remember, there was lots of evidence at the trial that suggested that the marriage was strong, that ken and anna were quite close. but once in the jury room, some of those members said, evidence or not, they saw it a different way. i think she was a woman that was living under terror with great threat upon her. so he planned it? yeah. he wanted to kill her. i think he wanted to kill her in october. remain seated. and so the jury returned to the crowded courtroom and told the judge they were ready. in the case of the commonwealth of virginia versus kenneth creamer, we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. guilty. creamer twitched a little, looked down. they didn t believe him. he looked like a beaten dog. and among his few remaining friends, perhaps only these, the katzes, grieved for ken creamer. they had him guilty before anything was done.
the family s crossbow back in october. that time police say it accidentally struck anna creamer. lightning striking twice, a person could understand, actually. but this? resuscitative efforts were attempted, but she was pronounced deceased at the house. detectives put creamer in a police car, he said good-bye to his son and said he d be back. the detective drove him down to the station. i appreciate you coming down. am i in any trouble? no, you re not. we re just talking. he said under the direction of his wife anna was cleaning up the garage, picking out things to save and items to throw away or give away and rearranging and then he picked up this one bag, didn t know what was in it, he said. he kind of throw it off to the side. i heard you right, so you threw the bag, you heard the sound of the crossbow going off immediately. yeah. okay. i heard sound, and i didn t really know what was happening. an accident, said ken
everything seemed very normal. and remember this man? creamer friend and jeweler, robert katz. a loving, caring family. and his wife, charlene. such a loving family. they were very, very close. as for that first crossbow incident, the one that injured anna, well, she herself said it was an accident, the teacher testified. she laughed about it. told me what happened and just that s about it. she was very lighthearted about the whole situation. as for those insurance policies, yes, they totaled over $1 million, but he had been an insurance agent, remember? those amounts were normal, said the defense. anna bought some of her himself. and all of them were written to benefit not ken but their son. still, that prosecution evidence was strong. the firearms expert, for example. in my examination of the
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 jury that such a thing was possible? jurors take aim at the truth as they wrestle with the crossbow. some of men tried to get a feel for it. and, the verdict the jury finds the defendant when the crossbow incident continues.
ken creamer killed his wife anna. of that, there was no doubt. shot her with a crossbow, right here in his garage. and the shock of it was, he d done it before. just didn t kill her that time. so the charge that put him in this place, first-degree murder, is no surprise. 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