LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A man convicted of a 1987 murder during a boating excursion on Clear Lake has been denied parole.
On Wednesday, the Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for Edward Keefe Crawford, 63, said Lake County Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe attended the hearing for the Lake County District Attorney’s Office to argue against Crawford’s release, Hinchcliff said.
Crawford was prosecuted in 1988 by Stephen O. Hedstrom, who was the Lake County district attorney at the time.
A jury found Crawford guilty of first-degree murder for the killing of 28-year-old Glenn Shoemaker.
Crawford was sentenced to 27 years to life by Judge Robert L. Crone Jr. His minimum eligible parole date was Sept. 17, 2006. This was Crawford’s third parole hearing.
The murder was investigated by retired investigator Carl Stein at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
According to investigation reports, Crawford and a co-defendant, Jon Christ, took Shoemaker for a boat ride on Sept. 19, 1987, and stopped at a secluded spot on the shoreline.
Christ reportedly told a witness before the incident that they were taking Shoemaker for a one-way boat ride.
When the three got out of the boat, Shoemaker was shot six times, including twice in the back, with a .22-caliber handgun.
Shoemaker’s body was found 11 days later. Crawford and Christ both reportedly bragged or confessed to others that they had killed Shoemaker.
The motive reported at the time was that Shoemaker had recently stolen the same handgun that he was shot with from Christ, and Christ got the gun back and was angry about the theft.
During the investigation Crawford admitted he shot the victim but claimed it was an accident. Crawford claimed Christ gave him the gun, told him it was unloaded, and told him to scare Shoemaker with it.
Crawford claimed when he pulled the trigger to scare Shoemaker, the gun discharged twice into Shoemaker, then Christ shot him four more times.
Christ also was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 31 years to life in prison.
During his time in prison, Crawford gave officials differing versions of the motive for the murder.
In 1991 Crawford told prison officials he shot Shoemaker because Shoemaker had molested Crawford’s child.
In 2007 Crawford said when he and Shoemaker went water skiing and stopped to use the bathroom, an argument ensued over stolen property and Shoemaker stabbed Crawford in the arm, so Crawford shot Shoemaker.
In January 2012 Crawford said he killed Shoemaker because the victim had molested his neighbor’s children.
At his parole hearing in May of 2012, Crawford claimed he killed Shoemaker because he was a child molester and Shoemaker had stabbed Crawford when Crawford confronted him about it. Crawford admitted it was never proven that Shoemaker was a child molester.
At his parole hearing on Wednesday, Crawford told the parole commissioners he never shot Shoemaker, John Christ did. He also changed his story and said he had been stabbed by Christ, not Shoemaker.
During his time in prison since 1988, Crawford has made no effort to address his alcohol, drug or anger issues. Crawford had taken no drug or alcohol addiction classes and had not participated in any anger management or alternatives to violence classes.
He had been caught making alcohol in prison, and admitted he had been placed in administrative segregation in prison for his own protection for not paying a $100 drug debt for heroin he purchased from other prisoners while in prison.
At the parole hearing Wednesday, Grothe asked the Board of Prison Hearings to deny Crawford parole on the grounds that he still presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if released.
The Board of Parole Hearings commissioners agreed that Crawford still poses an unreasonable risk of danger to the public and denied parole for at least three more years. Crawford’s next parole hearing will be in 2025.
“Based on Crawford’s history, it will be interesting to hear what his version of the events will be at the next hearing,” Hinchcliff said.
This is the third parole hearing the District Attorney’s Office has attended in the last week that has resulted in a denial of parole.