Episode five of the true-crime podcast Ransom: Position of Trust, investigates Hilton Crawford’s account of McKay’s kidnapping and one of the biggest mysteries in the case, Hilton’s alleged accomplice R. L. Remington.
Late on the night of Saturday, September 16th, 1995 four days after kidnapping McKay, Hilton Crawford drew Sheriff Guy Williams a map. The directions led to an exit of the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge called Whiskey Bay, located between Lafayette and Baton Rouge Louisiana.
Our team drove out to the site that Hilton described to meet the local sheriff that responded to the call, Marcus Guidry. Although, Hilton’s description was vague: “a shell type road leading up to an iron gate,” where “you could see something that looked like a wooden shed”. Guidry thought he knew the spot.
Whiskey Bay
“We’re always cautious when we come to this area,” said Guidry. “It’s one of the most remote places right off a major Interstate. I’ve worked several homicides in the same area.”
The swampland was pitch black, as Guidry approached the site in his unmarked black Camaro in 1995. He rolled down his window and could smell something decomposing. He’d worked for the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Department long enough to know that it was the smell of a human corpse. He got out of his car with his streamlight 20-flashlight and shone it into the foliage and he saw a small divide in the tall grass, like “If you got a part in your hair,” said Guidry. “That’s the best analogy I can give you.”
He walked towards the edge of the grass and saw red eyes glowing in the darkness, a possum’s eyes reflecting back his flashlight, and there beneath the possum was the body of McKay Everett, lying facedown in the swamp.
“I can still envision that picture today,” said Guidry. “Poor little 12-year-old boy, he didn’t deserve none of this.”
A Standoff in the Swamp
But as Guidry got ready to call in his findings, he saw a car pull off the highway and start to approach him. He had no idea why someone would be driving out to this desolate area in the middle of the night.
“Anyone coming down here, I’m cautious about,” said Guidry. “In my career we’ve found some very bad people here.”
As the vehicle neared, Guidry could see it was a patrol unit from the neighboring Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Department, which presented a new problem.
“I’m in plainclothes, unmarked car, and I’m standing there next to a body. So it was kind of a standoff,” said Guidry.
“It wasn’t dawning on me that he was law enforcement,” said former Iberville Parish Sheriff’s deputy Jerry Stassi, who had seen Guidry’s headlights from the highway and drove out to investigate. “What had me was a black Camaro. We weren’t that high tech over at Iberville.”
Stassi said he almost drew his gun on Guidry, but as he got closer to the Camaro he could tell it was a police car.
“We threw rocks to shoo the possum off, got it away from him.” said Stassi. “And that’s about the extent of us dealing with it.”
Stassi called back the findings to the FBI, and then the two waited for crime scene investigators to take over the scene.
The Interrogation
Although Hilton had now led investigators to McKay’s body and admitted that he’d been involved in the kidnapping, he insisted that he hadn’t killed the boy. He said the murderer was a mysterious man named R. L. Remington, which, if true, meant McKay’s killer was still on the loose.
Investigators interrogated Hilton about Remington and what happened the night McKay disappeared.
Hilton told investigators he’d met R.L. Remington a little over a year ago at the Louisiana Downs Race track. Hilton owned a racehorse named ‘Off To The Races’ that was competing that day. Remington asked him a couple of questions about his horse and then asked for his business card.
After that, Hilton said he would occasionally run into Remington at the racetracks. They would exchange tips about racehorses to help one another place bets.
Sometimes, Remington would call Hilton at work to chat. Hilton said he didn’t have Remington’s number. Remington was always the one who called him.
Hilton said that around June of 1995, four months before the kidnapping, Hilton mentioned to Remington that he’d gotten into a bad financial situation and Remington had floated the idea of a kidnapping.
“He told me about how you could kidnap somebody, make a couple hundred thousand dollars and get these people back safely,” Hilton said during the videotaped interrogation.
Over the next few months, when they’d speak, Hilton said that Remington would bring up the possibility of a kidnapping.
“I just listened to him , and I kind of started thinking and it started growing on me, and growing on me, and growing on me.”
Hilton said that the idea took hold, and that he figured Carl would be a good target because Carl was telling him about how much money he’d been making through Amway.
Hilton said that Remington called in September, and Hilton told him about Carl and McKay. “This friend of mine he’s got a son. I don’t know what kind of money Carl has got but I know he’s pretty well off. They’re having a meeting Tuesday night.”
Remington had told him to pick a woman as the ransom caller, so he recruited an ex-employee, Irene Flores.
Hilton said that Remington came out to Conroe to help with the kidnapping itself, and they met at a strip mall.
When law enforcement asked about Remington’s vehicle, Hilton responded: “He wasn’t in a vehicle, he was just there by himself. I don’t know how he got there or the guy that dropped him off took off back to Lafayette. I just don’t know.”
“He had a duffel bag with him,” said Hilton. “He had like a policeman’s shirt. He said that’s what he was going to go up to the door with.”
Hilton said, that as they drove up to the Everett’s home Remington took out a hood with some drawstrings over it to put over McKay’s head, and stuck it in his back pocket.
Hilton said that he parked a ways from the door, so McKay wouldn’t be able to see his car, but he watched as Remington walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.
To hear what happened next, according to Hilton, listen to Ransom Episode 5: Hilton’s Story below. The episode covers the discovery of McKay’s body, how Paulette and Carl reacted, and then goes into Hilton’s story about what happened to McKay and law enforcement’s search for R.L. Remington.
Ransom: Position of Trust is a nine-part true crime podcast from KSL Podcasts.
Follow the Ransom Podcast for free on your favorite podcast app. New episodes are released every Wednesday, with bonus episodes available on Fridays.