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Written by: A. Smith
Published September 17, 2025 @ 8:46 AM ET
EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. – The step-grandmother of two Georgia children whose bodies were discovered buried in their family’s backyard has pleaded guilty to a series of charges and will spend the rest of her life in prison, marking one of the most significant outcomes yet in a case that shocked Effingham County nearly seven years ago.
On Tuesday, Kimberly Renee “Kim” Wright entered a negotiated guilty plea to two counts of malice murder, two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, two counts of concealing the death of another, and two counts of false imprisonment. The felony murder counts against her merged with the malice murder charges, court records show.
Superior Court Judge sentenced Wright to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors had previously pursued the death penalty, but the negotiated plea took that option off the table.
Wright, now one of five relatives charged in connection with the deaths of 14-year-old Mary Crocker and her brother, 14-year-old Elwyn “JR” Crocker Jr., becomes the fourth defendant to plead guilty in the case. The children’s stepmother, Candice Crocker, her brother, Mark Anthony Wright, and Wright’s boyfriend, Roy Anthony Prater, also entered guilty pleas. Mark Wright and Prater are awaiting sentencing.
The only defendant still facing trial is the children’s father, Elwyn John Crocker Sr., who prosecutors say bears primary responsibility for the prolonged abuse and deaths of both children. Crocker Sr. still faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
The case began on Dec. 20, 2018, when deputies with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office found the remains of Mary and JR buried behind the family’s Guyton mobile home. Investigators had been led to the property following a tip about Mary’s welfare. She had last been seen alive in October 2018.
Authorities quickly uncovered a horrifying pattern of abuse. Court documents and testimony at bond hearings detailed how Mary was zip-tied, starved, beaten with objects, burned with scalding water, shocked with a stun gun, and forced to live naked inside a dog crate for extended periods. Investigators said her legs became deformed from the confinement, and family members allegedly duct-taped her to a ladder in an attempt to straighten them.
Her older brother JR had endured similar abuse more than two years earlier. Prosecutors said Crocker Sr., Candice Crocker, and Wright beat him, withheld food, and confined him in a dog crate between October and November 2016. JR was withdrawn from school and was never reported missing. His body remained buried on the family’s property until investigators uncovered it alongside Mary’s.
At the time of the discovery, Crocker Sr. was working at a local Walmart, where he had previously dressed as Santa Claus during the holidays.
The children’s deaths and the revelations that they had disappeared without authorities or schools being alerted sparked widespread outrage and raised questions about oversight of at-risk children in Georgia.
With Wright’s plea, prosecutors have now secured convictions against four of the five defendants. The final chapter in the case will depend on whether Crocker Sr. takes his case to trial or pursues his own plea deal.