Explaining Myself on the Murder of Kim Crofts

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - I wanted to take a minute to explain where I've been coming from with regards to the murder of Kim Crofts in Bocas del Toro. Today I published this article about the murder of American military veteran Alfredo Delgado, who was shot and killed in his home last weekend by four armed robbers. In that case, the bad guys came to his house because they thought he had a large sum of cash in the house. They poisoned his dog, cut through a fence, broke through a steel door, and eventually shot and killed Alfredo Delgado in front of his family. They then went about taking the wife's jewelry, asked repeatedly "where is the money", and then stole a small safe before they made their getaway. And here's my point with regards to the murder of Kim Crofts - this case (Alfredo Delgado) is what a murder committed as part of a home invasion robbery generally "looks like." (more)

The Crofts Case Still Doesn't Make Sense: Listen, one more time, I want to express my heartfelt condolences for Kim's wife Mary and the rest of this family and friends. By all accounts Kim Crofts was a great guy, and although I never met him I have heard nothing but nice things about him. In no way do I wish to disparage his memory in writing about how he died or why he was killed. But with all of that having been said, the "official" version of how things went down very simply does not make any sense, at least to me. Now, it's quite possible that I'm barking up the wrong tree, or for that matter several wrong trees, but to me his murder still does not make any sense.

If You're Going To Rob Someone: And if you're going to go to the trouble of killing someone to commit the robbery, wouldn't it make sense to actually steal something? I mean, a watch, a wallet, anything. Look at the attitude and conduct of the bad guys in the murder of Alfredo Delgado, for example. They thought there was a large sum of money in the house and they were ready to go through hell or high water to get it. Killed the dog, cut the fence, broke down a steel door, and killed the owner. After having done all of that, they were still looking for the loot. "Where's the money!" Notice that they did not kill the dog, cut through the fence, break through the steel door, kill the owner, and then run away empty handed. That, you see, is my problem. Walking in to simply shoot the gringo and then run simply does not fit with all of the cases of home invasion robberies I've looked into here in Panama. The murder of Kim Crofts falls outside of the standard pattern. And that's why I'm still going on it.

Rumors and Drugs: I got a call from a guy in Bocas who passed on local rumors that the five guys who were involved in this murder had hidden drugs on Kim Crofts land, and that for some reason there might have been a connection between the drugs and why they shot him. To make myself perfectly clear - there are a whole lot of ways to get "crosswise" with drug dealers, and many of them do not involve buying, selling, or doing drugs. For instance, consider the following, an event that happened in my life a long time ago involving a good friend of mine:

• About 25 years ago I was stationed in San Angelo, Texas. My best friend there was a Sergeant in the US Marine Corps. He had met and was going out with a local girl, a cute little blond named “Jenny.” She was from the San Angelo area and was going to college there. My friend Frank had met her in a club and they had been going out together for a couple of months. In fact, Jenny had basically "moved in" with Frank just a short time ago. She had been sharing an apartment with several of her student friends, but Frank's place was more comfortable. And, Frank wanted her there.
  
  
• One day my friend discovers (to his complete, total, and utter surprise) 2 kilos of cocaine hidden in his house. His girlfriend was living with him, and a local Mexican drug dealer had given the cocaine to her for her to hide. It seems this girl had gone out with this Mexican drug dealer guy sometime in the past, before she got hooked up with my friend Frank. And, the local law enforcement was about to come down on the Mexican dude and bust him, and he wanted to get the drugs out of his place. So, he “forced” his ex-girlfriend to take and hide the drugs. It seems she knew he was a drug dealer, and he threatened to take her down with him if he got busted. Whatever, she was both young and dumb, as well as very afraid, so she agreed to hide the cocaine for him.
  
  
• Now at this point I should take a minute to describe my good friend Frank. He was (and still is) as straight an arrow as it comes. He would rather give up his life than lose his honor, and I mean that absolutely and with no twitch whatsoever. Frank simply does the right thing. Period. And, as he told me this story, he was absolutely dumbfounded to have found the drugs in his house. I don't think he had ever tried anything harder than a cold beer in his entire life. That's just Frank.
  
  
• And what did my friend the US Marine Corps Sergeant do when he found the drugs? Well, he immediately flushed them down the toilet, of course, without thinking twice. Later he said that it "just seemed like the right thing to do." I asked him about the whole "call the cops" option, and he said "oh, yeah." It just didn't dawn on him to do that. And besides, knowing Frank the way I do I doubt if there was 30 seconds between finding the drugs and dumping them down the toilet.
  
  
• You can imagine the world of shit that went down because of what he did. He confronted his girlfriend Jenny when she came home from college that afternoon and told her that he had found the drugs in his house. Jenny confessed the whole story to Frank - she told him about her Mexican ex-boyfriend and why she had the drugs. Then Frank told Jenny what he had done about the situation - that he had flushed the whole stash.
  
  
• Jenny told Frank that in no uncertain terms they were both now effectively dead. No discussion, no escape, no other possibilities - the Mexican guy would kill them both, almost immediately, as soon as he found out what had happened to his stash.
  
  
• And what was my good buddy Frank's next act? Why, to call me, of course - he used his "phone a friend" option. When I heard this story (actually, when we got to the point of "I flushed it down the toilet...") I tossed them both into my car and drove them directly to the Air Force base where we were stationed. I drove quickly and breathed a sigh of relief once we got past the security checkpoint at the front gate. We went straight into the base commander's office and told him the whole deal.
  
  
• Frank was immediately packed up and transferred to another base to keep him from being killed by the Mexicans. They simply put him on a plane without so much as a toothbrush. No kidding, the base commander dispatched a security detail to escort him to the local airport and to put him on the "next thing smoking." The destination didn't matter just so long as it was "somewhere other than San Angelo, Texas." Frank was "wheels up" in less than four hours. Other unit members from his chain of command and friends (me and others) packed up his stuff and sent it along days later. He was sent to the Marine Corps Radio Battalion in Hawaii. I still rib him about that - that he dreamed up the whole thing just to find a way to get the hell out of West Texas.
  
  
• As for Jenny - as a civilian (non military) person she was handed over to the local police detectives who took her statement. They took care of both her and the Mexican drug dealer she was running around with. In fact I don't know what became of her in the long run.

My point is this: There are lots of ways to get “cross-wise” with drug dealers. I’m not suggesting that Kim Crofts was either doing or dealing or selling or trafficking drugs. But maybe he did find drugs on his property, and that was enough to get him killed. In fact, I simply don’t know. I heard one version of events suggesting that the five guys involved in his murder were also local guys who were involved in local drug trafficking. Maybe something happened related to their drug trafficking activities that pissed them off enough to want to kill Kim Crofts. In fact I simply do not know right now. The rumors that were passed to me came from the "local rumor mill" so consider the source and take it for what it's worth. But understand that very often there's some element of truth in these kinds of things. Like, I think it's very possible that the five guys who are in custody were somehow involved in local drug trafficking. And, that had not come out in the first versions of events I had heard.

Still Doesn't Look Like A Robbery: In robberies people take things. Of course the murder of Kim Crofts certainly could have been a botched robbery, and the guys who were planning to do the robbery simply panicked and ran. Is that a possible scenario? Of course it is! And that's apparently the story the five guys who are in custody are telling, and maybe that's exactly what happened. Who knows. But to my simple mind it very simply does not look, act, or feel like a robbery. That's all.

"Don't Use My Name" Obviously there are a lot of people talking to me with regards to this case, and to a man they have all started off with a request for me not to use their name or to identify them as a source. I can understand their concerns and I respect that - Bocas del Toro is a relatively small community and everyone knows everyone to a certain extent. Also, everyone has their own take on things, and no one wants to see their name in Panama-Guide in association with the murder of Kim Crofts. Everyone is shocked and terrified - this murder has hit a chord. People are scared. If it could happen to Kim it could happen to anyone. And there's one other thing everyone is in agreement on - Kim Crofts was a nice guy and generally well liked by everyone that knew him.

My Apologies: If anyone took anything I have written about the murder of Kim Crofts the wrong way then I apologize from the heart - I had no intention of "blaming the victim," or trying to make Kim Crofts look like the bad guy here. But please understand that it is my job to keep an open mind and to examine and analyze the various possible alternative scenarios of how things might have gone down. And, when I first heard the angle that the five guys involved in his murder were somehow involved in local drug trafficking I instantly though about my friend Frank. I simply cannot afford to grab onto the first thing I hear and run with it as if it were the absolute and gospel truth. One of the lessons I have learned over the years is that the first version of events is almost always wrong and incomplete, and that only over time does the full truth come out. In between here and there the story firms up and becomes whole. Right now there's still a lot left to be said about the murder of Kim Crofts - and let me state for the record that I still don't feel very comfortable with what I know about this case so far. I'm sure there will be more to come in the future. Hopefully it will have something to do with charges being filed against those who were responsible for Kim's death.

I Hope This Clears The Air A Little: And again, my apologies. My goal and objective is to find out what happened to Kim Crofts so that maybe I can pass that information on to everyone else, and that we can all be just a little safer from the lesson learned. Really.

Copyright 2008 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.