning his bathroom from about 1:30 to 5:30 in the morning. Later in the same interview, Crain said he cleaned his bathroom with bleach, as was his custom, then cleaned the rest of the house until 5:30 a.m., at which time he left to go crabbing.6
During the questioning, Bracket noticed multiple scratches on Crain’s arms and asked Crain how he got them. Crain claimed that he received the scratches while crabbing, but became defensive when Bracket asked him to demonstrate how the scratches were inflicted. Photographs of Crain’s body were taken on the morning of September 11, 1998. A forensic pathologist testified at trial that the scratches on Crain’s arms probably occurred within a few hours to a day before the photos were taken. Although the pathologist could not identify the source of the scratches with certainty, he testified that all but two of the scratches were more likely to be caused by the fingernails of a seven-year-old child than by another cause. The pathologist also testified that there was one cluster of small gouges on Crain’s arm, and it was more likely that these gouges were caused by the small grasping hand of a child of about seven years of age than by another cause.
During a search of Crain’s residence, Bracket noticed the strong smell of bleach and recovered an empty bleach bottle. Bracket testified that there were obvious signs of grime and dirt around the edges of the bathroom sink. A blue fitted rug that would go around the base of the toilet was found in Crain’s dryer. Another detective applied Luminol, a chemical that reacts both with blood and with bleach, to Crain’s bathroom. The detective testified that the floor, the bathtub, and the walls “lit up.”
Bracket also recovered two pieces of toilet tissue from the inside rim of Crain’s toilet and observed what appeared to be a small blood stain on the seat of the toilet. The tissue pieces, the toilet seat, and the boxer shorts that Crain was wearing on the morning of September 11, 1998 were collected and analyzed for DNA evidence. A forensic scientist for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) testified at trial that two blood stains were found on the toilet seat, one blood stain was found on one of the pieces of toilet tissue,7 and one blood stain was found on the boxer shorts. The FDLE forensic scientist testified that the blood stain on the boxer shorts and one of the stains from the toilet seat contained DNA consistent with the DNA extracted from personal items belonging to Amanda Brown. The second stain on the toilet seat and the stain on the tissue contained DNA consistent with a mixture of the DNA profiles of Amanda and Crain. Testimony established that the probability of finding a random match between the DNA profile on the boxer shorts and Amanda’s known DNA profile is approximately 1 in 388 million for the Caucasian population.
Detective Hurley supervised an extensive, two-week search for Amanda in Upper Tampa Bay, the land surrounding Upper Tampa Bay (including the Courtney Campbell Causeway), and the land area surrounding the Crain and Hartman residences. Amanda’s body was never found. The maroon shirt and dark pants that Darlington saw Crain wearing on the morning of September 11, 1998, also were never recovered.
At trial, the State introduced the testimony of Linda Miller, Maryann Lee, and Frank Stem. Miller and Lee, who were neighbors of Crain’s daughter, Gay, testified about a conversation with Crain that occurred at Gay’s home on the first Saturday after Amanda’s disappearance. Miller and Lee both testified that Miller said to Crain, “Don’t worry, you don’t have anything to worry about,” and “Just remember, you didn’t do anything, you didn’t hurt that little girl.” According to the testimony of Miller and Lee, Crain responded, “Yes, I did do it; yes, you’re right, I didn’t hurt her, I didn’t do anything.” Gay testified that Crain said, stuttering, “yes, I did ․ did ․ didn’t do it; yes, you’re right, I didn’t hurt her.”
Frank Stem, Crain’s friend and in-law,8 testified that about one month prior to Amanda’s disappearance, Stem helped Crain lay crab traps in a “special” location. At that time, Crain told Stem that other crabbers would steal the crab traps if they knew of the spot. After Amanda disappeared and during a conversation regarding competing crabbers finding his crab traps, Crain told Stem that if Stem revealed the location of the traps “that it could bury him,” meaning Crain, or that Stem had enough “evidence to bury him.”
At the conclusion of the State’s case, Crain moved for judgments of acquittal of first-degree murder and kidnapping based on the insufficiency of the evidence. The trial court denied Crain’s motion. Crain then testified in his defense and denied that he was involved in Amanda’s death. He stated that he last saw Amanda while she lay sleeping in her mother’s bed in the early morning hours of September 11, 1998.
On the first-degree murder charge in count I, the trial court instructed the jury on the dual theories of premeditated murder and felony murder based on kidnapping “with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of homicide or to inflict bodily harm upon the victim.” On the kidnapping charge in count II, the court instructed the jury that the State had to prove that Crain acted “with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of a homicide.” The jury found Crain guilty of first-degree murder on a general verdict form. The jury also found Crain guilty of kidnapping as charged. In the penalty phase, the jury unanimously recommended the death sentence. The trial court found three aggravators: (1) prior violent felonies (great weight), (2) the murder was committed during the course of a kidnapping (great weight), and (3) the victim was under the age of twelve (great weight). The court found no statutory mitigators and eight nonstatutory mitigators,9 and imposed the death sentence.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-supreme-court/1260636.html