Erika Sifrit

Parties and background

Erika Sifrit and Benjamin Sifrit gained notoriety in 2002 for the murders of Joshua Ford, 32, and Martha “Geney” Crutchley, 51, over Memorial Day weekend in Ocean City, Maryland.

Erika Grace and Benjamin “BJ” Sifrit married in 1998, when they were both 20 years old. Erika was an honors student and basketball star at Mary Washington College, and Benjamin was a former Navy SEAL. Shortly after marrying, the couple moved near Erika’s hometown of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and opened and operated a scrapbook store.

Erika Sifrit was 24 at the time of the murders. Benjamin Sifrit was also 24 at the time of the murders.

The offence

On May 25, 2002, Erika and Benjamin Sifrit met another couple, Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley, a mortgage banker and insurance broker from Alexandria, Virginia. After a night of partying together at the Seacrets nightclub, the couple went back to the Sifrit condo in Ocean City, Maryland.

According to records, the Sifrits claimed that Joshua and Martha stole Erika’s purse, and Benjamin pulled a gun on the couple. After retreating to the bathroom, Joshua Ford was shot four times to death with Benjamin’s gun, and Martha Crutchley was later stabbed to death.

The couple’s remains were disposed of in a dumpster in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Erika Sifrit later confessed to murdering Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley after her apprehension, and claimed the idea was her husband’s.

Investigation

Police officers responding to a silent alarm at a Hooters restaurant in Ocean City, Maryland, found Benjamin and Erika Sifrit packing their Jeep Cherokee with armloads of merchandise, including baseball hats, golf shirts, and “Follow Me to Hooters” license-plate holders. Police also found three handguns in the vehicle.

When police searched Erika Sifrit’s purse for her antianxiety medication, they found the IDs of Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley, who had been reported missing for days, along with spent shell casings. Investigators linked the Sifrits to the murders of Joshua Ford and Martha “Geney” Crutchley.

Police later reconstructed that the four people went to the Seacrets nightclub after encountering each other on a local bus. Investigators said Ford and Crutchley were terrorized and killed as they cowered in a hot tub room at the penthouse condominium where the Sifrits were staying.

A detective later described the killings as following:

“One’s a match and one is a stick of dynamite, and when you put them together it was a bomb waiting to happen,” Ocean City Detective Scott Bernal said of the Sifrits after the verdict.

Detective Scott Bernal also described the motive as related to thrill-seeking:

“It was about the thrill and the success of not getting caught,” says lead detective Scott Bernal, referring to Benjamin.

Arrest

Erika and Benjamin Sifrit were arrested on May 31, 2002. They were not arrested for murder initially; police said they were caught robbing a Hooters store. That arrest occurred in Ocean City, Maryland.

After the arrests, police went back to the couple’s penthouse condo in Ocean City. Investigators were hoping to find Ford and Crutchley. Investigators eventually uncovered traces of blood in the bathroom and some plastic garbage bags.

Trial

Venue change

Because of extensive publicity, both trials were moved out of Worcester County, Maryland. Benjamin’s trial was held in Rockville, Maryland, and Erika’s trial was held in Frederick, Maryland.

Benjamin Sifrit trial

BJ Sifrit was the first to go to trial in March 2003.

A 22 year-old woman named Melissa Seling testified at Benjamin Sifrit’s trial. She said she had almost become the Sifrits’ next victim. She described an incident in which she was invited to the Sifrits’ penthouse, and she said Benjamin pulled out a gun and told her it was “very, very important [it was] that I find this purse.”

“very, very important [it was] that I find this purse,” said Benjamin Sifrit, as recounted by Melissa Seling in court.

On April 9, 2003, Benjamin Sifrit was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of Martha Crutchley, and was acquitted of all charges in the death of Joshua Ford.

He was later sentenced to 38 years in prison on July 7, 2003.

Detectives and the victims’ families muttered and cursed after the verdict in Benjamin’s case. Mark Ford, 47, a Boston painting contractor with a dragon tattoo matching one his brother had on his arm, burst out of the Rockville courtroom on April 19, shouting an expletive in the corridor. Vyoletus Candelario, the Worcester County victim witness coordinator, later said:

“Ford ‘was euphoric, ecstatic. How many ways can you say happy?'” Vyoletus Candelario said, after talking to Ford from his Boston home.

Part of the problem for prosecutors at Benjamin’s trial was that they could not say for sure who fired the shots—Benjamin Sifrit, his wife, or both—that killed Ford in an Ocean City condominium over Memorial Day weekend.

At Benjamin’s trial, the jury foreman Robert Cantor explained that the panel could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Benjamin Sifrit had actually been the one who killed Ford.

Erika Sifrit trial

Erika Sifrit’s trial started on June 3, 2003. On June 11, she was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Joshua Ford and second-degree murder in the death of Martha Crutchley.

Erika Sifrit was later sentenced to life plus 25 years on August 14, 2003.

During Erika Sifrit’s trial, Worcester County State’s Attorney Joel Todd emphasized that a first-degree murder conviction could be returned even if jurors could not say for certain which of the defendants committed the killing:

“It seems clear they found she aided and abetted, and that’s what made her guilty of murder,” Todd said.
“I’m gratified we were effectively able to speak for the victims in this case.”

In addition to murder convictions, Erika Sifrit was found guilty on lesser charges related to stealing the victims’ property, carrying a dangerous weapon, and burglarizing a Hooters restaurant with her husband five days after the murders. She was acquitted of using a handgun to kill Ford.

Erika’s defense counsel Arcangelo M. Tuminelli said he would consider an appeal in the murder convictions. Tuminelli argued that prosecutors had violated an agreement that Erika would not face homicide charges if she cooperated with authorities. He also accused prosecutors of using one theory to try Erika Sifrit and a second inconsistent theory to prosecute her husband.

After the verdict, prosecutor Joel Todd accused Erika Sifrit’s attorneys of spitefully refusing to allow a ring belonging to Joshua Ford to be returned to his family. Todd said Sifrit stole the ring after Ford’s death and wore it on a chain around her neck as a trophy. Todd asked Circuit Judge G. Edward Dwyer Jr. to allow the Fords to have the ring, which had been held as evidence. Todd said:

“That was a sham,” Todd said.
“They didn’t want me to have that back. That was the last possession [Ford] had before he died.”

The defense argued that it was not clear that the ring seen around Sifrit’s neck in photographs was in fact Ford’s.

Sentencing

Erika Sifrit was sentenced to life plus 25 years in prison on August 14, 2003.

Benjamin Sifrit was sentenced to 38 years in prison on July 7, 2003, after his conviction on April 9, 2003.

Appeals and subsequent proceedings

Both Sifrits filed numerous appeals, all of which failed. BJ Sifrit exhausted his last appeal in 2010.

In March 2010, BJ filed for divorce, which was later granted in August 2010.

Erika Sifrit later asked a federal court for a new trial claiming ineffectiveness of counsel.

Aftermath and related profiling

In July 2009, a book entitled “Cruel Death,” written by M. William Phelps, was released about the case.

Erika Sifrit became eligible for parole in 2024. BJ Sifrit became eligible for parole in 2021.

This case was profiled on Snapped, Deadly Women, and Forensic Files.

Other details

Statements to Secret Service and related court documents

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reported that Erika Sifrit made shocking statements to the Secret Service after the murders of a couple visiting Ocean City in 2002. The reporting also said the state’s highest court upheld the convictions of Erika and Benjamin Sifrit.

The reporting included statements that Erika Sifrit was a self-described “material girl” who came from a wealthy family. It also included details that she raised snakes and crocodiles, and that she said she used cocaine and Ecstasy five days a week.

The reporting stated that Erika portrayed her husband as a racist, a bigot, and a control freak who was mentally and physically abusive. It also included a claim that the only compliment she ever received was that she “was a cool wife for going to strip clubs with him.”

“she was a cool wife for going to strip clubs with him.”

The reporting said the only gift Benjamin Sifrit ever bought her was a .357 handgun that she claimed she never fired.

It also described court-document accounts of Benjamin Sifrit wanting Erika to become pregnant and then ordering her to “get an abortion or I’m going to dig it out of you.” After she terminated the pregnancy, the reporting said Benjamin told her:

“I never wanted a kid, I just wanted to see how far you would go for me,”

It also stated that Erika told investigators they thought of themselves as Bonnie and Clyde and detailed burglaries and how she sold stolen merchandise on the Internet bidding website eBay.

The reporting included a description that Benjamin, at gunpoint, ordered the couple to get naked, asking:

“Do you want to die?”

The reporting included an account that Benjamin later told Erika to get a tattoo of a snake on the same location where she cut Crutchley. It said the “second compliment” Benjamin gave her prompted by this tattoo was related to the tattoo location.

The reporting also described Erika’s claims that she ordered her husband to shoot the couple who had locked themselves in a bathroom, and that she said:

“I knew he wanted to kill someone because he asked me two weeks ago if he could kill my family.”

It further stated that Erika said her husband wanted to kill her parents, both sets of grandparents, and a wealthy aunt, and that she would be the sole air to their money, and that they would meet in Argentina, according to court documents.

Other reported trial and person details

A June 11, 2003 Baltimore Sun account stated that the jury deliberated for just over four hours before pronouncing Sifrit guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of mortgage banker Joshua Ford, 32, and second-degree murder in the killing of his girlfriend, insurance executive Martha Crutchley, 51, both of Fairfax, Va.

The same account stated that the jury foreman was John Dempsey, an electrical engineer. It also stated that tears rolled down the cheeks of Sifrit’s mother, Cookie Grace, and that Sifrit’s father Mitch Grace said:

“I didn’t see the evidence that way, but I guess they did,” said Sifrit’s father, Mitch Grace.

The account also stated that Erika Sifrit was sentenced on August 14 and faced a possible life sentence for Ford’s murder and up to 30 years on the second-degree murder count.

The Baltimore Sun account said prosecutors had ruled out the death penalty or life without possibility of parole as part of an agreement within days of her arrest. It said in exchange for their pledge not to seek those sentences, Sifrit agreed to help locate the bodies dismembered and disposed of in plastic bags.

The account also stated that prosecutors and investigators could not say for sure who fired the shots that killed Ford, including that police never recovered enough of Crutchley’s body to determine how she died.

The Baltimore Sun account said Mark Ford, 47, burst out of the Rockville courtroom April 19 and shouted an expletive.

The June 9, 2003 People.com account described police finding armloads of merchandise at Hooters, discovering antianxiety medication in Erika’s purse, and finding IDs of two vacationers and spent shell casings. It described the killings as being committed “not for financial gain or passion but for the sheer excitement of doing it,” and included Bernal’s quoted statements that:

“It was about the thrill and the success of not getting caught,”
“Everything about it was a game.”

The People.com account also described Erika’s initial statements to police as saying that Ford and Crutchley had taken refuge in the bathroom and that Benjamin had kicked in the door and shot both, followed by dismemberment and disposal in a Dumpster in nearby Rehobeth Beach, Del.

The People.com account described the parties’ social interaction as meeting on an Ocean City transit bus and discovering they were heading to the same bar. It said Ford’s sister Melisa stated:

“She was crazy about Josh, and he was crazy about her.”

The People.com account also included Bernal’s description of another witness’s experience and contrasted it with the victims’ experience. It stated Bernal said:

“Melissa didn’t ask any questions—she just knew that if she did she was going to get hurt,”
“It didn’t go that way with Josh and Geney.”

The People.com account described Benjamin’s Navy SEAL training, noting he finished first in his elite SEALs training course in 1997, and that he was court-martialed for absence without leave and insubordination. It stated he was drummed out of the service on a bad-conduct discharge.

The People.com account also described Erika’s parents as Mitch and Cookie Grace of Hollidaysburg, Pa., and said Erika graduated cum laude from Mary Washington and played for two years on the women’s basketball team. It also quoted Erika’s high school adviser Jeanne Puskar:

“She was all about life—active and outgoing,”
“She didn’t seem to have a dark side.”

It described a quote from Mitch Grace:

“But you have to accept things, and this is what she wanted to do,”
“You accept it and go on. Benjamin was part of our family.”

The People.com account also described the couple running a scrapbook store in Altoona, Pa., being obsessed with Hooters and collecting tank tops, being prone to anxiety attacks and taking drugs such as Xanax and Paxil, and keeping exotic snakes. It also said Benjamin had a large swastika tattooed on his chest.

The People.com account included Bernal’s statement that:

“He is a thrill seeker,”
“He was looking for different ways to continue to get that rush, that living on the edge.”

Benjamin’s testimony at trial included his admission:

“I dismembered them,” he admitted in his testimony. “That was my idea.”