Woman guilty of cousin's slaying

Big Lake woman will be sentenced May 5

February 5, 2006

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A Palmer Superior Court jury returned with a verdict Friday morning in the trial of a Big Lake woman charged with helping her husband murder her cousin, stealing the dead man's prescription medications and turning his home into charred debris.

Jurors found Cynthia Estes, 45, guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree burglary for the Nov. 23, 2003 shotgun slaying of David McKinney.

The jury acquitted Estes of two charges, tampering with physical evidence and first-degree arson.

McKinney was 49 years old when Estes' husband, Richard &#8220Bart” Deremer, kicked in McKinney's door shortly after midnight and fired one blast from a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with No. 8 birdshot at McKinney's head, killing him where he lay on a sofa. A jury convicted Deremer, 34, of the murder in November.

Estes admitted driving Deremer, with the loaded shotgun and a Motorola two-way radio in a blue duffel bag, to McKinney's house that night.

She told troopers in later interviews that she heard a shot while driving away, and that she stayed at home until Deremer called her on the radio.

She drove back to pick up Deremer, she told investigators. She walked into McKinney's house, retrieved McKinney's coat from the back bedroom, took his wallet out of his coat and found the combination to McKinney's floor safe in his wallet.

But neither Estes nor Deremer were able to read the numbers written on the paper and Estes went home while Deremer went to retrieve tools he used to cut open the safe's door.

McKinney had filled his seven prescriptions - including four for narcotics - six days before his death, according to testimony from his pharmacist. Estes admitted to investigators that she knew McKinney kept his pain medications in his floor safe.

The case remained open until September 2004, when Deremer told Jason Chew, his cousin and employer, and Jason's wife, Jamie, that he and Estes planned to kill McKinney, that he had shot him and burned the house down to destroy evidence.

The day after Deremer confessed, the Chews took the information to the Alaska State Troopers. Investigators had Chew wear a recording device while he talked to Deremer in person and to Estes by phone, getting enough information to make the arrests.

The main issue, according to the defense and prosecution, was the intent Estes had when she drove Deremer to McKinney's house.

&#8220We heard the defendant on tape trying lots of different defenses on,” said Palmer Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Powell said in her closing argument.

&#8220First, when they were at the house fire, she told the troopers it was an accident,” Powell said. &#8220Later, she gave them a mutual alibi, saying ‘We were together at home.' In a recorded conversation with Chew 10 months later, she said that her husband did it, but she didn't know about it, and finally, she told investigators that she knew, but it was self-defense.”

Estes' Anchorage attorney, Rex Butler, maintained that Estes was a victim of Deremer's violent temper and had no say in the matter.

Butler called two witnesses for the defense - Estes' 16-year-old daughter, Jamie, and a paid expert witness on domestic violence, Judy Gette.

Jamie Estes testified that she called the police between two and four times during violent episodes in the home, but court records showed one case of assault charged against Deremer after troopers were called to the house Nov. 10, 2002.

Gette said she spent about four hours reading documents related to the case that Butler had sent her about a week before she testified. Estes was a victim of domestic violence, she said.

When asked by a juror if she would believe anyone who said they were a victim of domestic violence, Gette said she would. Also in answer to a juror's question, Gette said police will arrest an abuser even if the victim denies being hurt.

After the verdict, Butler discussed the jury's decision.

&#8220I'm glad they acquitted on the arson and tampering,” Butler said. &#8220I think the jury did as well as they could with the facts they had. They put us in a very good position for appeal. There are some legal issues we couldn't agree on.”

In her closing, Powell took the jury through the time line from 2003 forward, and dismissed Estes' statements that McKinney was dying anyway.

&#8220David McKinney had every right to finish what was left of his life,” she said. &#8220His father had a right to have a son and his daughter had a right to have a father.”

The maximum penalty for a first-degree murder conviction in Alaska is 99 years. Estes is scheduled to be sentenced May 5 and Deremer is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 24.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.