it perforated the heart basically impaled the heart. as the arrow came from back to front, it went through the aorta, completely severing it. just cut it right in half. no doubt about the conclusion, she said. i determined that the manner of death in this case was homicide. the x right here is where mr. creamer said he was standing. the detective who interrogated kenneth creamer right after the shooting testified when he asked creamer why the crossbow was loaded and with a hunting arrow, that the answer that his wife must have loaded it didn t seem believable. last time i touched it, it was in october. remember, this was the second time anna was shot. so now the prosecutor looked back to that first incident. was creamer s story about that time consistent or believable? here s what creamer s brother-in-law, anna s sister s husband, remembers him saying
perhaps insurance was the motive, said the prosecution. the creamers kept policies for heart attacks, for cancer, even for their dog, about $1 million in all. enough for murder? but motive wasn t at the heart of the prosecution s case. rather it was two witnesses who claimed they had evidence to show it couldn t have been an accident. here was the first. a man named j.j. mason, a firearms expert who said he tried to make that weapon fire by accident, hit it with a mallet a couple of dozen times-and during the course of my examination of this crossbow, i found no reason why it would fire without pulling the trigger. in other words, the arrow that went through anna creamer must have been fired on purpose. i saw anna laying there facedown with an arrow square in her back. but the true star of the case against ken creamer was the next-door neighbor. that retired naval commander, randall howes. ken is just kind of babbling, making noise or whatever, and saying, we need help, we
statement. the prosecutor declined my request. hou howes insisted his memory was correct. in august of 2008, ken creamer appeared for one last chance to say it was an accident, to appeal for the court s mercy and then it was the judge s turn. i can t read his mind but obviously at some point along the way, mr. creamer has convinced himself that was the case, that, in fact, it was an accident. obviously, the jury did not believe this particular killing was an accident. having sat through the entire trial, quite frankly, neither does the court. the sentence, life, no parole. decision made. everyone can be certain, can t they? we were preparing to leave the man behind the glass when he broke into a moment of unguarded emotion. he was remembering the minutes
as for that friend, sue cotton, who testified earlier that she d lectured ken about getting rid of the crossbow did you tell her, i don t want to just throw it away or something like that. there was never a conversation with her. she just flat-out lied to everybody here. in fact, said creamer, he thought his wife had already given the crossbow away. but surely the neighbor, a man with an impeccable reputation, was telling the truth when he said he saw evidence that creamer staged the crime scene to make it look like an accident. no, said creamer, that was not the truth. the neighbor must have been seeing things. did you move the crossbow at all in any way after anna was struck? i never touched it. the case is now totally in your hands. so now the question would be handed to the jury. the memories were conflicting, but the facts were like lightning striking twice. had ken creamer persuaded the
but, still, justice crawled. the boy adjusted to a new life with anna s family, a family that came to believe firmly in creamer s guilt. and for 2 1/2 years, he sat in jail waiting to answer the question. how do you plead, guilty or not guilty? not guilty. this was june 2008. the commonwealth evidence will show this was no accident. and this, the prosecutor, tabitha anderson. here s your time line, september 2005 the defendant buys the crossbow. less than 30 days later anna creamer takes an arrow to her chest. and she goes to the hospital. less than 90 days after that, she takes an arrow in the back,