EP. 120 TEXAS - The Kidnapping, Torture, and Murder of 12 Year Old McKay Everett (Pt. 1)

I didn't have Ms. Norman as a teacher, but everyone that did had nothing but great things to say about her, and little did I know. About 10 years prior, she had faced every mother's worst nightmare. Once we got in the car, my mom told me that Ms. Norman's last name used to be Ms.

Everett And back in 1995, her 12-year-old son McKay, was home alone when someone came by their house and abducted him. Later that night, the Everetts got a phone call demanding $500,000, or they would never see McKay alive again. In that moment, Paulette and Carl Everett's lives would never be the same. Their only child was in the hands of someone evil.

The ransom caller also said to expect another phone call the next morning at 8am with directions on how to deliver the money. But as they anxiously sat by their phones alongside the FBI, that phone call never came. You see, there was no exchange of money because the kidnapping plan had gone awry and McKay Everett was already dead. His abductor had shoved him into the trunk of a car, drove 250 miles and then murdered him, leaving McKay's body in the swamplands of Louisiana. After my mom told me this story, I remember her telling me that there are bad people in the world.

Even in our little town of Conroe, Texas, which stuck with me throughout the years. This was one of the first true crime stories I had ever heard, and still to this day, it's one of the worst I've ever heard. Because, as it turns out, this crime was not committed by a stranger, this wasn't the act of some shady criminal who happened upon the Everetts home. The person who abducted and murdered McKay was a family friend, someone that he loved and trusted.

Throughout my life, I often thought about McKay, I thought about Ms. Norman and how she was doing all these years later. So, a couple months ago, I decided to reach out to her on Facebook, and after nearly 28 years, she said she is finally ready to tell her story. So I'm Courtney Brown.

And I kept noticing that the little professor, she was a little lady, that part of her hand looked funny. So after class, I walked down and asked her about what happened to your finger, and she said, A patient bit it off. And I was already going out to the state institution, and I was already volunteering at a mental institution for children. But after that, I thought, Nope, that's not what I need to do.

So I said, Where's the dean of Women's Office? And I said I got to figure out how to change my major immediately.

So Paulette and Carl decided to go together for their very first date. I asked her if it was love at first sight, and here is what she said.

Both Carl and Paulette had always dreamed of leaving Mississippi, so in 1978 they piled all of their belongings into their vehicles. Paulette would later write in the book Deadly Betrayal quote. The cars were stuffed to the ceiling with boxes. We were sweating, but we were happy we were leaving to find our fortunes, to begin our lives, to do something big.

We were so young and full of hope. End quote. Once all of their things were packed up, the Everetts got in their cars and headed west towards Texas.

Paulette got a job as a teacher, and for about a year, Carl was working at the forestry plant in Huntsville. However, he soon figured out that it wasn't really the job for him. He started talking about his dissatisfaction with forestry with a friend of his, named Jim Kendrick. Jim worked at a huge oil company out of Houston called Amoco, and he thought Carl had a lot of potential to succeed in the oil and gas industry.

And so I told Carl, I said, stop complaining and go see Mr. Kendrick, and within 30 days, Carl was out of forestry and into oil and gas.

But the good news was they had a baby who was happy and healthy, and his name was Samuel McKay Everett, but they would call him McKay.

We were thrilled. It wasn't an easy pregnancy, I could have no other children, and I struggled even afterwards to realize this is it, there will be no other children. But we adjusted and we were thrilled that McKay was healthy and easy baby. He wasn't difficult or sickly or anything like that, so that made it easy.

And he would at an early age, he would laugh and be silly, even as an infant. So we were like, Well, this is a whole different way than we thought it would be. We thought we might have a colicky baby or some that was not happy or easily frustrated, but that wasn't the case. He was very, very easy.

He had friends at school a lot, sometimes his friends. He would say, You know, mom, they don't have any friends now. They're my friend, but nobody would sit with them or he'd go. Can I have an extra quarter?

And we'd go, What for?

And we had one case where one kid was kind of blackmailing him, Give me a quarter or I'm going to slug you. So we learned, what do you need the quarter for? And it was he needed the quarter because someone didn't have money for milk, so he was kind.

And yet he would stand his ground if somebody, you know, messed with him, he'd bite the toe out of them. So it was just kind of, you know, we knew he knew how to stand up for himself, we knew he knew how to fight if he needed to.

But we also knew he was very kind and loving.

But in 1990, they wanted a house of their own, so they started building one in a quiet, wooded area in northwest Conroe.

5438 Pine Springs Court. The large brick house sits on three acres of land, and behind the home is this forest of pine and oak trees. It looks like something out of a magazine, and the landscaping is breathtaking. When building it, Paulette and McKay planted hundreds of azalea bushes.

And there were these beautiful mimosa trees covering the front lawn. Paulette loved to garden and so did McKay. It was something they bonded over in the springtime. She would later write in the book Deadly Betrayal quote. He just loved the spring when the flowers and bushes bloomed, He loved mimosa trees.

And he would stick his nose in the blooms and come away with pollen on his face. Every time I see a mimosa tree now, I can still smell the beautiful blooms. I can see McKay running around in the front yard. End quote.

The Everetts were really proud of the home they built, the home where McKay would grow up. Paulette wrote again in Deadly betrayal. Quote God, I love that home. Carl and I. We worked so hard to make it. To get to a place where you could really focus on building something to sink down roots.

We wanted a house and a home. We wanted to give McKay a place to play in and grow up. In end quote, Their house was also the perfect location for an adventurous little boy like McKay.

He would often spend his time running around in the front yard or venturing off into the woods, letting his imagination roam free.

That's how he played out there in white socks.

Carl would take him just the two of them on trips during the week. McHale was at school normally, and Carl was out of town working. I kept the home front going and took care of McHale and then did whatever extra I needed to do in the oil and gas industry for Carl.

So we did a lot of out-of-town things. Carl took McHale to a dude ranch and to a space camp and things like that that were fun for him. And then they'd go fishing and then we had a boat out at Bentwater and so we would be out there a lot.

So his way of saying I love you to his mom and dad was saying, How about them, lions?

He'd do it at home, but, you know, so he would say, I'm gonna say that. And so that's what we have at the cemetery.

But that day went on as usual. McHale went to school. Both Carl and Paulette went off to work, and later that night he ran around the football field with his teammates. It was a pretty uneventful game, but Carl and Paulette couldn't have been more proud of their son. Paulette would later write in Deadly betrayal quote I'll never forget that week.

It started out normal. I remember so well watching him out on the football field. I was so proud of McHale. He was just finding his wings, the whole world was open to him. End quote.

And although Paulette knew he was ready for that, she still did have some reservations.

We thought that if anyone would be a threat, they would want our finances. Never did we assume that someone would try to take McKay.

It was a school day, so McKay had to be up early that morning. Like most mornings, Paulette made him his favorite breakfast, which was grits, and to get him out of bed, she would go to his room and spit a grit at him. Something that they would always do as a little family joke.

He'd spit a grit at me so we would laugh, and that was how we woke up. We weren't a yelling, screaming household. I just don't think that's good for kids. And Carl took McKay to school, dropped him off.

He did tell me later, he said, It was almost as if I knew in my heart that that was the last goodbye.

Then he shut the door and walked into school. That would be the last time Carl would ever see his son alive. Hours later, when the school day ended, Paulette decided to take McKay to get some yogurt in town. Then they came back home and she helped him with his homework, which was to write a paper on how he would spend a million dollars. Paulette sat at the computer, typing away as McKay blurted out each thing he would buy.

And he was getting creative with it. They were laughing and having fun. And after they were finished, Paulette looked at her son and said, See, homework can be fun on occasion. Now, following this, Paulette had to get ready. She and Carl had an Amway meeting that night at 8 p...m.

And McKay assured them that he didn't need a babysitter. He was 12 years old and he could handle being at home by himself, so they weren't worried. After all, McKay knew how to work their security system better than they did, and he knew to never open the door to a stranger.

In fact, there was one incident where an alarm had accidentally gone off when McKay was home by himself and a sheriff's deputy was sent to their house to investigate. But when the sheriff knocked on the door, McKay wouldn't even open it for him because he didn't know that man. And he was always told never to open the door for a stranger, even if that person was in uniform, so, as you can see, McKay was very responsible.

And Paulette and Carl felt comfortable leaving him at home alone now. Carl ended up leaving for the meeting a little earlier that night. And Paulette was going to ride there with their neighbor Randy. So shortly before 8 p..m. Paulette gathered her things and left McKay with a flashlight.

He was eating ice cream and watching TV. Paulette didn't know it at the time, but this would be the very last time she would ever see McKay alive.

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And now let's get back to today's story.

Over the next few hours, the Amway meeting took place in downtown Conroe. It was only about 10 minutes away from the Everett's house, and by now it was pouring down rain. So Carl made sure to call home and check on McKay to make sure they still had power and that he was doing okay at home by himself.

From here, everyone gets to the restaurant and orders their coffee, but Carl feels a little unsettled. Why didn't McKay pick up? So he excuses himself from the table and walks over to the restaurant's payphone, but again, when he calls home, there's no answer.

And Carl knows deep down that something isn't right. McKay always answers the phone and it's not like he would be outside playing or anything. It's 10 o'clock on a school night and it's raining out.

Which meant McKay had to have disarmed it himself. Now, from here, Carl starts frantically running through the home, screaming McKay's name. But he's met with silence, and soon enough, that silence would be interrupted by their phone ringing.

At first, Carl thought that it might be McKay calling, but when he answered, it was a woman.

And it's going to be bundled in $10,000 bundles of $100 bills. We will call you tomorrow at 8am with instructions on how to deliver the money. If you call the police, you'll never see your son alive again.

At first, Carl thought that this had to be some sick prank. He even ran outside, screaming McKay's name just in case he was nearby. But soon enough, the reality of the situation started settling in. Someone had kidnapped his son for ransom. Now, as you may know, ransoms are incredibly rare.

So the fact that this was happening in my small hometown back in 1995 is shocking, to say the least. And although they are rare, it's important to know that you always call the police. They have way more resources than you do by yourself, so always call them, no matter what the person demands. And that's exactly what Carl did.

Before Paulette made it home, two Montgomery County police officers were sent to the Everett's home and they couldn't even believe what they were hearing. A kidnapping for ransom in Conroe, Texas. This was absolutely unheard of. But they knew they needed to take action immediately if McKay was ever going to make it home alive. So they called for every available resource they could find.

And soon enough, the Everett's beautiful home in the woods was a crime scene. Their safe neighborhood was now lit up with blue and red lights, and within minutes, their sense of safety was stripped from them.

The phones were tapped, but soon enough, 8 a...m. came and went and there was no phone call.

Both Paulette and Carl were adamant that McKay would have never opened the door for someone he didn't know. And again, we know this because he wouldn't even open the door for that police officer the year prior. So, at this point, the FBI sat Carl and Paulette down, gave them a piece of paper and asked them to make three lists. The first list was for people that McKay loved and trusted, the second was people he would have opened the door for.

And the third was for people who knew their family's schedule. Over the next few minutes, Paulette and Carl scribbled down the names of everyone they could think of that fell under those categories, and it was a very surreal moment for both of them. Paulette would later tell the show evil lies.

Here quote I'm supposed to list the people I know, not possible strangers or barely acquaintances who would have come to my door. They want to know about the people I know that could have. McKay It's chilling. I was horrified to think that someone we knew, that McKay knew and loved would have the goal to take him.

End quote.

Not only had Hilton known the family for years, but they had taken trips together. Paulette taught elementary school with his wife, and McKay even called him Uncle Hilty. So who was Hilton Crawford and what led him to commit the unthinkable?

Well, let's take a look into his background and everything that led up to September 12th, 1995.

But then, in 1966, he accepted the job of a police officer.

In total, Hilton Crawford worked as a law enforcement officer for over 15 years, which is a disturbing thought. But in 1975, he ran for sheriff and lost. So. Following that, he and his wife, Connie, moved to Conroe, Texas, where Hilton decided to leave the police force and start working in the private security business. While he was doing that, his wife got a job at B..B. Rice Elementary in Conroe, Texas.

And her classroom happened to be right across the hall from Paulette's first grade class. And that's how the Everetts crossed paths with the Crawfords Paulette and Connie worked together. Of course, she never, in her wildest dreams, would have ever believed that her co-worker's husband would one day kidnap and murder her only child. On the outside, the Crawfords looked like a great family.

Connie was a school teacher, Hilton worked in security, but he was also a family man. He and Connie had two sons, Kevin and Chris, and growing up, Hilton coached for their little league baseball teams.

All the kids loved him, he was the kind of guy that was always seen smiling and cracking jokes with the people around him. Hilton was also involved in YMCA and the Make-a-Wish Foundation for Children with Critical Illness. He seemed like a great guy. It also seemed like the Crawfords had a lot of money.

Hilton always wore fancy clothing, expensive jewelry, drove nice cars, which was odd because he and Connie didn't have the highest paying jobs. They also loved to host parties at their home in the upscale neighborhood in Conroe. They had a two-story house with expensive furniture, nice landscaping and a large pool out back. It was obvious to many people that the Crawfords really cared about their outward appearance. Hilton and Connie also took many vacations, but their favorite places to go were Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

They were the biggest gambling destinations in the United States. You see, Hilton had a gambling problem and that was no secret to the people that knew him. He would usually go to Vegas two or three times a year, and he had connections that would give him free hotel rooms for him and his guests.

One summer, while Carl and Paulette were having dinner with the Crawfords, he invited them on one of his Vegas trips. He told them that all they had to pay for was their plane ticket. Paulette respectfully declined, but Carl decided to take him up on that offer. And while there, he noticed that Hilton was a high roller.

But after one of these trips, he told Paulette that Hilton's gambling habits were getting a little out of hand. And from here, she knew that Carl wouldn't be going on any more trips with Hilton Crawford.

This isn't how we want to live, and I said, I don't think that we want to be involved with any of that activity. And so that ended that. That was his last trip.

For Halloween, McKay would stop by the Crawfords home, and he could always count on Hilton to stuff his bag full of candy. On Christmases, the Crawfords would buy McKay presents. And even though there was a bit of an age difference, McKay really loved the Crawfords two sons, Kevin and Chris. Back in the early 90s, when everyone was starting to get computers, McKay would go by their home and the boys would teach him how to use one. They would also play video games together and swim in the Crawfords pool.

McKay really loved their family so much, so he even called them Uncle Hilty and Aunt Connie.

Hilton said that in order for them to follow through with everything, he would need to see the Everett's financial statements. So Carl sent them over, but soon after, he informed Hilton that he wasn't interested in being his partner anymore. Carl already had a lot on his plate, so he changed his mind, which was a good decision because the restaurant eventually went under. It was such a bad business decision that Hilton had to file for bankruptcy afterwards.

And they were all pressing him to get their money. There was one man named Joe Duhan, who trained horses in Shreveport, Louisiana. Joe and Hilton had known each other for 20 years, and Hilton even hired him to train one of his horses for an upcoming race. Which isn't cheap.

After the race, Hilton owed him about $4,500, but he couldn't pay it. Joe kept calling Hilton asking for payment, and Hilton would tell him.

And as the old saying goes, money is the root of all evil. Faced with his second bankruptcy in less than 10 years, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in gambling debt, Hilton Crawford started coming up with a plan.

He wanted to pick him up from their house, pick him up from school, doing everything he could. So when that day came, McKay wouldn't think twice about getting in his car. Paulette would later write in Deadly betrayal quote I've lost a lot of sleep overthinking about signs. If I had seen the signs, maybe I could have prevented the whole thing. This part just kills me, you know?

Maybe there was something I should have seen or taken action on. Hilton created an incredibly stupid crime, but he was no dummy. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing, he planned it on the outside, he was nice to McKay.

But on the inside, he was planning to kidnap my son. End quote now. Carl and Paulette didn't let Hilton spend one-on-one time with McKay, so Hilton used another tactic to gain his trust. About three weeks before the kidnapping, Hilton invited Carl and McKay over to his house.

As we know, McKay was signed up to play football that year. So Hilton invited them over and they spent the evening tossing the football in Hilton's driveway. He was giving the impression that he was McKay's good uncle Hilty, who just wanted to help him with his throwing skills. When the evening ended, McKay ran over to Hilton, gave him a hug and then kissed him on the forehead. Having no idea that in just a few weeks, his uncle Hilty would kidnap and murder him.

And he told them that it is a kidnapping scheme, that the kid wouldn't be harmed and he would be returned back to his parents a few days later. But Hilton's friend declined the offer. And I think this alone goes to show the type of shady people that were at these horse tracks. The fact that Hilton even felt comfortable enough making him this offer is concerning in and of itself.

But the fact that the man didn't tell authorities is even more concerning. It's clear that Hilton Crawford ran with a bad group of people.

Of course, the realtor had no idea that it was ransom money, but soon enough, the kidnapping for ransom plan was in full effect. Now Hilton knew if he was going to kidnap McKay, he would have to go by the home when Carl and Paulette weren't there. And then he remembered the Amway meeting, scheduled for September 12th, 1995. He, too, was a part of Amway.

So he knew that Carl and Paulette were supposed to attend the meeting, but he decided to call and check just to make sure so. On September 3rd, nine days before the meeting, Hilton called the Everett's to see if they would be there, and they told him they would. Then, on September 12th, the day of the Amway meeting, Hilton calls the Everett's again.

Here is Paulette describing those phone calls.

And she had known about Hilton for about 10 years. She had also spent some time in jail, so Hilton figured she would agree to do the job. At the time of our story, she was working at the Harris County Park and Recreation Department when one day in early September, she got a call from Hilton Crawford.

He offered her $30,000 and all she had to do was make that phone call and she agreed to do it.

And then, at around 8 p.

M.

She left for the meeting with her neighbor, Randy. Phone records would later show that Hilton called Irene Flores that night at around 7.55 p...m, likely to make sure everything was still going to plan. And once he got that confirmation, he drove his gold 1994 Chrysler to the Everett's House at about 8.25 p...m. Inside, McKay was on the phone with a girl from school named Elizabeth Schaefer.

Believe it or not, Elizabeth actually lived next door to the Crawfords. And at one point, Hilton came up to her and told her that McKay would be a good catch because his family is rich, which is eerie. But McKay and Elizabeth talked on the phone nearly every day, and on this night. Elizabeth said that McKay called her shortly before 8.30 p...m. But their conversation was brief because soon after she answered, McKay heard a knock at the back door.

He told her to quote Hold on, wait one second. Elizabeth then heard him set the phone down and open a door. Now, something to note here is that all friends and family close to the Everett's knew to always use the back door to get into the home. The front door was barely ever used, so that's why Hilton was at the back door. But McKay hears the knock and he goes to check who it is.

And standing there, at the back door, is his uncle, Hilty. Now, what exactly happens here is a little unclear, but the FBI would later say that. Hilton likely told McKay Your parents were in a car crash, They're hurt and I need to get you to them.

Emotional response, which is not always a wise response.

Come with me, I would have done the same thing.

So she answered it, and by the time she clicked back over, McKay wasn't there, so she just hung up, unbeknownst to her. The neighbor, or McKay for that matter. He had just been kidnapped by Hilton Crawford.

The first few minutes of that car ride, I'm sure McKay was worried, sick about his mom and dad, but that worry would soon turn into fear and anger. At 8.37 p.m. Just minutes into the drive, Hilton places a call to Irene Flores. The call would last two minutes and 29 seconds. He likely told her that he had McKay and from here she should drive to the payphone and follow through with the ransom call.

It's possible he even used code words to communicate with Irene. But McKay was a smart kid and he knew right then that something wasn't right. So he starts asking questions, demanding to know what's going on with his parents. It's believed that Hilton became flustered and pulled off to the side of the road.

He then looked around to make sure there were no witnesses. And when the coast was clear, he pulled McKay out of the car and hit him with something on the left side of his head. The blow to McKay's head was so brutal, it broke several bones in his face and it likely knocked him out. But from here, Hilton threw him into the trunk and took off down the road once more.

She also told him that they would call him again tomorrow at 8 a.

M Once she was finished with the ransom call, she called Hilton to let him know that it was done. Then Irene went home and went to bed, while Hilton Crawford made his way to Louisiana with McKay in the trunk of his car.

Now, something interesting to note is that Carl actually called the Crawford's house phone that night at around 11.

40.

With Hilton's background as a police officer, he thought he could help them find McKay. But Hilton didn't answer the phone, as we know he was already on his way to Louisiana, but his wife, Connie, did answer the phone. Carl quickly explained the situation to her and he asked if he could speak to Hilton, but she said Hilton wasn't home.

So Carl asks, Well, where is he? She says she doesn't know, so Carl asks if he could have Hilton's phone number, but, weirdly enough, she couldn't remember it. Now, it's around this time as the Everett Street fills with law enforcement officers. The neighbor across the street would tell investigators about the gold Chrysler seen backing out of the Everett's driveway earlier that evening, which was a huge lead in their investigation. As it turns out, the Everett's did know someone with a gold Chrysler, Hilton Crawford.

So then the FBI had Carl and Paulette make those lists, and again, the only name on all three was Hilton Crawford. He was now their main suspect.

Is McKay hungry? is he allowed to go to the bathroom, is he suffering? The devastation she faced knowing that her only child was gone didn't just have an emotional effect on her, but a physical one as well. It was as if her body was shutting down.

So at some point she decided to lie down on the couch, and then, at about 2 a...m, she experienced something unexplainable.

M And nobody was asleep at our house, and I was laying on the living room couch and I didn't know what was happening. I was 45 years old, I call myself young and dumb, you know?

I didn't know why my arm was pulling like it was palsied, I didn't know why my leg was dragging some. My eyesight was wacky. My speech got slower and slower and deeper and deeper, and I didn't know what that was.

But about 2 a.

M.

And the pastor and his wife were there. And I was laying on the sofa in the living room. And all of a sudden I had such a jerk reaction, involuntary, it nearly flipped me over, I was laying on my back.

It nearly flipped me over and flipped me onto the floor, and several people caught me. And I am convinced that was when McKay died.

There is a definite connection between a mother and her children. I think we have a physical side, then I think we have a spiritual side, and I think that's part of our spiritual connection. That's a special thing.

It's been quite a thing to live with. I'm glad God made us the way he did, to feel those connections and to feel the love and the support. But you just don't ever think life is going to get so surreal and so out of control.

That you can't keep your children safe, but it can, and it's devastating when you cannot keep a little one safe. That is just earth-shaking. And to keep them safe from someone they thought they could trust.

Why would you protect a child's trust?

M that morning. But the call never came, which wasn't a good sign. If the whole point of kidnapping McKay was to get money, then why wouldn't they call?

That's why we didn't get the phone call. McKay was dead, there was no way to swap anything. So all of his what he thought was a master plan, and he was being so smart, he was being an idiot.

And when they looked at it, it was spotless. It had obviously been cleaned recently and the tires were brand new. All four of them, which is interesting because usually when someone replaces their tires, they'll replace one or two at a time.

Not all four. But even more suspicious was that the Crown Motors emblem on the back had recently been scraped off. Investigators would later say that you could actually still see the scrape marks. But from here, they went to look in the trunk and what do you know?

When they opened it up, there was no lining, it had been completely removed. It was clear that Hilton worked hard to try to remove any evidence, but investigators were sure they'd be able to find something, so they impounded the Chrysler for further testing.

And then, at 11.

30, he drove to Beaumont, Texas, and said that he got there at 1 a..m and checked into a best western. Now, why someone in security would need to be driving to all these cities in Texas in the middle of the night is beyond me. And the FBI was thinking the same thing.

It just didn't make any sense. So they asked Hilton to take a polygraph, but he refused because he said he had quote high blood pressure. But that's okay because investigators were right around the corner from their biggest lead yet.

And it all came from Hilton's phone records when the FBI got a hold of them. They saw that on the night of McKay's disappearance. He called one number six different times, and that was the number of Irene Flores. So they immediately bring her in for an interview, and after a few hours, she admits to making the ransom call.

She also confirms that Hilton Crawford was indeed the person who hired her to do it. So, they place Irene Flores under arrest for her part in the crime, and now they finally have enough to arrest Hilton as well. In the early morning hours of September 15th, 1995, police surrounded the Crawford home in their upscale neighborhood and placed the 56-year-old former cop under arrest for the aggravated kidnapping of McKay Everett. Soon enough, my small hometown of Conroe, Texas, was making national news.

Everyone was shocked that not only was this monster a former cop, but he was also a family friend of the Everetts, someone they thought they could trust. And everyone following this story had one question Where is McKay? Even with Hilton's arrest, he wasn't giving anyone that information.

So guards at the jail set Hilton up with a TV, and through the media, Carl Everett pleaded with him to bring his son home. He even held a football that Hilton had gifted McKay. Here is part of Carl's plea.

He called you Uncle Hilty, and he loved you dearly. Three weeks ago, we were at your home playing with this ball. And when we got ready to leave, I said, Go give Uncle Hilty a hug. And McKay came over and hugged and kissed you on your forehead.

And the clock kept ticking, and on Saturday.

Carl came to me and he said, I need you to go to Crawford's wife and she's with her sister. So I told him, I said, I can't drive because, you know, my arm was pulling, my leg was dragging, my eyesight was just wacky. I said, I can't.

I don't feel safe to drive and I felt like somebody just drained me of all my energy. And so my neighbor. He said. Well, get the neighbor to drive you. So she drove me and I told her when we got there, don't pull all the way up the driveway because we're unannounced.

So I told my neighbor, I said, you need to get me some help because I don't think I can do this. And so I went in the room and Crawford's wife started talking, and I started. I thought, I don't have anything to write with or anything. So I stuck my head out the door and said, I need some paper and pen and they got that for me. And then the next thing I know I heard the doorbell and it was the FBI.

And they came so quick. She said some things, I wrote them down, I would hand them out the door to the FBI and then I told her. I said, you need to go to the jail.

You need to take your sons, and you don't need to leave until you get a map of where my son is.

That's where he was shot.

Once there, the agents followed Crawford's detailed instructions, and up ahead, they could see drag marks in the weeds, so they followed those drag marks. And soon enough, they came across the body of a young boy with two .45 shell casings around him. McKay Everett's body had been out in the summer heat for five days, so he was in an advanced stage of decomposition. The coroner would later say that quote. His body was laden with millions of maggots.

And even more heartbreaking was that animals had been scavenging on his body for days. Even the most seasoned investigators at the scene were deeply disturbed by this discovery. Who would leave a young boy out here, in the middle of nowhere, dumped like a piece of trash? Clearly, the person responsible is a monster in its truest form. Following their discovery at Whiskey Bay, McKay was then taken to the coroner, where James Freeman conducted the autopsy.

He found that McKay's cause of death was likely from his gunshot wounds, but he also had severe blunt force trauma to his right temple. This injury could have also caused his death because his bones were pushing in towards his brain. But now that McKay was finally located, it was time to inform Carl and Paulette. After speaking with Connie Crawford, Paulette was exhausted, so she decided to lie down in bed.

And that's I started making this funny, funny sound.

And someone ran and got a washcloth and they were wiping my throat and I thought.

I was looking down on everybody.

And then a voice, a voice of God, told me, you can't stay, and I still get frustrated because I think, why didn't you ask me if I wanted to stay?

Why didn't you just say you can't stay? And the next thing I know I was back in my bed, the house was quiet. It had been mass pandemonium for a week.

I told myself I've been in a car wreck, I'm coming out from a coma. And then I told myself, don't play those kind of mind games, Paulette. And then I heard a tapping on the lamp shade.

And my grandmother was my rock and she. Her words came back to me. She said, God knows you, He knows you.

Personally, every hair on your head is numbered. He calls the stars by their names.

And I thought this is true because there was a moth making that tapping noise.

And I told myself, Only God knew, and only I knew that. I had just finished reading Chuck Swindoll's book, Flying Closer to the Flame. Where he says, We need to be like the moth, who will try so hard to get to the light. He'll even singe his wings after Paulette's out-of-body experience.

The Everetts were about to learn a whole lot about Hilton Crawford, things they could have never imagined. They knew he was a gambler, but they truly had no idea who this man was. On the outside, he was a family man who ran a business and was respected in his community. But what would be uncovered would prove that evil walks this earth, even in the small, unassuming Texas towns like my hometown of Conroe, Texas. In next week's episode, we are going to walk you through exactly what happened on September 12, 1995, and why the kidnapping plan went awry.

We will also talk about Hilton's secret history of being a criminal, ties to the mafia. The ring of accomplices who tried to help him cover up this horrible murder. And then, finally, his execution. And Paulette's experience getting to watch it.

Hey everybody, it's Colin here and Courtney. thank you for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. We are so glad to be back from the break. And Courtney, this story obviously means a lot to you. You want to talk about it?

Thank you everybody, thank you so much. Also, follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from the cases we cover. And yeah, we love y'all so much and we will catch you next week when we conclude this story.