Quote from my journal sometime after the arrest.
“I sit upright against the wall, with the light on, night after night. I can’t lie down. That is too vulnerable. I can’t sleep. I am tense and anxious and horrified and sad and relieved and even though suddenly people are so shocked by the horrific news….I feel safer than I have in a year. With Craig locked up, I finally feel safe. But so much has happened. I can’t let go. There is still so much I don’t know, and yet suddenly everything is becoming clear to me. Things are starting to make sense”
But I still had no idea of the whole story that was headed my way.
On one of the visits with the detectives they asked me to tell them about the time Craig stole jewelry from me. I looked at them, confused. They said that while I was living in my Layton home, Craig had broken in and stolen a lot of jewelry from me. That is the story Craig had given them. He said he waited until I was gone for the day, broke into my house (which would have been impossible because I always set the alarm when we were all gone). Craig said I had a safe in my bedroom closet that he knew the combination to, and so he took all it’s contents, which included jewelry and cash. I told the detectives I had no idea what they were talking about. I told them I never had a safe, and the only jewelry I have ever had is still where I kept it in my dresser. And I never had a stash of cash. Then I jokingly asked that if they could return theses items that were stolen from me I would greatly appreciate it. LOL. They asked me a few times, in different ways, if I was sure that I wasn’t missing any jewelry or cash. It was really bizarre. So they took their notes on their yellow pads and went back to the station to figure this one out. Why would Craig tell them he had stolen items from me, if he hadn’t?
Well, Tamara was being interviewed too. She was really good at telling all. In fact that is how she was caught in the first place, she had told her hairdresser and another friend that her South African boyfriend was going to take care of her ex husband. So now Tamara had more to tell. And boy did she have a lot to tell.
Tamara had an elderly aunt who had a lot of money. Tamara and Craig decided they deserved it more than this elderly lady, so they devised a plan. Tamara invited her sweet aunt out for dinner. While they were at dinner, Craig broke into HER home and stole HER jewelry and cash.
I still don’t know why Craig told the detectives he stole those items from me, but maybe he was trying to protect Tamara?? So they were both charged with burglary for that incident.
Another thing the detectives learned from Tamara was what the plan was for me. They had discovered a passport in Craig's house that had my name in it, but Tamaras picture. They had also found passports for Craig, our 2 sons and Tamaras 2 kids. These were obviously fake as I still had the “passport hold” on both my boys, and if an application had come through for them, I would have been notified. We know Craig knew how to get fake documents made up, and now he had done it again. Up until this time, I had no idea that I was intended to be a part of this crime. Tamara told the detectives that Craig had increased my life insurance, which he could do because he was the owner of our joint policy. Since I had a protective order against Craig, they decided that she would have to be the one to shoot me because I wouldn’t have allowed him to get close enough to me.
Before the detectives told me the plan, they asked me to pull out my planner again and verify my activity on certain dates. I didn’t know at the time why they were asking me for this info. Detectives are very good at not giving any information, just collecting it and putting it together.
The dates they asked me about I did have notes in my planner, and I also specifically remembered what had happened.
I was the Realtor for a development being built in West Point. I had a model home that I would use to show to future clients. One day a lady had called me and asked if she could come and see the model home at 10pm that night. I told her I don’t work that late, could we pick another time. She was very insistent. She said that she was desperately wanting to live in that area and was ready to buy, but since she works all day, the only time she could see the model would be at 10pm. So what did I do? Did I listen to my gut? No. I agreed to meet her. Especially since she was female, and her story sounded very real. So I drove out there at 9pm, turned on all the lights in the house and got it ready to show. This area was still undeveloped so there were no street lights yet, and certainly no neighbors. What a perfect place for a crime. And eerily similar to how they took Mike down.
Anyway, she didn’t show up. I sat there until 10:30pm, tried calling her a few times, and eventually turned off all the lights and locked up the house and went home.
The next day she called me back and apologised profusely. She gave me some story about why she didn’t make it and why she hadn’t been able to call me, but PLEASE could I show it to her that night, at 10pm. Once again I really didn’t feel good about it, but decided to meet her anyway. Now the second night I was back out there, by myself, like a sitting duck in a barrel. I waited for her until 10:30pm and then turned everything off, locked up the house and went out to my car. I remember walking to my car, feeling uncomfortable about something, but just passed it off as being scared about being out there in the dark by myself, so very alone. I jumped into my car, locked the doors and vowed I would not give her another chance.
After I told the detectives my story, they told me that lady was Tamara. She was supposed to come over and while I would show her the empty model home, she would shoot me. I had never seen her before, so I would not have recognised her. She had given a different name.
The reason I am here to tell the story is because she chickened out. Twice. Thank God.
None of this came out in the news. I don’t know if was because she made a plea deal about giving up the true story, or if they didn’t need to include it since she was already being charged with the maximum of aggravated murder.
Both Tamara and Craig were charged with Aggravated Murder. Their trials were set for the beginning of the New Year (2004). The fact that they had premeditated and planned this whole thing out is why they got “aggravated” charges.
In November of 2003 Craig went into court and plead guilty to all charges.
Next time I will give you the story behind his plea and why he has since tried to appeal his confession a number of times since then. And why does he have 5000000 tattooed on his arm?
Thank you again for following me! I know I have been slow with my updates, but my mind never stops thinking about it. I have a lot of letters and audio, so there is still so much more content to go over. To fill in all the gaps. One day at a time.
Until then, stay safe and Please, always trust your gut!!
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