Two Teens Found Buried in Yard; Father Gets Life Sentence

Elwyn Crocker Sr. stood in an Effingham County courtroom on April 28, 2026, and pleaded guilty to killing his son and daughter - teenagers who were found buried in trash bags on his property in December 2018. He was sentenced immediately: two life terms without parole, a third life sentence with the possibility of parole, and an additional 120 years - all to run consecutively.

The district attorney who handled the case walked out of the courthouse and told reporters it still wasn’t enough.

What Happened to Elwyn Jr. and Mary

Elwyn Crocker Jr. was 14 years old when he died. His sister Mary was also 14 when she was killed two years later. Investigators say neither child had been seen publicly for months before their deaths - both were home-schooled, and no one reported them missing.

When sheriff’s deputies found their remains in December 2018, following a tip, they discovered two children who had spent their final months confined in animal crates, starved, and physically abused. Mary had been kept in a dog kennel so long that her joints stiffened - family members reportedly duct-taped her to a plastic pool ladder to try to straighten her limbs. She was also sexually assaulted. Elwyn Jr. had endured similar treatment before he died of what a medical examiner called homicidal violence.

Both bodies were placed in trash bags and buried in the backyard of the family’s rural property near Guyton, Georgia.

Five People Were Charged. Four Already Resolved.

Elwyn Crocker Sr. was charged alongside four others: his wife Candice, her mother Kimberly Wright, her brother Mark Wright, and Kimberly’s boyfriend Roy Prater. All four had previously entered guilty pleas and were sentenced to life in prison or decades behind bars.

Prater had been the prosecution’s most critical witness. He had spoken to investigators for hours, describing in detail what occurred inside the home. He died in February 2026 while awaiting sentencing - and with him went testimony that would have been central to a death penalty trial against Crocker Sr.

“His passing means all that evidence that he was going to provide for us is now gone,” District Attorney Robert Busbee explained. Under the Constitution, recorded statements from a deceased witness cannot be used at trial if the defendant has not had the opportunity to cross-examine.

“This Is Certainly Not Justice”

Busbee accepted the plea deal because, without Prater, the path to a death sentence had become legally uncertain. But he made no effort to disguise his feelings about the outcome.

“This is certainly not justice,” Busbee said at a press conference following the hearing. “And frankly, based on the facts of this case, the death penalty would not have been justice. What these children went through - there is no punishment available under the law that would be justice in this case.”

He told reporters the decision to accept the plea was driven by what was “achievable, sustainable, and certain under the law” - not by what felt right.

A Case That Took Eight Years to Close

Elwyn Crocker Sr. was the last of the five defendants to have his case resolved. The investigation, indictment, and legal proceedings stretched across nearly eight years - complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, extensive pre-trial motions, and the death of a key witness.

Crocker Sr. is now serving his sentence at a Georgia state prison. He will die behind bars.

For the community around Guyton and Effingham County, the case leaves a question that the legal system cannot fully answer - how two children lived and died in plain sight without anyone intervening, and what it means that the man most responsible for their deaths will never face the charge that matched what he did.

References: Georgia Father Pleads Guilty to Murder of 2 Children Found Buried in Yard | This Is Certainly Not Justice: Elwyn Crocker Sr. Pleads Guilty