‘This is not justice’: Georgia father who fatally tortured and starved kids will avoid death penalty

GUYTON, Ga. (TCN) -- A father who tortured and killed his two children and buried them behind his home has accepted a plea deal and will avoid the death penalty. 

The Ogeechee District Attorney’s Office announced Elwyn Crocker Sr. pleaded guilty on April 27 to two counts of malice murder, aggravated sexual battery, four counts of cruelty to children, two counts of concealing the death of another, and two counts of false imprisonment.

Elwyn Crocker Jr. and Mary Frances Crocker were each 14 when they were killed, SavannahNow reports. Their bodies were found in December 2018; Elwyn Cocker Jr.’s body was buried for about two years prior to the discovery. Mary Frances Crocker had not been seen since October 2018 and Elwyn Crocker Jr. had not been seen since 2016. 

Police received a tip about the children’s whereabouts and searched the property of their father, Elwyn Crocker Sr., then 49, where the bodies were found buried. Both had been homeschooled and neither child was ever reported missing to authorities. 

Following his arrest after the bodies were discovered, Elwyn Crocker Sr. confessed that he had starved and beaten Mary Frances Crocker and kept her in a dog crate while bound with zip ties. Her food was mixed with rice vinegar to make it unpalatable, and since she spent so much time inside the small crate, her joints were stiffened.

Other family members would reportedly duct-tape her to a ladder to straighten her limbs. Police were tipped off about her death by Elwyn Cocker Sr.’s brother-in-law, who overheard a conversation about it.

Other family members involved in the mistreatment of the children have already been sentenced, according to WTOC. Candice Crocker, their stepmother, received life in prison without parole; Kim Wright, their step-grandmother, received life in prison without parole; their uncle, Mark Wright, received 80 years in prison; and Roy Prater, Kim’s boyfriend, pleaded guilty to felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, and concealing the death of another. He died in jail in February while awaiting sentencing. Part of his plea deal involved testifying against other family members.

District Attorney Robert Busbee said, “He was one of our witnesses in this case. In fact, he spoke to law enforcement for hours and hours and hours. He incriminated co-defendants. He described what happened inside the house. His passing means all of that evidence that he was going to provide for us,” WTOC reports.

Busbee said that because Prater’s death means he cannot be cross-examined, his statements cannot be used; Busbee said that the death is part of why Elwyn Crocker Sr. took a plea deal.  

According to WTOC, the case went through numerous delays, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of two key prosecutors. Busbee said, “This is certainly not justice, and 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 available under the law that would be justice in this case.”

MORE: