Murder trial set to begin

Big Lake woman accused of planning cousin's killing

January 17, 2006

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A Palmer Superior Court trial is set to begin today for a Big Lake woman accused of planning her cousin's murder, sending her husband to kill him, stealing drugs from the murdered man's safe and setting the man's house ablaze to destroy evidence.

Cynthia Estes, 45, is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, first-degree arson, first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and tampering with physical evidence in the death of David McKinney, who was 49 when he died more than two years ago.

The crew of the Big Lake fire department found McKinney's body after putting out a fire at his residence on Nov. 24, 2003, according to court records.

The firefighters knew only that they had a residential fire with a death, either a suicide or a homicide, while the building was still steaming, according to previous court testimony.

Within 24 hours, an autopsy determined McKinney had died from massive head trauma before the fire started, according to court testimony given by Franc Fallico, state medical examiner, during the murder trial of Estes' husband, Richard &#8220Bart” Deremer.

&#8220Fire deaths are always investigated because people naively believe body evidence can be destroyed by fire,” Fallico testified in November.

The case remained open until Deremer told his cousin, his cousin's wife and a co-worker almost a year later that he had killed McKinney with a shotgun blast to the head to get the pain medications McKinney kept in a floor safe, according to court testimony.

Deremer's cousin, Jason Chew, wore a concealed recording device, a wire, while the men worked together building an outdoor deck, and Deremer talked about the planning, the murder, the theft and the arson with Alaska State Troopers investigators listening, back in September 2004.

Deremer and Estes were arrested Sept. 20, 2004, on identical charges. A jury, in November, convicted Deremer on all counts in Judge Eric Smith's court. Smith will sentence Deremer on Feb. 24.

Estes has remained free on $25,000 bond since Oct. 8, 2004, with Joan Estes, her mother, as a third-party custodian.

On the recording, Deremer repeatedly confessed to the murder, at one point saying it was &#8220a hell of an adrenaline rush, taking a life.” He said he and Estes used some of the drugs, and sold the rest to make enough money to get through the winter. Although he was alone when he killed McKinney, he said, he called Estes on a radio to come pick him up afterward.

Estes planned the murder, according to what Deremer told his cousin.

&#8220I was just the laborer,” he said.

Estes' lawyer , Rex Butler, requested a continuance of the trial last week, according to Suzanne Powell, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, but Judge Smith indicated his intent to go ahead with the trial.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.