Elwyn Crocker Jr. and Mary Crocker | |
|---|---|
| Cause of death | Murder |
| Body discovered | Guyton, Effingham County, Georgia |
| Nationality | American |
| Father | Elwyn Crocker Sr. |
Elwyn Crocker Jr. and Mary Crocker were two American children whose remains were discovered buried in their family's backyard in Effingham County, Georgia in December 2018. [1]
Elwyn Crocker Jr., age 14, disappeared in November 2016. [2] He was the older brother of Mary Crocker, who disappeared two years later, at age 13, in October 2018. Sometime before, the children's father, 49-year-old Elwyn Crocker Sr., and his wife (and the children's stepmother), 33-year-old Candice Crocker, had withdrawn each child from classes at South Effingham Middle School; they informed school officials that both siblings would be homeschooled. [3] Six years earlier, in 2012, Elwyn Crocker Sr. and his wife had received counseling from Effingham County's Department of Family and Children Services following reports that they were abusing Elwyn Crocker Jr. Both adults agreed to undergo therapy and take classes in parenting, and the department closed the case in 2013. [4] However, neither child was ever reported to be missing, and their disappearances were only discovered after the local police department received a tip from a family relative who believed that Mary Crocker was deceased. After police officers interviewed the children's father, they decided to search the grounds of the family's residence in Guyton, Georgia, a small city located 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Savannah.
Human remains were discovered on the property on December 20, 2018, Mary Crocker's 14th birthday, and the Effingham County coroner noted that Elwyn Crocker Jr. would have been 17 years old. [5] The cause of death had not been determined for either child as of December 26. [6]
Elwyn Crocker Sr. and Candice Crocker were arrested. Elwyn Sr. had recently worked in Rincon, Georgia, as a Santa for Walmart. Also arrested were the three other adults who lived in the home: Candice Crocker's mother, Kim Wright, age 50; Wright's male companion, Roy Prater, 55 years old; and Mark Anthony Wright, the son of Kim Wright and brother of Candice Crocker. All five adults were charged with multiple counts that included felony murder, concealing a death, and child cruelty. [3] [7]
At the time of the arrests, a child with cerebral palsy who lived in the home was taken into the care of Effingham County social services. [5]
Roy Prater, who in February 2020 pleaded guilty to murder and concealing a death, will not face Georgia's death penalty. In late October of that year, the children's stepmother, Candice Crocker, pleaded guilty to murder, torture, sexual battery, and keeping both Elwyn Jr. and Mary in dog crates. She agreed to testify against her husband, mother, and brother to escape the death penalty. She will serve a term of life imprisonment without parole. [8]
The principal suspect, Elwyn Crocker Sr., faces multiple counts including murder, child cruelty, false imprisonment, and concealing a death. Crocker's mother-in-law, Kim Wright, was charged with multiple counts including malice murder, felony murder, sexual battery, concealing a death, and false imprisonment. Her son, Mark Anthony Wright, was charged with multiple counts of malice murder, the felony murder of Mary Crocker, child cruelty, concealing a death, and false imprisonment. All three defendants have pleaded not guilty and could face the death penalty if convicted. Their trials have not yet been formally scheduled by the court, although separate hearings have been held in the case of Elwyn Crocker Sr. [9]
In November 2024, an Effingham County judge denied a motion filed by defense attorneys in 2019 to dismiss the original indictment against the three remaining defendants; the attorneys claimed that the grand jury charged with the case had been "compromised". [10]
Crocker Sr., who faces Georgia's death penalty for the murders, returned to the Effingham County Courthouse on August 19, 2025, for further evidentiary hearings. His lawyers announced that they will contest the use in any future trial of "digital images and other evidence recorded on several devices taken from the [Crocker family] home during the investigation". The images are said to show the abuse of both children by certain family members. [11]