Crystal Wagner

Parties and identities

• Crystal Mae Wagner (also referred to as Crystal Wagner), 29, was accused of killing and dismembering her husband.
• Bobby Gene Wagner (also referred to as Bobby Wagner and Robert Allen “Bobby” Wagner), 32, was the husband of Crystal Wagner.
• Shay Alan Morey (also referred to as Shay Allen Morey and Morey), 29, was Crystal Wagner’s boyfriend and co-defendant; he pleaded guilty in 2006 to killing and dismembering Bobby Wagner.
• Crystal May Carver was referred to as Crystal Wagner’s ex-wife in relation to the investigation into Bobby Gene Wagner’s death.
• Franklin J. Hogue was one of Crystal Wagner’s lawyers.
• Laura D. Hogue was one of Crystal Wagner’s defense attorneys.
• Elizabeth Bobbitt was a prosecutor who discussed the case in court.
• Howard Zachary Simms was identified as the District Attorney for the prosecution in the appellate listing.
• Thurbert E. Baker was identified as Atty. Gen. in the appellate listing.
• Susan V. Boleyn was identified as Senior Asst. Atty. Gen. in the appellate listing.
• Elizabeth A. Burton was identified as Asst. Atty. Gen. in the appellate listing.
• Martha Christian was the Chief Bibb County Superior Court Judge who would have decided Wagner’s fate at trial.
• Marsha Mathews was Wagner’s aunt.
• Lee Weatherby was a GBI crime scene specialist.
• Captain Dennis Hagerman was a Bibb County sheriff’s Capt.
• GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) personnel included a Crime Scene Investigation Team.
• Aubrey Evins was identified as Lt. Aubrey Evins at a February court hearing.
• Sheriff Darren Mitchum was a sheriff who discussed the scene discovery.
• Jeffersonville Police Chief Lawson Burnett investigated after being called.
• Twiggs County Coroner Harold Reece Jr. was called to the scene.
• Robert Wagner was the manager of Heart of Georgia Towing Co. and testified about Bobby Wagner’s fears and his own actions when Bobby did not come to work.

Timeline

• Feb. 10, 2005 — Morey struck Bobby Wagner repeatedly on the head while Bobby was in the shower; Wagner returned to the bathroom after the blows were not fatal; Crystal Wagner came out and told Morey that her husband was calling the police; Morey went back into the bathroom and stabbed Bobby Wagner in the heart; Morey dismembered the body after discovering he couldn’t move Bobby Wagner.
• Feb. 11, 2005 — Bobby Wagner did not show up for work; Robert Wagner tried to call him and the company radio multiple times, then drove to the hotel room and knocked on the door; Morey answered when he knocked.
• Feb. 15, 2005 — Crystal Wagner and Shay Alan Morey were arrested after Bobby Gene Wagner was stabbed in the chest and hacked up in a bathtub and then hauled to Twiggs County and dumped in the woods; tools and the knife were found Feb. 15 in the woods off Ga. 18.
• February 15, 2005 — A dismembered and partially burned body of Bobby Gene Wagner was found behind an abandoned home on Ga. Hwy. 18 just north of Jeffersonville; the scene continued to bother the Twiggs man because “it just didn’t look right”; sheriff’s officials and investigation agencies were called; Wagner was identified on the spot.
• 2006 — Shay Alan Morey pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering Bobby Wagner and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
• June 11, 2007 — The appellate decision captioned WAGNER v. The STATE addressed several issues; it ordered Count 2 quashed, directed correction of the malice murder count, and directed the trial court to strike the incorrect Code section from Count 3.
• March 16, 2010 — Crystal Wagner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
• March 17, 2010 — An article described Wagner’s guilty plea and life sentence.

Background

• Crystal Wagner and Bobby Wagner were living with their son and Shay Alan Morey in a motel near Thomaston Road and Interstate 475 at the time of the killing.
• Prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt said Crystal Wagner asked Morey to kill her husband so she and Morey could be together.
• Defense counsel Laura D. Hogue said in opening statements Monday that Wagner’s boyfriend, 29-year-old Shay Alan Morey, acted alone in killing Bobby Wagner and that Morey acted in a fit of jealousy and rage; Hogue said Crystal Wagner did not ask Morey to kill her husband.
• Prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt said Crystal Wagner and Morey discussed killing Bobby Wagner for a few days before Morey agreed and that the two formulated a plan.
• Laura Hogue said Crystal Wagner had a physical deformity caused by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
• Laura D. Hogue also stated that Wagner was “mentally crippled by the feeling that men won’t find her desirable except as ‘a piece of meat.’”
• “That would ruin the thrill,” Laura Hogue said.

The offence

• Authorities alleged that Bobby and Crystal Wagner were living with their son and Morey in a hotel located near Thomaston Road and Interstate 475 at the time of the killing.
• Prior to the killing, Bobby Wagner tried to get Morey a job at the towing company where he worked.
• On Feb. 10, 2005, Bobby Wagner was in the shower when Morey struck him repeatedly on the head.
• Bobbitt said the blows caused cuts and bleeding, but Bobby Wagner survived and returned to the bathroom followed by his wife.
• Crystal Wagner came out and told Morey that her husband was calling the police.
• Morey went back into the bathroom, where Bobbitt said he stabbed Bobby Wagner in the heart.
• Bobbitt said Morey dismembered Wagner’s body after discovering he couldn’t move him.
• A plan described by Bobbitt included tying Bobby Wagner to concrete blocks and disposing of him in a body of water using rope and the concrete blocks found in the car.
• Bobbitt described the plan as Crystal Wagner luring Bobby Wagner into the bathroom by telling him that they were attending a birthday party and he needed to get ready, after which Morey would kill him.
• After the killing, Morey purchased tools used to cut Bobby Wagner’s body to pieces in the motel room bathtub, including a mallet, hacksaw and hatchet.
• The allegations included that the couple then drove Carver’s car to rural Twiggs County and dumped the body, the knife and the tools; these were found Feb. 15 in the woods off Ga. 18.
• The body discovery included that Wagner’s face was badly burned.
• Lee Weatherby testified that authorities found Bobby Wagner’s remains four days after the killing behind an abandoned house in Twiggs County.
• Weatherby testified that Wagner’s body was covered by a pile of aluminum hubcaps and cast-iron sinks.
• Weatherby said Wagner’s wallet, a letter addressed to him and pay stubs were found.
• Weatherby said blood-stained towels and the weapons used to dismember Wagner also were found.
• Weatherby testified that Wagner’s cell phone was recovered and that his last outgoing call was placed just before 9 p.m. Feb. 10 to the Bibb County sheriff’s office.

Investigation

• A sheriff’s office crime scene investigator testified that authorities found rope in the motel room and two concrete blocks in the Wagners’ car.
• Captain Dennis Hagerman testified that deputies recovered rope and cords from the hotel room after the killing and found two cinder blocks in the Wagners’ car.
• Sheriff Darren Mitchum said that authorities had enough evidence at the scene to identify Wagner on the spot.
• Mitchum said when Jeffersonville Police Chief Lawson Burnett went to investigate the discovery, he called Twiggs County Coroner Harold Reece Jr. and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
• Mitchum said the investigation trail led to Wagner’s south Macon motel and to Wagner’s ex-wife Crystal May Carver and Shay Allen Morey, who worked with Wagner at Heart of Georgia Towing on Emory Highway in Macon.
• Mitchum said Carver and Morey lived in a separate room at the same motel as Wagner.
• Mitchum said Wagner was killed at the motel and dismembered in a bathtub there, then transported to Twiggs County where an attempt to burn the body was made; Mitchum said the attempt was not very successful and an attempt was then made to conceal the body using some sinks that were also on the property.
• Mitchum said: “This shows again how networking with other agencies can help you quickly solve cases.”
• Mitchum said: “Our coroner, Harold Reece, did an excellent job at the crime scene as did the GBI’s Crime Scene Investigation Team and I would like to thank both the people from our Coroner’s office and from the GBI for their assistance on this case.”
• Robert Wagner testified that Bobby Wagner expressed fear that his wife might try to kill him in the weeks preceding his death.
• Lori Jones testified that Bobby Wagner told her he’d considered leaving his wife but was concerned about their son.
• Robert Wagner testified he drove to Wagner’s hotel room when Bobby didn’t show up at work and knocked on the door; Morey answered.
• Robert Wagner testified that the odor was so bad he could hardly go in and that the room was in a total mess.
• Robert Wagner testified that Crystal Wagner initially told authorities that she slept through the period when her husband was killed after she took a sleeping potion.
• Prosecutor Bobbitt said that later Crystal Wagner said she didn’t take the potion.
• Bobbitt said Wagner told authorities that Morey killed her husband and she didn’t turn him in for fear he’d kill her young son.
• Prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt said she received a letter Monday afternoon that Wagner wrote to her boyfriend and co-defendant, 29-year-old Shay Alan Morey.
• In the letter, Wagner wrote in 2005 about the couple planning and carrying out the murder of her husband, Bobby Gene Wagner.

Arrest and charging

• Bibb County District Attorney Howard Simms made a death penalty announcement that authorities would seek the death penalty against “a couple accused of killing and dismembering a Bibb County man.”
• The announcement said Crystal Mae Wagner and Shay Allen Morey were indicted by a grand jury on charges of malice murder, felony murder, concealment of a death, and theft by taking for allegedly killing the woman’s ex-husband.
• The announcement said Morey and Wagner were arrested Feb. 15 after Bobby Gene Wagner was stabbed in the chest, then hacked up in a bathtub, hauled to Twiggs County and dumped in the woods.

Trial

• Crystal Wagner faced the death penalty before a February hearing, but prosecutors dropped it in exchange for Wagner waiving her right to a jury trial.
• Chief Bibb County Superior Court Judge Martha Christian would have decided Wagner’s fate.
• At the trial opening statements held Monday:
  • Prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt said Wagner asked Morey to kill her husband so she and Morey could be together.
  • Defense attorneys contended that Wagner didn’t ask Morey to kill her husband or help dismember the body.
• Prosecutor Bobbitt said at trial that Crystal Wagner and Morey planned to tie Bobby Wagner to the blocks and dispose of him in a body of water.
• Marsha Mathews, Wagner’s aunt, said she was scheduled to testify in Wagner’s defense to explain why she might have participated in a plan to kill her husband, saying: “I feel she felt trapped over the years.”
• Frank Hogue told the judge that Wagner was abused as a child, describing emotional abuse that left her feeling unwanted and afraid of abandonment and that she was locked in her room for days.
• Frank Hogue stated Wagner’s parents were brother and sister.
• During the plea hearing, Frank Hogue told the judge about the childhood abuse and other matters.

Plea and sentencing

• The trial ended abruptly when Crystal Wagner pleaded guilty to murder and concealing a death.
• Wagner’s attorneys struck a plea deal with prosecutors just as the second day of her trial was scheduled to begin.
• In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dismissed a theft by taking charge pending against Wagner.
• Wagner cried quietly during the plea hearing but did not speak in her own defense before the judge imposed a sentence.
• Prosecutor Elizabeth Bobbitt said she received a letter Monday afternoon that Wagner wrote to Shay Alan Morey, describing 2005 planning and carrying out the murder of Bobby Gene Wagner.
• Crystal Wagner was sentenced to life in prison in accordance with a recommendation from the prosecution and her attorneys.
• Franklin J. Hogue said by pleading guilty with a joint recommendation for sentencing, Wagner avoided a sentence of life without parole.
• The appellate materials included that the trial court had quashed Count 4 of Wagner’s indictment, which charged her with theft by taking, and the appellate court footnote indicated that it had not granted the application for interim review to address that issue.

Appeals

• In WAGNER v. The STATE No. S07A0002 dated June 11, 2007, the appellate court addressed multiple issues.
• The appellate decision stated that crimes allegedly occurred on February 10, 2005.
• The appellate court stated: “This Court granted Wagner's application for interim review and directed the parties to address five issues. Wagner has raised two additional issues.”
• The decision stated: “we reverse the trial court's overruling a demurrer to Count 2 of the indictment, affirm with direction as to Counts 1 and 3, and affirm as to all other issues raised.”
• The decision described Count 2 as an attempt to charge felony murder, but including the phrase “intentionally and with malice aforethought,” and ordered Count 2 quashed.
• The decision held that the malice murder charge failed to state the victim was a “human being,” and it held that the failure was not a material defect but directed correction of the indictment.
• The decision held that Count 3 properly charged concealment of a death but listed an incorrect Code section; it held the misnaming was not a material defect and directed the trial court to strike the incorrect Code section from the indictment.
• The decision held there was no reversible error in denying Wagner’s request to have challenges for cause heard outside the jurors’ presence.
• The decision held there was no error in refusing to compel the District Attorney to testify about decisions to seek the death penalty.
• The decision discussed a dispute about how the statutory aggravating circumstance referenced receiving money and discussed “depravity of mind” notice issues, concluding the trial court did not err by refusing Wagner’s requests to dismiss the statutory aggravating circumstance.
• The decision ended with “Judgment affirmed in part, affirmed in part with direction and reversed in part.”
• The decision listed counsel names and included the statement: “All the Justices concur.”

Outcome

• Crystal Wagner pleaded guilty to murder and concealing a death.
• Crystal Wagner was sentenced to life in prison.
• Shay Alan Morey pleaded guilty in 2006 to killing and dismembering Bobby Wagner and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
• The trial court would have decided Wagner’s fate but the matter ended with the guilty plea and sentencing.

Other details

• Authorities recovered rope and cords from the hotel room; they also found two cinder blocks in the Wagners’ car.
• The body discovery included aluminum hubcaps and cast-iron sinks covering Bobby Wagner’s remains.
• Bobby Wagner’s workplace was Heart of Georgia Towing Co., and he was manager of Heart of Georgia Towing Co.
• Robert Wagner testified he was not related to the deceased.
• Wagner’s aunt Marsha Mathews said the young son was being raised by Crystal Wagner’s mother.
• Marsha Mathews’ statement followed the trial proceedings as she explained why she might testify.