Murder accomplice sentenced

May 9, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - A Big Lake woman convicted of plotting with her husband to kill her cousin was sentenced to 78 years in prison Friday in Palmer Superior Court.

In January, a jury found Cynthia Estes, 46, guilty of first- and second-degree murder and first-degree burglary for her part in killing David McKinney, 49, while he lay on his couch the night of Nov. 23, 2003.

Estes drove her husband, Richard &#8220Bart” DeRemer, 35, to McKinney's nearby home in the middle of the night, knowing DeRemer carried a borrowed shotgun and a Motorola two-way radio in a blue duffel bag. As she drove away, Estes heard what she said sounded like the pop of a brown paper bag, the sound of DeRemer firing one round of No. 8 birdshot at McKinney's head. When DeRemer called her on the radio to say, &#8220It's done,” Estes drove back, walked into the house past her cousin's body, and retrieved the combination to the floor safe where McKinney kept his pain medications.

The couple couldn't read the numbers on the paper, and Estes returned home while DeRemer retrieved a cutting tool, opened the safe and returned home with the drugs, enough for the couple's personal use and sale to others. Later, DeRemer set fire to the house to hide the evidence.

Big Lake Fire Department responded to the fire and found McKinney's body in the charred ruins of the house he built out-of-pocket as an investment for his young daughter. In less than 24 hours, Alaska State Troopers knew they had a murder on their hands, but the case didn't break open until September 2004, when DeRemer boasted to three people about the killing, and those people went to the troopers.

DeRemer was tried, convicted and sentenced for the murder separately.

Estes had only a minor role in the crime, according to Rex Butler, an Anchorage defense attorney appointed as counsel. Before sentencing, Butler offered up a mitigating factor he said he had just thought of.

&#8220My client is an accomplice, not a murderer,” Butler said. &#8220She assisted investigators when they came to her house. She pointed out the walkie-talkies, the duffel bag and the shoes she wore that night.”

Estes showed remorse when she went to the still-smoldering house, Butler said. She was so overcome with emotion that the first responders had to put her in the ambulance, he said.

&#8220It set in for her,” he said. &#8220Later, she went into protective mode to keep from being arrested. She didn't show the pain inside.”

Saying DeRemer, not Estes, pulled the trigger, that Estes was &#8220pretty much law-abiding” before the murder, and Estes never bragged about the killing the way DeRemer did, Butler asked for a sentence of no more than 30 years.

Asking for the maximum sentence, Suzanne Powell, assistant district attorney, painted a different picture.

&#8220The facts are this was a cold-blooded murder for drugs,” Powell said. &#8220The defendant planned the murder with her husband for about a week. The shotgun and birdshot were borrowed from her friend, and she showed no remorse, telling troopers McKinney was dying anyway.”

In addition to 99 years for the murder, Powell asked for the maximum sentence of four years on the burglary charge.

&#8220The purpose of the burglary was to commit the murder,” she said.

Estes didn't help investigators, she hindered them by throwing out false leads and building alibis for herself and DeRemer for nearly a year, Powell said.

&#8220On tape, she says she knows the cops are investigating the wrong man, someone she knows is innocent,” Powell said.

Judge Eric Smith rejected the multiple motions Butler put forward, including a motion for a new trial, saying his motions were more appropriate for an appeal. Smith commended both attorneys, saying they both were highly competent throughout the trial.

Smith agreed with Butler that Estes was not as culpable as DeRemer, but agreed with Powell that Estes impeded the investigation before DeRemer spilled the beans.

&#8220Like I said at Mr. DeRemer's sentencing, the troopers had nothing to go on,” Smith said. &#8220They might have gotten away with it.”

The judge didn't buy Butler's statements about Estes being remorseful, though, and sentenced her to 75 years for McKinney's murder and three years for the burglary.

&#8220Frankly, none of her statements indicate the sense of horror of what happened here,” Smith said. &#8220There's no indication of acknowledgment of what she did.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.