Infamous name is heard again in courtroom

Jeffrey Crouch once was a suspect in the murders of his wife and his infant son, but never went to trial.

By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
Published February 15, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Jeffrey C. Crouch pleaded not guilty to two charges of misdemeanor battery.

NEW PORT RICHEY - He has been here many times before, in court, waiting for his name to be called.

It is a name linked to a woman found strangled on Green Key Beach 20 years ago.

It is a name linked to a 20-month-old infant found dead of a broken skull nine years ago.

Both murders remain unresolved, both are forever linked to one of the most infamous names in the annals of Pasco County crime.

"Jeffrey Crouch," the judge called from the bench.

And Jeffrey Christian Crouch - whose purported confession in the 1987 death of his wife was thrown out by a judge, and who remains a suspect in the fatal beating of his baby boy in 1998 - rose from the courtroom pews.

Anonymity, it seems, will always elude Crouch, 52.

"Everyone knows me," he said later.

* * *

Once he was charged with the most serious crime of all: first-degree murder.

But it was two counts of misdemeanor battery that brought Crouch back to court Thursday for his arraignment.

He was cited in October 2007 by Port Richey police, an agency with whom he has a certain history.

According to a police report, Crouch battered two people on Oct. 20 at his 5701 Regis Ave. home. One said Crouch grabbed her by the neck. The other said Crouch put him in a stranglehold. "Not guilty," Crouch told the judge.

* * *

He has had worse problems.

In 1987, the body of his wife, Jean, was found on Green Key Beach. Crouch was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder. But he was freed from jail when a judge tossed his confession because Crouch had been denied his right to make a phone call.

Then in 1998, he and his then-girlfriend, Anna May Becker, were the only adults home when authorities said a fatal blow landed on the head of his infant son, Travis, breaking his skull.

Both were named as suspects. Becker moved to Philadelphia soon after the infant's death, said Port Richey police Officer Bill Sager, who was one of the investigators on the case. But Crouch still lives in Port Richey.

Travis' death is the lone unsolved murder in the city's history. "It's one I wish we could solve right now," Sager said.

* * *

Crouch said he wishes both murders could be solved.

"Hell, yeah," he said after court. "I want to clear my name.

"It'll be beautiful."

Sager has his doubts.

"I'll put it this way," the officer said. "He wasn't fully cooperative during the investigation."

Crouch was a shrimper back during the height of his infamy. He said he now works at a concrete recycler in Masaryktown.

He wore a dirty leather jacket to court, his weathered chin covered with a scruffy beard.

Strangely, he said the FBI is now investigating Travis' death. But Sager said that is not the case.

Crouch's most famous brushes with the law are not his only ones. He has been arrested several times over the years on charges such as domestic violence.

He has done time in jail. But he also has been acquitted. He has got that same feeling again.

"I ain't got nothing to worry about," Crouch said. "I didn't do nothing."

[Last modified February 14, 2008, 23:15:20]