Defense set to take stage

Trial continues for man accused in murder-for-drugs case

November 8, 2005

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A Palmer Superior Court trial continues this week for a Big Lake man accused of killing his wife's cousin and burning the house to destroy the evidence in November 2003.

Last week, the jury heard testimony that Richard Deremer, 34, and his wife, Cynthia Estes-Deremer, planned the murder of her cousin, David McKinney, 49.

Deremer fired the killing shot, according to his own statements to witnesses about 10 months after the crime. After the slaying, the couple broke into McKinney's floor safe to steal his pain medications and then set the house on fire to conceal evidence of the crime, according to witness testimony.

When the Big Lake Fire Department responded to the fire at McKinney's house, they found the charred remains of a body. At the time, they learned McKinney used a wood stove as his primary heat source and that he often fell asleep with a cigarette burning, and no one expected foul play at first.

But evidence discovered by Chief State Medical Examiner Franc Fallico showed something different. On Friday, Fallico showed his findings to the jury, including X-rays taken through a body bag when it arrived at the state crime lab.

Fallico showed the jury an X-ray of the victim's head and neck area. Above the jaw line in the X-ray, there was nothing left of the head. Fallico also testified that no soot was found in McKinney's airway or lungs, indicating he was not alive at the time of the fire.

When Deremer began talking to people about the crime, according to testimony, he said he wanted to leave his wife, but was afraid she would tell police he killed McKinney.

One of the people Deremer reportedly told was his cousin and employer, Jason Chew. After Chew told Alaska State Troopers about Deremer's confession, troopers fitted him with a wire to wear so they could record a confession.

“I pulled the trigger and covered him up,” Deremer told his cousin. “Pretty much the whole thing was her (Deremer's wife). I was just the laborer. It was messy. It was very f-----g messy. Murder is messy.”

Deremer later told Chew that McKinney was lying on his couch when Deremer kicked in the front door. McKinney raised up and began to lift up his hands, he said, when Deremer pulled the trigger on the 12-gauge shotgun at a distance Fallico estimated at no more than 4 feet away.

Deremer told Chew that McKinney introduced his wife to “hard-core drugs” and that maybe she wouldn't have done many of the things she had done in life if she weren't hooked on drugs.

Cynthia Estes-Deremer is charged with the same offenses as Deremer: first-degree murder, first-degree arson, two counts of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and tampering with physical evidence. Her trial is set for Nov. 14, but is likely to be postponed.

The state expects to rest its case against Richard Deremer on Wednesday, according to Palmer Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Powell.

The defense plans to show that another man committed the crime, according to John Murtagh, Richard Deremer's attorney.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.