Inset: Elwyn Crocker Sr. along with his wife, Candice Crocker, and their three children (Facebook). Background: Elwyn Crocker Sr. at court on Monday, May 19, 2025 (WJCL/YouTube).
Text messages unearthed in a harrowing double-murder case from Georgia — where a Walmart Santa Claus worker stands accused of murdering two of his children aided by family members — reveal how he allegedly communicated with his relatives during the disposal of his children’s bodies.
In one text, he allegedly told his wife’s mom, “Almost done burying Mary’s.”
Her apparently enthusiastic response: “Cool! How deep?”
Elwyn Crocker Sr. faces charges of killing his two children, Mary Crocker, 14, and her brother Elwyn Crocker Jr., also 14, in 2018 and 2016, respectively, alongside his wife and the children’s stepmother Candice Crocker, her mother Kim Wright, and Kim’s boyfriend Roy Anthony Prater. The group has been charged with felony murder in relation to the deaths, with prosecutors alleging they buried the children’s bodies in Crocker Sr.’s backyard. Both Candice Crocker and Prater entered guilty pleas to murder in 2020.
Motions hearings reportedly began this week, with Crocker Sr. being the first to appear in court Monday, according to local ABC affiliate WJCL. Prosecutors presented text messages sent between him and the family, including an exchange about where Crocker and his wife spoke negatively about Mary.
“I think she’s been hit in the head too many times,” Crocker Sr. said.
After allegedly causing the girl to starve to death in October 2018, the Georgia dad texted his wife’s mom about being “almost done” with burying Mary in the backyard — acting spooked at one point by passing cars, according to prosecutors.
“There was a car driving by, driving by very slowly,” Crocker Sr. told Wright. “I think it was a cop.”
Prosecutors say Elwyn Jr. and Mary disappeared years apart, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Elwyn Jr. disappeared in November 2016, while Mary was last seen in October 2018. Neither of the children were ever reported missing.
Police said they searched a farm property in Effingham County after receiving a tip from a person who was concerned about Mary’s whereabouts. When they started asking Crocker Sr. questions, he allegedly gave them information that led them to his backyard, where the children’s bodies were found.
The family had been reported to the Division of Family and Children Services before the discovery, according to reports. The unnamed biological mother of the children was said to be homeless in South Carolina.
This week’s motion hearings, which are scheduled to continue Wednesday, have centered around what kinds of evidence and testimony will be admissible at trial and whether the third Crocker child can testify, local CBS affiliate WTOC reports.
Defense attorneys for the family have been trying to prevent the use of crime scene photos, arguing that they are too graphic and would overwhelm the jury.
“The amount of trauma a jury goes through from seeing these photos is extensive,” said Jerilyn Bell, attorney for Crocker Sr., during Tuesday’s hearing, per WTOC.
“We will have to deal with that,” Bell said. “Litigating this motion is important so we know what and how to deal with that.”
Prosecutor Matthew Breedon argued that the admission of photos was something that could be objected to at the trial, but not now.
“This case was indicted in 2019. We’ve had motion hearings for six years,” Breedon said. “I think this week is the week to get this case moving forward where it needs to be, we are at a point where we need to move forward.”
Details about the medical state of the children when they were killed were revealed Tuesday, including how Mary’s “body mass index was 8.6, which is drastically underweight,” according to a forensic pathologist who took the stand.
“Her body length was under 2nd percentile,” said Dr. Edmond Donaghue, former medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “Her actual weight was below 1st percentile,” Donaghue said. “I’ve never seen such a low number.”
Donaghue testified that Mary appeared to have starved to death, while Elwyn Jr.’s cause of death could not be determined, as his remains were just bones. Both deaths were ruled homicides.
