# 33 The day my husband took an innocent life.

On Tuesday July 8th, 2003 Craig was due in court at 10am for violating our protective order again. I think it was from the pool incident. I was working for my brother part time and remember clearly sitting at my desk waiting anxiously to hear from the Victim's advocates because they had told me Craig was going to be arrested and that they would have the INS there to take him in for deportation. I was shaking all day. I kept looking at the time, wondering what was happening. By this point I was so tired of all the drama and all the suffering the boys and I had gone through that I honestly just wanted it all to be over. Craig accuses me a lot on the audio tapes, of destroying his life and that he has to keep looking over his shoulder because he feels like I am always trying to get him arrested. He never understood his responsibility of his actions. He didn’t think about what he had done to cause me to call the police (like the pool incident). He only saw how I reacted to what he did. At the pool that day I had begged him, instructed him, reminded him that he was not allowed to be in the pool area with us (he was only allowed to pick up or drop off the kids, but not come harass me at the pool of my residence). So he was very, very angry with me for calling the police that day and now he was going to court and he knew the probability of being arrested was very high. The INS also had warned him that he was not to have any more violations. Nothing stopped him.

So, what did Craig do on Tuesday July 8th, 2003? Did he go to court? Of course not.

I waited all day to hear from the Victim's Advocates girls so that I could know what happened. I wanted to know if he was arrested or if I needed to double lock my doors that night.  They assured me on Monday, the day before, that they would call me immediately.

By 4pm (on Tuesday) I still had not heard anything, so I called the courts. I asked about the hearing and they put me on hold. When they came back to me they said that Craig had not shown up in court. My mouth dropped open. So I asked what happens now? She said “Well usually an automatic bench warrant would be issued and they would go pick him up, but it looks like they didn’t issue one.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She said they would look into it and let me know if the judge will sign one for him.

Now I was really scared because Craig knew at this point they were probably looking for him. And of course, it was always my fault.

So I called the INS. I told the agent that I had been working with, what had happened, and they asked me if I knew where Craig was. If I could tell them, they would just go pick him up.

I made the phone call to Craig, and in the conversation I asked him where he was. He said he was at home, and then he told me he wanted to pick the boys up in the morning and keep them until they go back to school. Part of the divorce agreement gives the non custodial parent 2 weeks in the summer time. Of course he didn’t ever plan it ahead with me and would just spring it on me like he did here. The boys had told me that Craig was taking them on a big trip. This scared me too, because Craig knew he was leaving the country one way or another, he wanted to leave before they deported him, so I was always worried that he would up and vanish with my boys in the middle of the night. Turns out I wasn’t far off on my feelings.

I started to panic, it was getting close to 5 pm and I needed the INS to get Craig before he took off with my boys. I really felt like this was the week he was going to do that. He also told me for years that he would make sure I don’t ever get to raise the boys, and that he will take them away from me. It seemed like all the pieces were falling together…and no one could help me.

I called the INS back, told them that Craig was home, and I also told them that he was planning on taking the boys on a big trip that week. (The INS had said he was not allowed to leave the State, but that never stopped him).

I went home and held my breath. This was Tuesday July 8th, 2003.

HERE COMES MURDER

It turns out the INS did NOT pick Craig up that day. Instead, Craig and Tamara went through with their plans they had been making since February. Tamara bought 4 movie tickets (For her and Craig, and her 2 kids). That was their alibi. Pretty weak if you ask me. Then Craig drove up to Logan, went to the Walmart and bought a prepaid phone card. Then he walked over to the pay phone and made some calls. (The surveillance from Walmart showed all of this). He called Michael Boudrero, Tamara’s ex husband, who was a plumber. Craig told him he was looking at buying a home in Logan but would like Mike to check out the plumbing in the house first. Apparently Mike told his Mom that he felt uncomfortable with that call, but that he was going to go anyway. Side note...ALWAYS trust your gut!!

So Mike went up to the house, Craig had parked a few houses away so that his car was not visible to Mike, and they met at the house. Once they were in the basement, Craig pulled out a gun and shot Mike once in the chest and 2 or 3 more times in the back after he had fallen to the ground. Some of you may not know, but when you get shot from the front, you don’t fall backwards like in the movies. You actually fall forward, with an equal but opposite reaction. So he fell forward and then Craig shot him a few more times. Then Craig dragged the body into a cold storage under the house, took Mike’s glasses, keys, watch, wallet and cell phone, locked the storage door and went back outside. While doing this, Craig did step in some blood which left his unique shoe print on the cement floor in the basement. He also stepped in some mud outside the house. Craig wears a very unique size shoe. He is a 13 double wide.

Then Craig got into Mike’s car and drove it a few miles away from the house. When he got out he removed the car seat cover and locked up the car. He walked back to his car and drove away. He stopped at a gas station and threw the car seat cover into a dumpster. Craig then drove to the Salt Lake and threw all of Mike’s possessions, along with the gun, as far as he could into the lake.

When he drove home he called Tamara and told her he couldn’t go through with it and didn’t do it.

All of this detail came out months afterwards, but it fits right in with my story.

Now lets go back and revise what happened earlier in the day.

1. Craig no showed his court hearing for violation of a Protective Order.
2. The court failed to issue a bench warrant.
3. The INS told me they would go get him, but they did not.
4. I had warned both the court and the INS that something was coming down, something bad was being planned because Craig’s behavior was getting more and more erratic and with a lot more anger. The boys told me he had big suitcases in the bedroom, lots of guns and cash and they knew they were taking a trip.
5. If ANY of these organizations had done their job, Mr Boudrero would be alive today. And that is why I want to write a book. The system failed all of us, but most of all an innocent man lost his life.

The following day I didn’t know if Craig had been picked up by the INS or not. I didn’t hear from him at all on Tuesday night, (now I know why) so I sat with baited breath and waited to find out.

Then Wednesday morning Craig arrived to pick the boys up. I felt like I was seeing a ghost. Obviously I had no idea of what he had done the night before, but I REALLY believed that between the INS and the court, that Craig would have been picked up. And now here he was standing at my door to take the boys…...and I didn’t know if I would see them again. My gut told me that he was taking them on the big trip and I may not ever see them again.

Next post is about the following days after the crime was committed.

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Stay safe and remember to TRUST YOUR GUT!