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Willie Seth
CRAIN Jr.
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Child
molester - The body was never found
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.
