Houston widow long suspected of fatally shooting husband in 1985 pleads guilty to murder
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Carolyn Krizan-Wilson had always been considered a suspect in her husband's 1985 shooting death in their Houston-area home.
Investigators never believed her story that a barefoot man who had raped her about a week before had somehow tracked her down and assaulted her again in her home before fatally shooting her sleeping spouse.
On Wednesday — 28 years after her husband's death — Krizan-Wilson pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for a six-month sentence and 10 years of probation. Her husband's family members said while they are not happy with the short sentence, they do feel some gratification that Krizan-Wilson has finally acknowledged her crime.
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In the immediate aftermath of Roy McCaleb's slaying, authorities felt they didn't have enough evidence to charge her. Year after year, McCaleb's family kept after investigators.
In 2008, following a fresh review of the case, Krizan-Wilson was charged with murder. But a judge threw out the indictment. The charge was reinstated after an appeals court ruling in 2012, and the 71-year-old was finally set to go on trial next month before reaching the plea deal with prosecutors.
"I don't think justice was served. The only peace I get out of it is she finally admitted to what we knew she had done," said Pam Nalley, McCaleb's daughter.
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Bill Exley, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said various factors were considered in deciding on the deal: circumstantial evidence that never strengthened beyond the initial investigation; no other criminal history by Krizan-Wilson; and the defendant's health. Krizan-Wilson has Alzheimer's and dementia.
Exley said he explained the situation to McCaleb's family members and they expressed the importance of wanting Krizan-Wilson to acknowledge in court what she did.
James Stafford, Krizan-Wilson's attorney, did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday.
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Exley said Krizan-Wilson's explanation of what happened the night of her husband's death never made sense.
Krizan-Wilson had claimed that on Sept. 22, 1985, while her husband, her son and her son's girlfriend were in the house, a homeless man who had carjacked and raped her 10 days earlier came to the home and assaulted her again.
She said the man then took a gun she kept under her pillow, went to a nearby bedroom where her husband was sleeping while recovering from neck surgery and shot the 51-year-old foreman for construction firm Brown & Root. Krizan-Wilson, who was 43 at the time, claimed the man dropped the gun after she bumped into him and she fired several times at him as he fled.
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"It was just so bizarre," Exley said of Krizan-Wilson's story.
Nalley, 54, said her family found it hard to believe nobody else in the home was aware Krizan-Wilson was being assaulted or that the man happened to drop the gun before fleeing. Nalley also questioned why Krizan-Wilson took a shower before going to a hospital to have a rape kit performed when she was told not to shower.
While authorities never officially determined a motive, Nalley believes her father was killed for a $140,000 insurance policy. Nalley said she later learned the policy was never paid out but that Krizan-Wilson did get the couple's home and proceeds from her father's retirement account.
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"My daddy was the life of the party. People were drawn to him," Nalley said. "He didn't think he was better than anybody else. He was a good man."
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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juanlozano70