Cruel Death (44 page)

Erika, as a teenager, was happy and vivacious.

(Courtesy of Kristen Heinbaugh)

Heading into college, Erika Grace showed promise and excellence on the basketball court.

(
Courtesy Hollidaysburg High School yearbook)

As a youngster, Erika (center) was a prominent player on her local AAU traveling basketball team.

She was away from her home a lot, yet never got into any trouble.

(Courtesy of Kristen Heinbaugh)

When Martha “Geney” Crutchley and Joshua Ford failed to show up for work after the long 2002 Memorial Day holiday weekend, friends and coworkers became concerned and reported the couple missing.

(Courtesy of the Ocean City Police Department)

After leaving college with a history degree and running away to Las Vegas to marry a man she had known for three weeks, the newly wed Erika Sifrit, now calling herself “Bonnie,” was arrested with her husband—”Clyde”—on May 31, 2002, while breaking into an Ocean City, Maryland Hooters restaurant.

(Courtesy of the Ocean City Police Department)

Wearing his trademark shoulder holster, staying true to his Navy SEAL training, Benjamin “BJ” Sifrit refused to speak to police after his arrest on the night of May 31, 2002.

(Courtesy of the Ocean City Police Department)

Nearly 160 candidates entered Benjamin Sifrit’s Navy SEAL training class, but only 17 graduated, with BJ as honor man.

(Courtesy of the United States Navy public record)

After their arrest on May 31, 2002, Erika and Benjamin Sifrit took different sides regarding the incriminating evidence found in their Jeep Cherokee, which tied both of them to the missing persons case of Geney Crutchley and Joshua Ford.

(Courtesy of the Ocean City Police Department)

These photo ID driver’s licenses of Geney Crutchley and Joshua Ford were found inside Erika Sifrit’s purse on the night of May 31, 2002, after she and BJ were caught in the act of burgling an Ocean City Hooters restaurant gift shop.

(Courtesy of the Ocean City Police Department)

On the bottom curve of this ring—which belonged to Joshua Ford and was found in Erika Sifrit’s possession on the night of her arrest—there is a small blood spatter mark that was later proven by DNA testing to match Joshua Ford.

(Courtesy of the Ocean City Police Department)