Kristi Koslow

Case details

Kristi Koslow was the 17-year-old daughter of Jack Koslow and stepdaughter of Caren Courtney Koslow. She was convicted of murder for plotting the attack on her millionaire father and stepmother in order to obtain her inheritance.

Background

At the time of the murder, Jack Koslow was 48 and worked as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He was described as having been laid off in 1990, and he had been working on setting up his own company. Caren Koslow was 40 and was described as a member of a family of petroleum businesspeople. She had become involved with the Jewel Charity ball and had quit her job soon after they married. Kristi Koslow was 17.

The Koslows lived in the Rivercrest area of Fort Worth, Texas, in a townhouse near the fringes of Rivercrest, described as an area of stately mansions.

Kristi Koslow told reporters that she could think of nothing that would explain the attack, and she described her relationship with Caren: “We were as close as a stepdaughter and stepmother could be,” and “I don't think anyone truly hated Caren. . . . It's really scary.”

The offence

On March 12, 1992, intruders attacked Jack Koslow and Caren Courtney Koslow in their house in the Rivercrest area of Fort Worth, Texas. Caren Koslow’s throat was slashed and she was killed. Jack Koslow escaped the house and survived.

Two people were found to have attacked the Koslows: Jeffrey Dillingham and Brian Dennis Salter. Dillingham beat Jack Koslow and Caren Koslow, and Salter slashed their throats.

After the attack, the assailants stole a wristwatch worth $1,600 and $200 in cash from a wallet.

Kristi Koslow conspired with Dillingham and Salter in order to get inheritance money. She provided them with alarm codes so they could sneak into the Koslow residence. Prosecutors described Kristi’s plot as arranging the knifing of her parents at their home in March 1992.

Kristi had promised Dillingham and Salter $1 million if they carried out the attack.

Investigation

Authorities initially suspected Jack Koslow.

The evidence at the scene included:

• Police entered the Koslow home through a rear door found pried open.
• Caren Koslow’s body was found on the master bedroom floor in a pool of blood.
• Caren Koslow’s face was mangled and her throat was cut.
• Blood was spattered on all four walls.
• An empty shotgun was on the bed and a bloody knife was on the floor across the room; both belonged to her husband.
• Jack Koslow gave police murky accounts and did not provide a clear explanation of how he had escaped.

Investigators later determined inconsistencies in Jack Koslow’s story, including that:

• The security system did not sound, and police said it had been deactivated.
• Jack Koslow did not dial 911 from his own home.
• The injuries on Jack Koslow’s hands were bite marks, presumably caused by his wife.
• An autopsy report suggested that Caren Koslow may have died before midnight, leaving nearly a four-hour gap between when Jack Koslow said the attack occurred and when he appeared at his neighbor’s home.

A Tarrant County grand jury subpoenaed records of a therapist who counseled the Koslow family, which fueled speculation about whether the marriage was shaky before the attack.

A telephone call led police to new leads. A frightened young man said: “I've got some things you need to take a look at.” He provided items including a bloody tire tool and bloody clothing, which a friend had disposed of nearly two weeks earlier. The tire tool was used to bludgeon the Koslows.

The police chief said: “This case is solved.”

Arrest

Acting on a March 24 phone call, police arrested Jeffrey Dillingham at an Arlington video store at midnight. He was described as a bright, quiet, hard-working 19-year-old from suburban White Settlement.

Dillingham told police that he and his friend Brian Salter (also 19) broke into the Koslow home, kicked down the bedroom door, killed Caren Koslow, and attempted to kill Jack Koslow.

Before dawn, police staked out the home of Koslow’s ex-wife Paula and arrested Kristi and Salter as they backed a car from the driveway. Witnesses said the youngsters surrendered quietly. Paula Koslow was furious at the gun-wielding officers.

Trial

Charges and jury verdict

Kristi Koslow was accused of soliciting her boyfriend and a friend of his to kill her father and stepmother in exchange for a share of the girl's inheritance. She was held on $1 million bond on charges of capital murder and attempted capital murder.

At trial, jurors convicted Kristi Koslow of murder after deliberating a little more than three hours. Kristi’s face reddened as she heard the verdict.

In final arguments, the state prosecutor Alan Levy called Kristi Koslow a woman “consumed by hate” and said she referred to her stepmother as “stepmonster.”

The defense lawyer Mark Daniel dismissed the notion that Kristi Koslow had masterminded the plot, and he argued that she did not “have the intellect or maturity to organize a rock fight.”

During sentencing deliberations, jurors began considering whether to recommend that Kristi Koslow receive a life sentence or be executed by injection.

Evidence and testimony

Kristi Koslow’s boyfriend, Brian Salter, and another man, Jeffrey Dillingham, told authorities that they had broken down the couple's bedroom door and attacked them with a metal bar and a knife. They said Dillingham beat them unconscious and Salter cut their throats.

Salter testified that Kristi Koslow plotted the murders, supplied him with a map of the house, and gave him the code to the burglar alarm.

Dillingham and Salter both were convicted. Dillingham refused a plea agreement and was convicted and received the death penalty. Salter received a life sentence as part of a plea agreement.

A jail supervisor, Norma Sue Cook, testified for the defense and described Kristi Koslow as “an excellent inmate, one of the most respectful and considerate people I've ever known.”

Kristi Koslow’s biological mother, Paula Koslow, wept in the courtroom after Kristi Koslow was convicted.

Jack Koslow declined to comment after the verdict. He had previously said that Kristi Koslow, whom he adopted, deserved the death penalty because “that's what she gave Caren.”

Other named individuals and their remarks

Two former classmates, John Okray (17) and Josh Oderberg (15), told reporters that Kristi offered them money last year to kill her father and stepmother. Oderberg said: “We never took them seriously, because we never thought they'd do anything.”

Jeffrey Dillingham’s court-appointed lawyer, Jack Strickland, said: “It just breaks your damn heart.”

Dillingham’s father, Ray Dillingham, said: “We thought it was a mistake and would be cleared up,” and he described the arrest as the “earthquake of a lifetime.”

One investigator said Salter was “crazy” about Kristi Koslow, and another statement attributed to an investigator said: “Salter killed for love and money.”

Another statement attributed to police chief Thomas Windham was: “This case is solved.”

Sentencing

Kristi Koslow was convicted of murder and received a life sentence in 1994.

Dillingham received the death penalty after refusing a plea agreement.

Kristi Koslow’s life sentence was imposed in July 1994.

Appeals

As of 2016, Kristi Koslow was located at the Hobby Unit.

Outcome

Dillingham was executed at age 27, by lethal injection, on November 1, 2000. The site of his execution was the Huntsville Unit.

As of 2016, Kristi Koslow was TDCJ #00677795, located at the Hobby Unit. Salter was TDCJ #00678090 and located at the Alfred Hughes Unit.

Other details

A will disclosed in 1992 stated that Caren Koslow left her husband Jack $500,000 in a trust designed so that Kristi would get nothing. Under the will, beneficiaries could include “my natural children ... but shall not include stepchildren.” The will was signed March 30, 1990 and was filed in Tarrant County Probate Court in April.

The will stipulates that Jack Koslow would not begin receiving the trust funds until after he was released from any financial liability to Kristi, his adopted daughter.

After the attack, police found that Kristi had provided alarm codes so the assailants could disarm the security system, and the assailants used those codes.

A child custody and inheritance motive was reflected in reporting that Kristi sought “collecting a $1 million inheritance,” and that she conspired to obtain inheritance money.

The Fort Worth Library maintained a collection of newspaper clippings related to this case under “Koslow, Kristi.”

The case was documented in “Family Plot,” Episode 6 of Season 7 of Power, Privilege & Justice.

Mike Cochram of the Associated Press described the Koslows as at the “periphery” of the “social whirl” of Fort Worth.

Caren Koslow’s grandfather was identified as colorful and wealthy Ft. Worth oilman H. L. Brown, and her uncle was identified as Sonny Brown, a widely known Midland, Tex., oilman.

Jack Koslow had been a former vice president of the bank where Caren once worked.