Crain guilty of girl's murder

The jury returned a guilty verdict after four hours of deliberation. Sentencing could begin as early as Thursday.

By GRAHAM BRINK

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 14, 1999

TAMPA -- Willie Seth Crain Jr., the crab fisherman accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Amanda Brown last year, was found guilty of first-degree murder Monday and faces a potential death sentence.

Crain was stoic as the clerk read the verdict, winking at his two daughters seated in the front row. Crain, 53, put an arm around each of their shoulders as he talked with his attorney, Danny Hernandez, for about 20 minutes before sheriff's deputies led him away.

"We are obviously disappointed in the verdict," Hernandez said. "Mr. Crain felt very strongly in his innocence." Prosecutors Jay Pruner and Christopher Moody declined to comment about the decision until the sentencing phase is complete. The jurors could hear testimony in that phase as early as Thursday.

They will recommend whether Crain should die or spend the rest of his life in prison.

The seven-man, five-woman jury returned its verdict about 8 p.m., after almost four hours of deliberation.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Barbara Fleischer will consider the recommendation and then decide Crain's fate. Fleischer told the jury not to talk about the case until after the sentencing.

Amanda's supporters hugged or shook hands with Hillsborough County sheriff's Detective Albert Brackett, who led the monthslong investigation. They and Crain's family were led out a back entrance after they were met with a horde of news reporters at the front.

None of people associated with either side of the case wanted to comment Monday night.

Crain was accused of killing Amanda on Sept. 11, 1998, after he stayed at her mother's home in Seffner.

Law officers found Crain later that day on his boat near the Courtney Campbell Parkway. Amanda's body never was found, but prosecutors suspect Crain dumped it in or around the same waters, maybe in one of his crab traps.

Investigators later found Amanda's blood on Crain's boxer shorts and toilet seat, vital evidence in a case without a body, eye witnesses or a confession to detectives.

"In spite of his efforts to cover his tracks, he unwittingly kept a piece of Amanda close to him," Pruner said in his closing argument.

The location of the body remains a mystery that Amanda's friends and family want solved.

"Mr. Crain, do you want to tell us where Amanda is?" a man shouted before a bailiff hustled him out.

In his nearly three hours of testimony Monday, Crain laid out facts he said pointed to his innocence.

Early on, his lawyer asked about whether he had any previous felonies. He answered with a quick, "Yes, sir. Five." The jury was not allowed to hear that the convictions were for raping five girls about the same age as Amanda.

But much of Crain's testimony was in the rambling style he used in many news media interviews as Hernandez asked him to describe what happened on the days leading up to Amanda's disappearance.

Crain met Amanda's mother, Kathy Hartman, at a bar on Sept. 9, he said. He bought her some drinks. They danced and eventually kissed. When they left at about 2 a.m., she followed him to his daughter's home, where he ate some eggs.

Hartman asked Crain to follow her car to her mobile home, he said. Once there, they spent 45 minutes on the couch kissing some more. Amanda was not there. Crain said at that point he had no idea Hartman had a daughter.

Crain left about 3 a.m. He said he did not know Hartman well enough to stay over, despite being aroused. He was worried about AIDS, he said.

"It was too early. . . . I did not know enough about her," he said. "I don't stay the night at people's houses."

On the morning of Sept. 10, Crain went crab fishing. When he returned, he stopped by Hartman's place about 3 p.m., as she had requested, he said. Amanda was home from school and curious about the stranger. She asked lots of questions about who Crain was and where he was from.

"You know how kids are," he said.

Crain said he left but returned later for a spaghetti dinner. During the two visits he played tic-tac-toe with Amanda, traced her hand in a note pad and helped her with her homework -- paying her $2 for getting it right. He also offered Amanda $5 to pull her wiggly tooth. She declined but he said he did give her some tissue to help stop the bleeding.

Later the same night, Crain drove Amanda and her mom to his mobile home. They were there for several hours watching the movie Titanic in his bedroom, the only air conditioned room in the home.

Amanda used the bathroom twice, Crain said. His crabbing clothes, including the boxer shorts, were on the toilet. Crain said it was possible Amanda unintentionally transferred blood from her tooth to the shorts and toilet. He explained that his chronic hemorrhoids would explain how his blood ended up on the toilet.

When they returned to Hartman's home, Amanda went to bed. Crain said he and Hartman watched TV in the master bedroom. Amanda, who was scared of the dark, joined them soon after. A few minutes passed, Crain said, and he noticed both Hartman and Amanda were asleep.

Crain said he got up and drove home. It was the last time he saw Amanda, he said.

"I always try to make people feel good," he said. "That's what my problem is today."

During his cross-examination and closing argument, Pruner painted a much more sinister picture of Crain and his relationship with Hartman, saying that Crain worked purposefully to get close to Hartman to "separate prey from the protector."

Crain didn't stay over that first night because Amanda wasn't there, Pruner said, and was more than willing to lie down with Hartman the second night because Amanda was there.

The homework money helped win Amanda's confidence, Pruner argued. Giving Hartman five Valiums gave him opportunity.

Near the end of his closing argument, Pruner showed the jury a picture of Amanda's hand tracing and a photograph of scratches on Crain's arm that an assistant medical examiner had said could have been made by a 7-year-old's nails.

"You can see, you can envision . . . where she scratched him as she fought for her life," Pruner said. "As she is scraping with all of her 45 pounds."

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