Ep 6: Gambler's Logic

How big would it shock you if tomorrow you woke up and somebody told you that your best friend just killed somebody

Because this can't be right. He didn't do this guy didn't do that

There was a lot of stories at the beginning

About somebody else being involved and there other people and I didn't do this and all this stuff and you want to believe that

Because you don't want to believe you've been friends with a killer

That's not something that you want

Penetrating your mind

You just don't he may have stolen money. Maybe a bad guy that way but

To kill a 12 year old boy

No, you didn't want to believe that

Then you figured out after a while. Wow. Yeah

That's what we're dealing with

If I were to put all of this stuff together, I would have I would have done something and McKay would still be alive

Episode 6 gamblers logic

this episode we're diving into who Hilton Crawford really was and

What led him to the point that he kidnapped and murdered a close family friend?

12-year-old McKay Everett the boy who called him uncle Hilti

Of course Hilton continued to insist that he didn't kill McKay

But investigators had become convinced

RL Remington wasn't real and

Even Hilton's close friends didn't buy the Remington story

Here's one of those friends Sam Petro. I thought it was a bunch of bull right away

He had to have a mental breakdown. It's what I thought at the time. I mean he had children had two boys

He's got his wife

Then there's got to be some kind of reason for what happened

We got to get to the bottom of this thing

But the deeper you got into it the deeper you knew you're dealing with something that's really bad here

He was ex-law enforcement a little league baseball coach and a charming storyteller

But when we dug into his past we found red flags that showed he had a much darker side as well

Hilton Crawford was born in

1939 in Beaumont, Texas a small industrial town near the border of Texas and Louisiana

Hilton's classmate Paul Anderson can still remember him. Well, he was a hero in high school

basketball

I mean it was pretty much what you see is what you get era

Then when this stuff popped up it bust a lot of bubbles

Six-foot-tall Hilton towers over a meek Connie. His face is gaunt and serious with a chiseled jaw

Hers looks young and innocent

But Tanny Shannon the author who interviewed Hilton in prison

Says Hilton wouldn't start dating Connie until a couple of years later

So he got back in touch with her and asked her out and after the first date

Her father asked him to promise that he would take care of her

Because he had this illness and he was not expected to live

and Hilton agreed

He always felt a very deep responsibility for his family

Which probably led to his inability to admit to his failures?

1962 at the time they were both junior college students and Hilton worked night shifts at the Beaumont Police Department

The Beaumont police had recently come under scrutiny after a shooting in broad daylight over territory for illegal gambling

It had come out that gangsters had been bribing the police chief

So the chief and one of his head detectives were fired

But despite the reforms the new department wasn't squeaky clean

introduced to

some things that

Probably would not be allowed today merchants giving away merchandise to

Have police officers come in and check on their businesses and so forth by giving officers free products

But Hilton's indiscretions as a police officer in Beaumont went well beyond little handouts from stores

We obtained police documents that have never previously been published

Showing clear red flags about Hilton Crawford's behavior and his pattern of line to cover up his crimes

On Friday, September 14th

1962 another patrolman noticed that the police car Hilton and his partner had been driving was missing a hubcap

When confronted Hilton's partner who was a new recruit said the car had slid as they were responding to a call

Their supervisor sent Hilton's partner back to investigate the site

A slide he returned a few minutes later and told me he wanted to tell me the truth about what happened

They'd left the area that they were in charge of patrolling

So they left in a big hurry to get back where they belong

And they made a fast turn onto Corley Street and the rear end slid on them and struck the curb

He states that there was a car there, but they were going entirely too fast and this is what caused the slide

Crawford asked him to tell the story to keep them both out of trouble

Hilton had also been accused of misconduct by a man. He arrested

We couldn't find the victim's accusations or his name

But Hilton Crawford signed a sworn affidavit about the incident here's the statement read by a voice actor

about 1240 a.m. September 14th

1962 my partner and I while on routine patrol saw a 57 Ford turn sideways stuck in a ditch

And as we walked up to the car, we saw a Negro man laying in the front seat

The doors were locked and the windows were rolled up. We knocked on the windows after about five minutes

He woke up and we got him out of the car

Seeing that he was drunk. We had him stand in front of us and touch his toes and we pushed him into the ditch

We asked him to get out of the ditch and reach to get him as he was getting out of the ditch

He started to fall and we pushed him again

We yelled him to get up several times and seeing that this was not doing any good

Punched him in the ribs several times just hard enough to wake him because he had passed out

We did this because we did not want to stand in the water

After punching him and seeing that he was not coming to one of us jokingly remarked that he looked like he was dead. I

Told my partner that I would try to get him out of the ditch without us getting wet

So I fired my pistol into the ditch several feet away from him

I did this in an effort to wake him up, but it didn't work

Twice the second time knocking the man out

Then Hilton says he tried hitting the unconscious man with his nightstick to rouse him, but couldn't

So he claims he fired his pistol toward the man to wake him up

When we got him on the street

We asked him if he had been drinking and he said he had not but we could smell alcohol on his breath and his speech

Was very impaired

We asked him to run about 10 yards and turn around quick and he did turn around as he ran back towards he fell down

He told us that he worked at the Holiday Inn and if we would bring our own girl out there

He would try to get us a room

And we placed him under arrest for being drunk and asked which wrecker he wanted to come after his car

At no time did we use force on him other than punching him with our nightsticks to wake him up

I've read the above statement and it is true and correct. So help me God

HL Crawford

Underlined and in the margin is written

Didn't hit him in the documents. We obtained. There's a second sworn affidavit that appears to be a sanitized version of the same account

Many parts are identical, but in this version Hilton and his partner don't push the man

They were arresting into the ditch

instead he's already in the ditch when they find him and

In this version Hilton doesn't fire his gun in an attempt to wake him up

But he still readily admits to beating the man's ribs with his nightstick

Five days after these incidents on September 19th

1962

Hilton Crawford was indefinitely suspended as a police officer for excessive use of force and

For drawing his pistol in a public place when it was unnecessary to do so

Hilton had clearly abused his power as a police officer and his actions show he was unfit for that kind of

responsibility

but Hilton appealed the decision and

two weeks later a hearing was held at City Hall a

Newspaper article about the hearing says that witnesses were called over the course of three and a half hours to vouch for his character

Hilton was still well-known and beloved in the community from his high school sports days

when city commissioners made their decision they mentioned Hilton's young age the fact he was working while attending Lamar Tech and

His record of service with youth the church and the community

Ultimately Hilton Crawford suspension was reduced to just four months

Hilton's image as an upstanding member of the community. Let him get off with a slap on the wrist and

so in January of

1963 Hilton returned to the Beaumont police and he continued his work as a police officer for the next three and a half

years

And evidently the hearing and suspension didn't tarnish Hilton's record in the eyes of future employers

Because in

1966 Hilton got a new job with the local Sheriff's Department

Hilton started as a jailer, but author Tanny Shannon says he quickly rose through the ranks

Hilton grew in prominence within the community and

Befriended a group of local business owners who loved to golf bet on sports and go on trips together to Vegas

These businessmen were in an income bracket far above Hilton's so he often couldn't afford to go on these trips

But occasionally he'd splurge and go he was going on on

Hilton only had to pay for airfare and gambling the rooms and other expenses were covered

You know, there's a reason they do that. The reason is because you lose a little more money than other people do but

It does make people feel special when they get treated like

Royalty or whatever and that's kind of what Crawford got involved in. He got special rooms

he described some of the presidential suites that he stayed in and

was really treated with a

whole lot of affection a whole lot of freebies and

Gamblers tend to think is they know a little bit more about sports than the next guy

So they should be able to figure out the winner of this football game or that basketball game on

Hilton met casino managers who took note of the fact that he worked for a sheriff's department near Houston at

The time a common problem for casinos was guests from out of town writing bad checks

And in return they put him on their VIP list, you know, it made him feel important. It made him feel

Respected and so forth. It's kind of what his job in law enforcement did as well

He liked to feel

important and in control in

it appears Hilton enjoyed this nickname because in

1975 after nine years in the sheriff's department

Hilton quit he no longer wanted to work for the sheriff

Hilton Crawford wanted to be the sheriff

In

April

1976 at age

37 Hilton Crawford announced he was going to run for sheriff against his former boss Dick Culberson

Hilton is quoted in a newspaper saying that high levels of turnover showed the department was being mismanaged

Oddly enough our present sheriff seems content plot along with a crippled department

connected to the mafia in

Retaliation Hilton released a letter detailing alleged to scandals that had taken place under

Culbertson's watch the sheriff received checks in

Deputies worked up a narcotics case against the drug pusher who's son of a law enforcement officer

Culbertson personally halted the investigation a man was arrested for murder and placed in the county jail

He was visited by his girlfriend who then had sexual intercourse with one of the jail officers

The sexual exploits for then used to blackmail the officer so the prisoner could roam the jail for his own sexual reasons

article later that month described a town hall meeting where quote the county sheriff race

dominated the evening and

overshadowed every other county race

During the question-and-answer sessions Hilton was asked a question about his suspension from the Beaumont police

Hilton responded that he was reinstated after a hearing of the Civil Service Board and

He responded that in addition to donations he'd taken out three loans of his own that totaled around

$8,000

equivalent in today's dollars to over

42,000

But it appears that investment was not enough on May 1st

1976 Hilton Crawford lost the primary and the personal loans he'd taken out to finance his campaign

May have been the start of his struggles with death that would continue over the next 20 years

Or perhaps the loans were symptoms of something dark that had already taken a hold of Hilton

in the late 70s Hilton and Connie moved from Beaumont to Conroe right around the same time that the Everett's did and

Paulette and Connie started teaching next door to one another

That he didn't win and you know, I've always wondered since McKay, you know, what was the whole

Impetus of them moving to Conroe, you know

The man you heard at the beginning of the episode

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In

The late 70s after his failed run for sheriff Hilton moved from Beaumont to Conroe

I met Hilton through my kids

coaching Little League baseball I

coached Hilton's son Kevin at the time and

Then Hilton that kind of got together his friends coaching and that's where all of this began

Hilton was a really good parent. He cared about his kids. He cared about his wife

Every Sunday morning

He would get up early to take his wife's car to the gas station to fill it up and take it to the car wash

Wash it did the same thing for his kids. I mean

I've been married my wife and I've been married 58 years and I

I don't think we've known anybody that just gets up and does those things Hilton did him and he did him

because he cared and I do things for my wife most people do but I just thought that was

That was a little

Little beyond it's not they do this once every once in a while. He did that on a regular basis

He wanted to be loved

Hilton always had that

Desire for people to really like him. That was a big deal for him

rich and carefree

Before long Petro and another businessman named John Powell were joining Hilton on trips to Vegas

We went to Vegas several times. That was just it was all all in fun

And I mean he'd be playing blackjack at two three hundred dollars a hand and we're just saying this is insane

The guy's working for a security guard

And then when he would go to Vegas and he would bet heavy he would tell John this guy I work with gave me

5,000 and so the guy gave me 5,000 $10,000 of other people's money and

Splitting my winnings with him

It always have stories like that

Something that would kind of make you think does he really know somebody that's giving him this money?

He even went into business with Crawford the two of them opened an Italian restaurant in Conroe called Izzo's

Hilton also asked Carl and Paulette if they wanted to invest in the restaurant. I love going out to eat

You know and Carl said well I am and Hilton needs our financials and I said, well, hold on just a minute

Which Paulette didn't want to share?

Ultimately Carl and Paulette decided not to invest in the restaurant

that has really bothered me since McKay's abduction and murder is that he knew what we had and

That really bugged me still does, you know, you don't ever release that kind of information. You just don't do that

1983 but the business was short-lived. It was there for about a year and a half or two years. I don't remember exactly

The way it should have been but the like the money that was coming in. I never knew what happened there. I really didn't

Petro thought the company was just being mismanaged

four years later in

1989 Petro again went into business with Hilton after learning of a security business that was being sold. I

But I don't know how to run one of them

What if I made you a partner? Would you be interested in coming to run this thing? He said oh, absolutely

And I said, you know if I bring you over can you get new accounts he said yeah

I can bring some of my customers with me and I can get some new accounts. Okay, that's good

So I bought the security guard company and

He hired a girl. He said I got a perfect girl to run the office Colleen. I said, okay, that's good. I

Trust this is my issue. I trust I trust you and I believe in you that not I trust you

So I turned over the company business to Hilton. I said, I'll come in every once in a while twice a week and

Check on you if you need anything, let me know you're running the company. I've given you a partnership

And let's see where it goes wasn't a 50-50 partnership, but it was he had a good chunk. So everything went fine

Then the company was going well

And all of a sudden Hilton I can't play this week. I can't play next week. I can't do this

But we just knew something wasn't right

he always said he was so busy so busy so busy and

Petro thought something wasn't adding up

Business was good and he thought the security company should be making money

he said have you ever thought of a shock audit a

Nothing's going to happen financially until we look at all the money

so we started this shock audit and

Hilton was just raising hell

Why are they doing this? I said, yeah, I can't operate when you're doing stuff like this. I

Said look Hilton. I don't want to deal with this. I've got my own business to run other companies. I

Got to get out of it

He says rather than pay to continue the shock audit. He decided to just sell the business a

Process which would require its own accounting of the finances

We had a business broker come in and sold the company immediately. I

Mean the security business was good. We had a lot of customers in a lot of billable hours

He would get a payout

Hilton would also get a payout because he was a partner and the new owners could sort out what was going on with the company

Company gets in they start doing their audit and they call us and this is where the story gets interesting

They said somebody's stealing from the company. You got money bleeding

The girl running the office had gotten about 60,000 Hilton had taken out about 300,000

What they were doing was she was handling the office

So she was handling the payroll and she would write checks to guards. It didn't exist. They were just tapes

And some of these check cashing places back then

You could go in there and cash a check and give them 10% of the funds if they don't ask for

Identification and all that stuff. So that's that's where all that came from

Why he'd embezzled so much money

When you're trying to make a living gambling, which is what he was trying to do

There are games that go on all day long they'll make a couple bets on games played in it

All right. I'm winning those. So now instead of betting 200 on this next game

I'm gonna bet 400 because it just wants money here or

Now I lost that game during the day now. I got to make it up at 7. So it becomes an all-day affair

It becomes obsessive

People that are addicted to this stuff and I've been through it but a couple of people none more than Hilton

But when you're addicted to that stuff

It just controls their whole life golf becomes just a nuisance

The business went bankrupt

It put Petro in a difficult place. He'd been betrayed by his good friend

Hilton came to him with all kinds of excuses. He said I'm sorry

Only bad people money and if I didn't start paying them, they were gonna harm my family

And you know, he gave me all of these stories, but I didn't believe any of them. I really did

What am I gonna do sue him and get satisfaction out of that I told Hilton I said Hilton

You can't pay me back. I

Thought you were a friend. We're through. I don't want to talk to you again. I don't want to see you adios

But I am going after Colleen. She got 60,000. I want 60,000 back

He said you can't do that. I said why not?

and said

Colleen's dad is the head of

Houston Line Empire Company's buildings

They're a big customer of mine. If you're gonna shut this down, then I have to go get another job and they're a big customer

They're important to me making a livelihood. I said I have to go after it said you can't please don't go after her

I'll pay you the 60,000. I said you can't pay me 60 cents. So no, I'm going after her

I'm really kind of knew I couldn't get 60,000 out of her

But I wanted to cause her some misery just as revenge. I could tell you, you know, it was different, but it's not

diametrically opposite story

Hilton claimed it was Petro that had embezzled from the security guard business

In fact, he said Petro had skimmed off the top of the restaurant as well

But oh, you know, of course it might have been Crawford that was taking the money out

He did put Hilton's accusations about Petro in his book

Petro was angry that Tanny never tried to verify Hilton's story. A lot of things as Hilton said that book are

Just ridiculous Tanny says that Petro read the book and confronted him about it. He called me the

Very annoyed about some of the things I had said and I said well what I'm doing is repeating

What I was told

and interviews and so forth what he objected to is being called overbearing and overweight and

Dishonest to the point of fudging at charity golf tournaments. He says I'm not that fat

But didn't bother me at all I've had people mad at me before I'm not concerned with that

You know the author of that book

Didn't verify

Anything in that book

How can you have a story about somebody that's telling the story themselves that you don't verify?

especially a murderer

Petro started hearing stories about other scams that Hilton had run. One of the things I found out he did

Forget where it was. I want to say Hawaii and he paid for everything

And then when he came back

he called the

Credit card company that he put everything on and told him said I just noticed my credit cards been missing

And I just got this big bill. Somebody's been traveling using my name my credit card

So the credit card company just you know, they they just wipe it out, right and he did that though

found out a lot of things that

Did Hilton did that were?

not kosher, but

Hilton's big thing was he wanted to be

More than he was he'd lie about his golf scores, which doesn't sound like a lot

but the game of golf is a very

Self-policing sport when you put that kind of stuff together with the rest of it. She wanted to make people believe

that he was more successful than he was and

He couldn't get that way unless he worked at it. He didn't want to work at it

He wanted to do it through gambling. He always wanted to hit that big jackpot. He wanted to win

He didn't need that to impress people people genuinely like him. He could have been himself and

things would have gone on a

Petro saw Hilton as a flawed but fundamentally good person who had just gotten too deep into a gambling addiction

Petro hoped Hilton had gotten his problem under control and was doing better

So he and their mutual friend John Powell decided to check up on Hilton. So you have been call us

So John and I went to the racetrack. He said I want you to meet somebody

He brings this guy and then he introduces it to us

And he was a horse trainer

whoa

So we talked to him

Casually for a little while and he left and Hilton said hey, how'd you like?

John and I both said

Hilton don't ever bring somebody like that around us

He said what's wrong with you? What's up?

Smells that I have it. There's something not right about this

But this was Billy Allen the man who owned the storage site in Lumberton where Hilton hit his gun

Allen helped Hilton buy a racehorse and

That's how he ran up such huge debts

That non horses betting on football games betting on baseball

Basketball, I mean if two birds on a wire he'd bet on which one would fly off faster

And he didn't have that kind of money

300,000 in debt to spread out over 40 banks and credit card companies and

That's just what was officially recorded

There was also the money he allegedly owed Petro money

He had borrowed from family and friends and likely debts to loan sharks as well

I don't want you saying a damn thing to me until you get your act together. Don't bother me and John told him the same thing

Well, it was three months after that conversation

That's when he kidnapped

McKay

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After Hilton's arrest Petro tried to help Connie and Hilton's sons navigate the situation

This is not normal

Something has gone wrong

His brain, you know, he snapped

Because you know, he'll do some things. Yeah, you know, they'll screw you out of money, but I never thought he'd kill anybody

I never thought would be anything near that. I

Do believe he was very deep in debt to bookmakers to some really bad people

That he was so deep in debt. He felt like the only way he had out was to do something the fairness. Well

He took it too far he kidnapped a kid he murdered the child

You know, my heart still bleeds for the Everett family

The dad passed away, but the Paulette still lives and breathes that

that horror every day

And I felt sorry for Connie and I felt sorry for Chris and kept

He would tell Connie something like we have a client pass. Oh, I have to go see I'll be there for a couple of days and

Go to Vegas

He did that a lot of occasions

I saw him gambling money didn't have yes

He's telling me that okay

this money came from somebody else and I'm gonna

We're gonna split I'm in if I had a serious thought about it at the time rather than just saying that's just Hilton talking

I would have reacted. I would have done something. I would have had serious conversations

I would have taken him to the psychiatrist that to find out why are you doing the things that you're doing?

You know

I would have confronted him with all this stuff going wrong

Stealing 300,000 from the security company the deal in in Hawaii with the credit card

If I would have put all of this stuff together, I would have I would have done something

And McKay would still be alive

You know, there wasn't alcohol. He didn't drink but you know, your mind can fall apart in a lot of ways