Tarrant County jury finds Fort Worth man guilty of murdering wife, infant son in 2016
A Tarrant County jury found a Fort Worth man guilty Thursday of murdering his wife and 3-month-old son in 2016.
He received an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the crime.
Craig Vandewege, 40, called 911 about 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2016, and said he found his wife, Shanna Riddle Vandewege, and their son, Diederik, dead at their Fort Worth home. Both Shanna and Diederik had their throats slashed and both victims were in their beds, Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson said in a news release.
Wilson said the home appeared staged as if a burglary had happened.
“This is not a burglary. This was never a burglary,” Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Lisa Callaghan told the jury during the trial. “Why would a burglar ever kill an infant? It’s absurd. It doesn’t add up, no matter which way you look at it.”
Investigators found that Craig Vandewege stood to claim more than $700,000 in life insurance after the deaths of his wife and son.
Vandewege was arrested days after the incident in December 2016 by police in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on charges of speeding and failure to show proof of insurance. His arrest came after a man called 911, reporting that Vandewege had said he was running from the law and had asked to borrow his phone to call some people and talk about a murder.
Vandewege’s capital murder trial began last month in a Fort Worth courtroom. He pleaded not guilty.
The Star-Telegram previously reported prosecutors in the case were not seeking the death penalty and that Vandewege would face a maximum of life in prison if convicted.
Dispatchers who took Vandewege’s 911 call testified Oct. 20 that Vandewege’s calm tone during the emergency call struck them, which they said is uncommon given the circumstances of the situation, according to WFAA-TV.
Prosecutors said Vandewege’s coworkers told police that he often complained about his wife and wished her harm.
A former coworker who worked with Vandewege at a Costco in Colorado testified that Vandewege frequently spoke negatively of his wife and commented on her physical appearance and the relationship even before the marriage.
Family members have said that the couple had moved from Colorado to Fort Worth in early 2016.
Craig Vandewege had worked at Costco. His wife was a registered nurse who worked at a hospital, family members said.
A warrant obtained by the Star-Telegram in 2016 stated that a co-worker of Vandewege told police that he had talked recently about taking a new medication that made him hear voices telling him to kill people.
The co-worker told investigators that Vandewege wished he could kill his then-pregnant wife by pushing her down the stairs, according to the warrant.
A few days before Shanna Vandewege and their infant son, Diederik, were found dead, Craig Vandewege recounted a dream in which he “sliced the heads of his wife and father like bologna,” the co-worker told police.
Shanna Vandewege was on maternity leave at the time of her death, family members said.
This report contains information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 5:36 PM.
