Walmart Santa Claus Murdered His Children - And His Family Helped!

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

A man has pled guilty to helping murder his nephew in 2016, and then his niece in 2018, marking the latest major event in a shocking intra-family murder case that has absolutely rocked the state of Georgia for more than half a decade.

Late last month, Mark Wright (pictured above, right) entered a guilty plea for his role in the 2016 death of Elwyn Crocker Jr., who was 14 when he died back in 2016, as well as the death of Mary Crocker, who was 13 when she passed away in 2018.

According to multiple media reports from the small Georgia town of Guyton, Wright admitted to helping the kids’ father Elwyn Crocker Sr. — a former Walmart Santa Claus (pictured above, left) — carry out the murders and then bury the children’s’ dead bodies on the family’s rural property.

But beyond Wright’s involvement alone, this entire story is absolutely jaw-dropping from start to finish.

Seriously, it’s beyond tragic and disturbing. Read on for the heartbreaking saga…

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An Indictment Years In The Making

Wright was first arrested for the murders way back at the very end of 2018 alongside the kids’ parents Candice Crocker (who is also Wright’s sister) and her husband Elwyn Sr. The elder Elwyn had been employed at the time by the aforementioned Walmart in the area, working as a Santa Claus in the store and having untold numbers of kids sit on his lap. Creepy…

And they weren’t the only arrests! Also nabbed by cops were Candice’s mother Kim Wright and her boyfriend Roy Prater. Candice and Roy have already entered plea agreements in this case, BTW — so Wright’s plea late last month marks the third such move.

To that end, Effingham County District Attorney Robert Busbee said this to WTOC News after Wright admitted to his role in the murders and burials:

“This case has weighed heavily on Effingham County for many years. While there is still a long road ahead, today’s plea is an important step toward accountability and justice for Elwyn Crocker Jr. and Mary Crocker. I am relieved that this matter is finally moving forward after being stalled for so long. Our office remains committed to seeing this case through to its conclusion.”

Remember that “stalled for so long” remark, because it’ll come back later.

But anyways…

A Grisly Double Murder

So, s**t hit the fan on December 20, 2018 after a relative of the Crocker fam called the cops in Guyton and said she hadn’t seen little Mary Crocker since October. Cops showed up at the Crocker family compound and began questioning Elwyn Sr. about that.

Based on what police officials later said were his super-sus responses, they went out into the backyard and started looking around. Very quickly, they found a recently-dug hole. In it, they uncovered the bodies of both Mary and her older brother Elwyn Jr.

Both kids had been homeschooled at the time, so neither one had been reported missing by anybody. Had it not been for that suspicious relative, who knows when this all would have come to light! And that’s especially disconcerting because, as we noted up top, Elwyn Jr. was actually murdered two years before Mary, in 2016. Nobody had thought to check on him, so conceivably his killers could have gotten away with it forever.

Elwyn Jr.’s body was way too decomposed for forensic pathologists to tell how he had been killed. But in May of this year, Dr. Edmond Donaghue, an ex-medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigators, testified in court that Mary’s body mass index was just 8.6 when she died. For reference, the BMI of an average young adult is between 20 and 25, with a slightly lower number often typical for teenagers like Mary, per various government public health departments. So, to be at just 8.6 even as a 13-year-old is absolutely crazy.

Dr. Donaghue testified to that effect, saying he’d “never seen such a low number” in a human before. In fact, Mary was so small at the time of her death that “her body length was under 2nd percentile” and “her actual weight was below 1st percentile” for her age, according to the doctor’s testimony.

WTF…

A History Of Abuse

According to multiple local news outlets, the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services first became involved with the Crocker fam back in 2012 after they received reports that Elwyn Jr. was being abused.

The DFCS rooted around for a while on that allegation and eventually ordered Elwyn Sr. and Candice to undergo therapy and parenting classes. However, the agency ultimately closed its case in 2013. But the abuse apparently didn’t stop. Not by a long shot.

Per court documents cited by WJCL News, for the final ten months of Mary’s life throughout 2018, she was allegedly zip-tied, starved, beaten with multiple objects, and forced to live and sleep naked inside a dog crate for nearly 24 hours a day.

Investigators also claim she was shocked with a stun gun and burned with hot water at various times — punishments allegedly handed down for not doing chores or stealing food. And cops also say Elwyn Sr. admitted to them at one point that all the food she was given was mixed with vinegar.

Sickening…

Per cops via the Georgia Virtue, Elwyn Jr. was also kept naked in a dog kennel and deprived of food and other basic care needs before his death two years before that.

Plus, there was also a THIRD child living inside the Crocker home through that entire time! Another son, who was a minor and reportedly suffered from cerebral palsy, ultimately survived the reign of terror and was removed alive from the family home before eventually being placed into the case of DFCS. Jeez…

Awful Text Messages

During their investigation over the past six-plus years, cops allegedly found pictures on Elwyn Sr.’s phone which showed little Mary next to a dog kennel looking emaciated and badly bruised. The dad’s indictment papers also indicated that investigators had uncovered similar pictures of Elwyn Jr. which were taken before his death several years prior, suggesting he likely suffered the same fate as his sister.

But that’s only part of the damning evidence against the family. Text messages are also in play here — texts nearly too unsettling to be believed.

In one exchange taken from the time Mary was murdered and buried in the yard, Elwyn Sr. allegedly texted this to his mother-in-law Kim:

“Almost done burying Mary’s [body].”

Even worse, Kim’s cheery reply came back:

“Cool! How deep?”

WTF?!?!

Then, in another text Elwyn Sr. also sent while burying his daughter, the now-indicted dad wrote:

“There was a car driving by, driving by very slowly, I think it was a cop.”

Elwyn Sr. also texted his wife at one point:

“I think she’s [Mary’s] been hit in the head too many times.”

Even worse, multiple outlets report that the couple texted each other with plans to go to the movies after the murder and burial were completed. Seriously. It’s all just beyond evil at this point.

‘Stalled For So Long’

Candice was the first one to enter a guilty plea to avoid the death penalty, which she did back in 2020. Prater then quickly pled guilty after her to avoid that same fate, per the Effingham Herald. Both were handed life sentences without the possibility of parole. And now, Mark Wright has entered a guilty plea over his role in the murders.

But this story is SO far from over. And it sounds like justice is still a long way off. As we noted (above), Effingham County DA Busbee lamented how this case has been “stalled for so long.” That’s because Elwyn Sr. has refused to enter into a plea agreement and completely maintained his innocence even after all the evidence has stacked up against him. He’s been indicted on 13 felony counts including murder, malice murder, cruelty to children, aggravated sexual battery, false imprisonment, and concealing the death of another. Plus, Kimberly Wright has also refused to plead guilty and continues to maintain her innocence despite facing those same charges — and all the same evidence!

So, it looks like these two will be heading for a trial. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. The trial may be difficult, though. Elwyn Sr.’s defense attorney has vowed to contest the presence of any evidence recovered from any devices that cops took from the Crocker family home, as well as any DNA evidence investigators may come up with for court.

To that end, there’s been no trial date set yet for either of the remaining defendants even though several months ago, the judge presiding over this long and drawn-out case criticized all the legal maneuvering leading to the delays!

Watch more on that situation (below):

Sentencing On Deck

But while Elwyn Sr. and Kim Wright are still a ways off from learning their fate, Mark Wright’s judgment day will come in October. It’ll be then, per WJCL news, that he’ll come back to court for his sentencing hearing. He faces between 10 and 80 years in prison following last month’s guilty plea.

Here is more on Mark’s piece of the story, from last week (below):

What a wild and awful story all around.

We send all our love to those poor little children. Their lives sounded so unbelievably miserable. Rest in peace…

If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.

[Image via Effingham County Sheriff’s Office]

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