Teen testifies in kidnapping allegations

Crawford trial could go to jury later today

By SUSAN THACKER

The trial of a Great Bend man charged with kidnapping, indecent liberties with a child and criminal threat continues this morning. The jury could hear final arguments in the trial of Kenneth D. Crawford before the end of the day.

In Day Two of the trial on Tuesday, the state’s final witness was the alleged victim, now 16 years old. She testified that on Aug. 2, 2005, when she was 12 years old, Crawford drove her to a rural area, asked to see her breasts, then battered her and threatened to kill her before driving away from the scene as it started to get dark.

The teen said she knew Crawford well because she used to hang out with his two sons, which were close to her age. On the day in question, her mother was at work when he asked for her help.

“He told me he had a visually impaired friend with a car – he need help with his friend driving,” she said, adding Crawford asked her to meet him at Heizer Park.

She agreed but didn’t show up.

“I told him I’d forgotten, but (the real reason was) I didn’t have a good feeling,” she said.

Later she did meet him at Heizer Park, and got into his truck with no fear, even when he asked her to get out of sight, mumbling something about no seat belts and not wanting a ticket.

Alone in the country, the visually-impaired friend nowhere in sight, she looked around as Crawford offered her a beer, got out of his truck, popped the hood and urinated. He made a bit of small talk and then asked to see her breasts.

“I said no. It was disgusting,” she testified. “He kept arguing with me. He asked, ‘What do you think we came down here for?’ I said, ‘Not that.”’

They struggled in the truck, and then he pulled her onto the ground and straddled her, pulling at her tank top and “smearing his face over me, almost like kissing me,” she said. She described it as being more like being held down by a bullying big brother than a sexual attack.

Then Crawford said he’d take her home, she testified. “I didn’t believe him.” When she got up she ran for a tree line, afraid he would run her down with his truck.

Later in her testimony, the girl detailed her struggle. She recalled pleading with him not to be “like the bad guy on TV.”

“He told me to shut up or he’d kill me. I scratched him on the left side of his face and I pinched him under his arm.”

Prior to her testimony, jurors heard a Kansas Bureau of Investigation scientist report that a DNA sample from under the girl’s fingernail matched a sample taken from Crawford. The odds of another person showing that match is one in 1,000,000,000,000,000, the agent said.

Public defenders Kelly Driscoll and Sarah McKinnon will present their case today after prosecutor Andrew Bauch from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office closes. But they’ve already laid the groundwork for where the defense will be headed, asking questions about how DNA is transferred and perceived holes in the Barton County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation.

Driscoll cross-examined BCSO Deputy David Paden, asking if he knew Crawford had been at a radiator shop from 6:45 to 7 p.m. that day, and before that his truck was inoperable.

Driscoll also asked about Paden’s interrogation of Crawford. Paden agreed that during his investigation he had tried to trick the suspect by lying, telling Crawford someone had seen him shove the girl down in his truck. Through it all, Crawford maintained his innocence, saying to his knowledge the girl had never been in his truck.

DNA was found in the truck, but none that matched the victim’s.

McKinnon cross-examined the teenage girl, clarifying details of her story. The hay and twigs in her hair, grass stains on her jeans and ruined flip-flops, all described by the girl, were not collected as evidence. In her opening statement on Monday, McKinnon suggested there should have been a lot more physical evidence if the girl’s story is true.