Sounak Sengupta
NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Crossbow Incident’ follows the murder of 44-year-old mother, Anna Creamer, in her suburban home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in January 2006. The homicide case presented a major conundrum to the authorities: was it a murder or just a freak accident as proclaimed by the alleged killer? The episode takes the viewers through the interviews of various individuals associated with the case and leaves the viewers to draw their conclusions.
How Did Anna Creamer Die?
Anna Creamer lived with her husband, Kenneth “Kenny” Frank Creamer, then 45, and their son, Avery, then 11, in their 3089 Pope Drive residence in Courthouse Estates in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in January 2006. According to a close friend of the couple, Robert Katz, and his wife, Charlene, the Creamers were “a loving couple.” On the show, Charlene described the Creamers as “they were like as close as a family could be without being family.”
The show underlined how Kenny used to work as an insurance agent until an unfortunate car accident forced him to be on disability, and he became a stay-at-home dad. Due to it, the 44-year-old woman had to work to support the family, and she taught at a local school. The Katzes were quoted as saying, “I mean they just seemed good together. He worshipped the ground this girl walked on. I mean they just, they, they kind of loved each other. And it, it would show.”
Hence, it came as a shock to their friends and family when Anna died in a “freak accident” while working out on her treadmill in their comfortable suburban home on January 8, 2006. On the show, the immediate neighbor of the couple, Randall Howes, a retired Naval officer, recounted how he was on his way to church on that day when he met Avery, who was still in his pajamas. Randall said the boy told him, “We need your help,” before he stumbled upon a distraught Kenny.
The husband led Randall to their two-car garage, where the former military man recounted witnessing “Anna laying at the end of the treadmill, with her hands up under her head and with an arrow stuck straight into her back.” He also noticed Kenny had wrapped a white towel around her the wound on his wife’s back, and it was almost red with blood. Kenny called 911 and reported the incident while he and Randall waited for the paramedics to arrive. The medical respondents proclaimed Anna dead at the scene.
According to court testimony, the medical examiner, Dr. Leah Bush, stated, “The arrow went straight into her back and almost right through her.” She said the razor-sharp hunting arrow perforated the heart, coming from back to front and completely severing the aorta into half. Leah told the court she determined the manner of death to be a homicide. She said on the show, “No doubt about the conclusion.”
Husband Convicted: Kenny Creamer Found Guilty
After Anna was proclaimed dead at the scene, the police brought Kenny in for questioning. The distraught husband asserted he was cleaning the garage under his wife’s instructions. She was working on her treadmill inside the same garage as Kenny went about re-arranging stuff and sorting things to save, donate, or throw away. According to the show, Kenny claimed he picked up one bag and casually threw it off when he heard a sound as it hit off the refrigerator.
The episode shows how Kenny alleged he did not know the bag contained a loaded crossbow, which accidentally went off and fatally injured his wife. According to a friend of the Creamer couple, Kim Choate, the Creamers had bought the crossbow to learn archery “as a family activity.” Court records indicated Kenny had bought the alleged murder weapon in September 2005. Though Kenny kept claiming he had no clue about the crossbow being in the bag, the police grew suspicious of him when they learned this was not the first time the Creamers had been involved in such a “freak accident.”
Court records state around a month after he had bought the crossbow, a Yukon 150, Kenny had “accidentally” set it off on her wife. The episode stated he had panic-called 911, and she was rushed to the hospital where she was treated for the minor wound on one side of her breasts, resulting in 2-3 stitches. However, Kenny was arrested as the 911 operator had overheard about the crossbow but released when his wife stated it was an accident and did not press charges.
The authorities refused to believe that lightning struck the same place twice. A court petition filed on February 16, 2007, disclosed that Anna’s estate was worth about $1.5 million, with most of it stemming from 12 insurance policies ranging in value from $45,000 to $250,000. Since she had died without a will, Virginia law mandates Kenny to inherit all of her estates. However, Kenny disclaimed his interest in all his spouse’s property, except for a joint checking account they shared.
He kept claiming his innocence, contending it to be an accident, but the court refused to believe so. According to news reports, Kenny remarked he thought the crossbow had been given away. But a jail inmate, Leonard Speller, testified Kenny allegedly confessed about murdering Anna, stating he had “irreconcilable differences” with her and desired to move away from Virginia with his son. A forensic expert, Julien J. Mason, also testified the crossbow did not “fire without a pull of the trigger.”
However, the most damning evidence was the testimony of Randall Howes, who alleged he suspected Kenny tampered with the crime scene to make it look like an accident. The jury believed in the expertise of Julien and Randall’s military-trained memory and proclaimed Kenny guilty of a first-degree murder charge on June 4, 2008. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in September 2008.
