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Willie Seth CRAIN Jr.

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Child molester - The body was never found
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: September 10, 1998
Date of birth: April 23, 1946
Victim profile: Amanda Victoria Brown, 7
Method of murder: ???
Location: Hillsborough County, Florida, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on November 19, 1999
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Florida Supreme Court

 
opinion SC00-661
 
 
 
 
 
 

DC# 096344
DOB: 04/23/46

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County Case # 98-17084
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Barbara Fleischer
Attorney, Trial: Daniel Hernandez & Charles Traina – Private
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Paul Helm – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Collateral Appeals:  Robert Strain – CCRC-M 

Date of Offense: 09/10/98

Date of Sentence: 11/19/99

Circumstances of Offense:

Willie Crain was introduced to Kathryn Hartman by his daughter on 09/09/98, while at a bar in Hillsborough County.  Crain and Hartman danced and talked for four hours that night, until 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning.  Crain dropped Hartman off at her trailer, and Hartman asked to see Crain again.

On the afternoon of 09/10/98, Crain returned to Hartman’s trailer, where he met her seven-year-old daughter, Amanda Brown.  Crain and Brown sat at the kitchen table, playing games and doing her homework.  Before leaving that afternoon, Crain accepted Hartman’s invitation to return for dinner that evening.

After dinner that night, Crain and Brown played games with Brown and told her that he had a large collection of videotapes at his trailer.  Brown pleaded with her mother to let her go to Crain’s trailer, and she agreed.  Crain drove Hartman and Brown to his trailer in his white pickup truck.

After beginning to watch the movie in Crain’s living room, Crain and Brown then went to his bedroom, where Hartman found the two sitting on Crain’s bed, watching the movie.  Hartman noticed that Brown was sitting between Crain’s sprawled legs with her back to his front.  At some point in the evening, Hartman asked Crain if he had any medication for pain.  Crain offered her Valium, which she took, and marijuana, which she declined.

Eventually, Hartman decided it was time to leave, and Crain drove Hartman and Brown to their trailer.  Around 2:15 a.m., Brown went to sleep in Hartman’s bed.  Crain appeared intoxicated, so Hartman advised him to lie down to sober up while she went to bed.  Within five minutes of Hartman going to bed, Crain entered the bedroom and lay down on the bed with Hartman and Brown. 

Hartman awoke the next morning to find Crain gone and Brown missing.  Hartman called Crain on his cell phone, and he told her that he did not know where Brown was and that he was loading his boat at a boat landing.  

Other people at the boat ramp testified at trial that Crain carried what appeared to be a rolled-up item of clothing with him when he was launching his boat.  One of the men at the boat ramp that day testified that Crain had told him on two separate occasions that he had the ability to get rid of a body where no one could find it. 

Police later interviewed Crain, and he told police that he left Hartman’s house around 1:30 a.m. on 09/11/98.  He also told police that he accidentally spilled bleach in his bathroom and spent the early morning hours cleaning his bathroom. 

While searching Crain’s trailer, a detective applied Luminol, a chemical that reacts with blood, to Crain’s bathroom.  The detective testified at trial that the floor, bathtub, and walls “lit up”. 

Detectives also found blood stains in the bathroom and on Crain’s boxer shorts, both of which contained DNA consistent with a mixture of the DNA profiles of Crain and Brown. Despite an extensive, two-week search of Upper Tampa Bay, Brown’s body was never found.  

Trial Summary:

10/14/98          Indicted as follows:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder
Count II:          Kidnapping     

09/13/99          Jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts of the indictment

09/17/99          Jury recommended death by a vote of 12-0

11/19/99          Sentenced as follows:

Count I:           First-Degree Murder – Death
Count II:          Kidnapping – Life

Case Information:

Crain filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on 03/27/00, citing the following errors: failing to establish sufficient evidence of premeditation and kidnapping with intent to commit homicide, giving different jury instructions on the elements of kidnapping, relying on an aggravating circumstance not proven by the evidence, and unconstitutionality of Florida’s death penalty scheme. 

On 10/28/04, the FSC affirmed the convictions and sentences.   

Crain filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on 03/25/05 that was denied on 10/03/05.

FloridaCapitalCases.state.fl.us

 
 

Fla. molester sentenced to death for missing girl's presumed murder

By Bryan Robinson - CourtTV.com

November 19, 1999

TAMPA, Fla. (Court TV) Although he still professes his innocence, Willie Crain nodded with approval Friday as a Florida judge sentenced him to death for the abduction and presumed murder of a 7-year-old girl.

Florida jurors convicted Crain of first-degree murder and kidnapping in Amanda Brown's presumed death and recommended the death penalty in September. Brown vanished Sept. 11, 1998 after she and her mother, Kathryn Hartman, had spent an evening with Crain. Hartman had invited Crain, whom she had met the day before at a bar, over to her mobile home for dinner. Hartman, Amanda and Crain later fell asleep together on Hartman's bed but when Hartman awoke the next morning, Amanda and Crain were gone. Amanda has not been seen since.

Crain's link to young Amanda's disappearance and death ignited outrage because he was an admitted pedophile. In 1985, Crain pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual battery involving girls under age 11. According to police records, Crain abused the girls between July 1982 and May 1984. During the guilt phase of the trial, jurors learned that Crain had five previous felony convictions but were not informed what those crimes were. But during the death penalty phase, jurors heard from three of Crain's victims, who tearfully recalled how the defendant sexually abused and battered them.

After Crain's formal sentencing Friday, his daughter, Patricia Davis, said that her father deserved the death if he really abducted and killed Brown. But, Davis said, Crain tells her everyday that he's innocent, and she believes him. Davis explained her father's apparent approval of his death sentence by saying that he prefers to die rather than spend the rest of his life in a lonely prison.

Crain's daughters testified on his behalf during the guilt phase but did not take the stand during his death penalty hearing in September. Reportedly, they felt they would not be able to help their father, especially since Crain told Florida newspapers before the trial that he had abused his children. Crain's daughters felt the prosecution would have confronted them over their father's reported admissions.

But, despite having no body, prosecutors were able to convict Crain by using matching DNA taken from Amanda's toothbrush and underwear to blood found on Crain's boxer shorts and toilet rim in his mobile home. This, Florida prosecutors argued, proved that Crain abducted Amanda from her home while Hartman was asleep and killed her. Prosecutors also believed that Crain tried to cover up his crime by cleaning his home and bathroom with bleach and apparently dumping Amanda's body in the waters he fished in as a commercial crabber.

Crain, however, insisted that he was not involved in Amanda's disappearance. He said he last saw Amanda sleeping next to her mother on her mother's bed. Crain stressed that he normally cleaned his bathroom and mobile home very early in the morning so that he would stay awake to go crabbing. He also tried to explain the presence of Amanda's blood by saying that the little girl was suffering from a bloody, loose tooth and that he had attempted to pull it for her.

Crain's lawyers will likely appeal his conviction.

 
 

Jurors recommend death penalty for Crain in missing girl's murder

By Bryan Robinson - CourtTV.com

September 17, 1999

TAMPA, Fla. (Court TV) Fully aware of Willie Crain's prior child molestation convictions, a Florida jury Friday unanimously recommended the death penalty for Crain in the presumed abduction and murder of 7-year-old Amanda Brown.

On Monday, Crain was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in Amanda's presumed death. The little girl vanished Sept. 11, 1998 after she and her mother, Kathryn Hartman, had spent an evening with Crain. Hartman had invited Crain, whom she had met the day before at a bar, over to her mobile home for dinner. Hartman, Amanda and Crain later fell asleep together on Hartman's bed but when Hartman awoke the next morning, Amanda and Crain were gone. Amanda has not been seen since.

In 1985, Crain pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual battery involving girls under age 11. According to police records, Crain abused the girls between July 1982 and May 1984. During the guilt phase of the trial, jurors learned that Crain had five previous felony convictions but were not informed what those crimes were. On Thursday, three of Crain's victims tearfully told jurors that the defendant sexually abused and battered them.

Crain's defense argued during the death penalty hearing that his problems were rooted in physical, sexual and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents when he was a child. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Robert M. Berland told jurors Wednesday that Crain suffered from a mental illness and was battling drug and alcohol abuse at the time Amanda disappeared. Berland performed a psychological test on Crain to determine whether he was faking mental illness. After comparing Crain's test scores from 1984 to his more recent scores, Berland concluded that Crain showed signs of delusional paranoia.

However, Berland noted, Crain often tried to hide his illness. The doctor believed that Crain's disorder was related to a brain injury he suffered when he was mugged on one occasion. In addition, Berland said Crain's abuse of drugs and alcohol as well as a choking incident aggravated his problems and that his capacity to conform to the law was severely impaired.

But prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Stein refuted Berland's findings, saying that Crain did not seem to have psychological problems or to be debilitated by drugs when he apparently abducted and killed Amanda. She also cast doubt on whether Crain's pedophilia is a mental illness. According to Stein, there is debate within the psychiatric community over whether pedophilia is a mental illness.

Stein told jurors that there is a high relapse rate among pedophiliacs and suggested that few people are cured of the disorder. She also said that pedophilia should not be used to explain criminal activities.

None of Crain's relatives, not even his daughters who testified on his behalf during the guilt phase, testified on his behalf during the penalty phase. Reportedly, they felt they would not be able to help their father, especially since Crain told Florida newspapers before the trial that he had abused his children. Crain's daughters felt the prosecution would have confronted them over their father's reported admissions.

 
 

Crain convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in missing Fla. girl's presumed death

By Bryan Robinson - CourtTV.com

September 14, 1999

TAMPA, Fla. (Court TV)Just over a year after first being suspected in the disappearance of his one-time date's daughter, convicted child molester Willie Crain was convicted Monday night of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the presumed death of seven-year-old Amanda Brown.

Crain, 53, cried after learning the verdict and was led out of the courtroom. Amanda's mother, Kathryn Hartman, cried tears of relief and joy. Amanda vanished Sept. 11, 1998 after she and Hartman had spent an evening with Crain. Hartman had invited Crain, whom she had met the day before at a bar, over to her mobile home for dinner. She, Amanda and Crain later fell asleep together on Hartman's bed but when Hartman awoke the next morning, Amanda and Crain were gone. Amanda has not been seen since.

Despite having no body, prosecutors were able to convict Crain by using matching DNA taken from Amanda's toothbrush and underwear to blood found on Crain's boxer shorts and toilet rim in his mobile home. This, Florida prosecutors argued, proved that Crain abducted Amanda from her home while Hartman was asleep and killed her. Prosecutors also believed that Crain tried to cover up his crime by cleaning his home and bathroom with bleach and apparently dumping Amanda's body in the waters he fished in as a commercial crabber.

Testifying on his behalf Monday, Crain had insisted that he was not involved in Amanda's disappearance. He said he last saw Amanda sleeping next to her mother on her mother's bed. Crain stressed that he normally cleaned his bathroom and mobile home very early in the morning so that he would stay awake to go crabbing. He also tried to explain the presence of Amanda's blood by saying that the little girl was suffering from a bloody, loose tooth and that he had attempted to pull it for her. However, Amanda, Crain said, did not want him to pull the tooth, and he gave her some tissue paper to wipe the bloody tooth.

But DNA evidence aside, Crain's own alleged words may have led to his conviction. A fellow commercial fisherman testified that Crain told him he knew how to hide a body so that no one would be able to find it. Crain's in-law, Frank Stemm, Jr., told jurors that Crain asked him not to tell anyone the whereabouts of five to seven crab traps after Amanda's disappearance. The prosecution suggested those traps might connect Crain to the murder.

Crain denied telling anyone that he knew how to hide a body. His defense also argued that Crain's statement to Stemm referred only to commercial crab fishing and the rivalries among commercial crabbers.

In addition, two associates of Crain's daughter, Cynthia Gay, testified that he admitted involvement in Amanda's disappearance. Mary Ann Lee and Linda Miller told jurors that the defendant admitted his wrongdoing and then changed his story. According to Lee, Crain seemed upset that he had been accused in Amanda's disappearance. She said Miller tried to comfort him and told him, "Don't worry. Things will be okay ... you didn't do anything to that little girl."

But then, Lee testified, Crain responded, "I did do it ... No, you're right, I didn't do anything."

However, Gay defended her father and maintained that Lee and Miller misunderstood him. She said her father has a stuttering problem.

"What I heard," Gay testified Thursday morning, "was, 'I di-di-di-dn't do it. He [Crain] stutters."

The death penalty phase of Crain's trial is expected to begin Thursday. Crain's previous child molestation convictions will work against him as he tries to avoid the death penalty.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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