Texas dad arrested in Colo. in deaths of wife, infant found with throats cut
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A Fort Worth man has been arrested in Colorado on capital murder charges for the slayings last week of his wife and their 3-month-old son at their Texas home, reports CBS DFW.
Authorities aren’t saying what evidence they have linking 35-year-old Craig Vandewege to the deaths of his 36-year-old wife, Shanna, and their son, Diederick. Both had their throats slit and were found in their beds.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports Craig Vandewege called 911 on Dec. 15, saying he came home and found the woman and child dead. According to the paper, Vandewege met briefly with homicide detectives Monday, but told officials he needed to consult a lawyer before he said more. He reportedly left the police station and never got back in touch with investigators.
Vandewege was pulled over for a traffic stop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, after police received a call Wednesday night that a man at a convenience store said he was on the run, had borrowed the caller’s cell phone and spoke in a phone conversation about murder, according to the Aspen Times.
About a half hour later, Glenwood, Colo. Police say they saw Vandewedge put a license plate on a car matching the description of the one the 911 caller described. They pulled Vandewedge over for speeding, and he told officers, “It’s been a long week, my wife and kid were murdered in Texas,” according to police documents obtained by the paper.
He reportedly told officers he was on his way to Las Vegas.
Vandewege reportedly handed the officer an attorney’s contract and said to call the lawyer to verify his story. Officers reportedly took him into custody on traffic violations, saying he “showed no emotion.”
During the arrest, police reportedly found several loaded handguns, an AR-15-style rifle, boxes of ammunition and numerous bottles of medication, documents said.
Officers in Colorado learned he hadn’t been ruled out as a suspect in the deaths and had fled Texas, reported the Star Telegram.
Glenwood, Colorado Police Chief Terry Wilson told the Aspen Times Vandewege “was minutes away” from bonding out of jail in Colorado Thursday on the traffic violations when Texas authorities issued an arrest warrant on the murder charges.
The family was originally from Colorado and had only recently moved to Texas. Mark Riddle, Shanna Vandewege’s father, told local media in Texas the woman had suffered three miscarriages before giving birth to her son. She was reportedly on maternity leave when the slayings happened.
