Father accused of slaying, burying children in Georgia backyard gets plea deal

Ogeechee Circuit District Attorney Robert Busbee said a combination of factors contributed to the prosecution agreeing to a reduced sentence, including the death of a key witness and the unavailability of two others. Busbee did not reveal why those two living witnesses could not appear to testify.

Death penalty “cases are among the most complex and demanding in the criminal justice system, and they require the strongest possible evidentiary foundation to succeed,” the district attorney’s office stated in a news release.

Speaking to media Monday afternoon outside the Effingham County courthouse, Busbee voiced disappointment in the outcome given the horrific nature of the crime. The investigation indicated the Crocker children, Elwyn “JR” Crocker Jr. and Mary Crocker, were starved and beaten before their deaths.

A detective testified during a 2019 court hearing that Mary Crocker had been forced to live naked in a dog crate as punishment for not doing her chores — a claim backed by a photograph found on her father’s phone that showed her nude in the cage appearing gaunt and near death.

Detectives believed both children were 14 when they were last seen alive — JR in November 2016, Mary in October 2018.

“This is certainly not justice,” Busbee said. “Frankly, based on the facts in this case, the death penalty would not have been justice. What these children went through, there is no punishment under the law that would be justice in this case.”

As part of the plea deal, Crocker was convicted and sentenced on multiple charges of malice murder, aggravated sexual battery, cruelty to children, concealing the death of another and false imprisonment.

Crocker’s defense attorney, Jerilyn Bell with the Georgia Capital Defender’s Office, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Pleading down death penalty cases to life in prison without parole is typically a sound decision when evidence can be called into question, according to veteran prosecutor Danny Porter, who served as Gwinnett County district attorney for 30 years.

“That person is still going to die in a prison cell. You still accomplish a goal,” said Porter. “But if it goes the other way (in a death-penalty case), the jury comes back with a life sentence anyway or maybe even delivers an acquittal.”

Still, the plea deal hung heavy Tuesday in Guyton, the closest town to where the Crockers lived on Savannah’s outskirts. Outside Ken’s IGA, the local supermarket, lifelong Effingham County resident Anissa Bejnarowicz said the agreement ensures Elwyn Crocker Jr. gives his life for what he did to his children.

“This is the Bible Belt, and not everybody believes in a life for a life,” said Bejnarowicz, who had followed the Crocker case since the bodies were discovered. “It’s probably the best outcome the public could hope for.”

Credit: Adam Van Brimmer

Credit: Adam Van Brimmer

The discovery of the Crocker children’s bodies in 2018 rocked Effingham County and sparked a debate over homeschooling and Division of Family and Children Services policies. The Crocker children, who were homeschooled, hadn’t been seen in public for the two years before their father’s arrest. The DFCS had dismissed a 2017 abuse claim despite an earlier investigation that had revealed issues in the family’s home.

The General Assembly passed a law in 2019 requiring safety checks for children withdrawn from school in some circumstances. The legislation was sponsored by state Rep. Bill Hitchens, a Republican who lived just a few miles from the Crocker home. DFCS tightened their abuse review policies in the wake of the law’s passage.

Hitchens addressed the plea deal in an interview Tuesday. Echoing the district attorney, he said there was no punishment that fit Elwyn Crocker Sr.’s crime and that securing death penalty convictions is increasingly difficult in today’s culture.

Hitchens, a longtime Georgia State Patrol officer who is familiar with the prison system, noted that serving life behind bars is not a pleasant experience, especially for a child killer.

“They’ll have to segregate him from all the other prisoners for his own safety,” Hitchens said.

Elwyn Crocker Sr., who had worked as a Christmastime Santa Claus in a Walmart store before his arrest, is the last of five family members charged in the deaths to reach a plea deal. Prosecutors had initially said they would seek the death penalty for Crocker, his wife, Candice, and Candice’s mother, Kim Wright, and brother, Mark Anthony Wright.

Candice Crocker and the Wrights pleaded guilty to reduced sentences in exchange for agreeing to testify against Elwyn Crocker Sr. So did Kim Wright’s boyfriend, Roy Prater, who also faced charges.

Prater died of an undisclosed illness in February and not having him to testify hurt the prosecution’s case, the district attorney said. Prater shared extensive details about the treatment of the children and the scene within the home with law enforcement. His death makes those interviews inadmissible in court since the defense would not be able to cross-examine him.

“His passing means all of that evidence is now gone,” Busbee said.

Yet Elwyn Crocker Sr.’s plea deal won’t dampen the legacy of the case among Effingham County residents. The gruesome crime thrust child abuse into the spotlight, forcing many in the community to wrestle with what they can do to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Society failed the Crocker children, said Bejnarowicz, the grocery shopper.

“Not following up on all the reports after they pulled those kids of school and none of the neighbors saying anything?” she said. “But that’s the world today. You say something, and the attitude is to mind your own business. You don’t say anything, and you’re blamed for it.”