Thomas Wayne Crump Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Thomas Wayne Crump (1940 – June 14, 2018) was an American serial killer who killed at least three people in New Mexico and Nevada in the span of a few months in 1980, and after being convicted of the crimes escaped from prison and later killed a fourth victim. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the three murders in New Mexico, and sentenced to death for the murder in Nevada.

For the remainder of his life, Crump was housed on death row. 34 years after being sentenced to death, on June 22, 2018, the 78-year-old Crump died.

Crump stated that he “deserved the death sentence”. In May 1984, he was sentenced to death. While on death row, Crump confessed to killing a total of seven people during his lifetime, starting at age 16 with the murder of a priest. Crump was scheduled to be executed in November 1986, but that was delayed. In 1992 Crump was accused of stabbing another death row inmate who survived the attack.

On June 17, 1982, Crump was making a pumpkin pie in the prison’s kitchen while chained with a 10-inch shackle. He was able to escape the shackles due to unknown circumstances and later escaped from the prison itself. Crump stole a car and a gun and drove back to Albuquerque.

By 1976, Crump was back in Albuquerque and working as a construction worker. He later became the manager of a KFC. One of the employees working there was 16-year-old Rhona Higdon, who took an immediate liking to Crump. She saw Crump as a mature, kind man, though she was unaware of his violent past. Despite the over two-decade age gap, the two got married and produced a child. However, due to problems with their relationship over the years, Rhonda filed for divorce on July 13, 1980.

On November 16, 1980, Crump got into a fight at a motel. Police were called and they arrested him. Since he was wanted for the murders, authorities pressed him and he confessed to committing the five-month crime spree. The following year, Crump was convicted of killing his wife Rhonda and was sentenced to life imprisonment. A few months later he was convicted of killing Plaisted and was again sentenced to life. While serving his sentence at the Penitentiary of New Mexico, Crump came up with a plan to escape which, for unknown reasons, failed. In 1981, Crump was one of many inmates to attack three prison guards, including 33-year-old Gerald Magee who was killed in the incident.

By 1966, Crump was a free man and had fathered a young boy. That year Crump was accused of robbing a hotel clerk. While in police custody he allegedly confessed to the crimes but refused to sign a piece of paper that stated he did. Soon after, Crump left his native state and embarked to Albuquerque, New Mexico. On July 13, 1967, Crump robbed and attempted to kill a clerk. Afterward, he fled the state and arrived in Saranac, Michigan the following month. While there, he was thrown into a rage after a waitress in a tavern asked for his ID. Later that day, Crump stabbed the waitress 10 times, but she survived. Crump was convicted of attempted murder and sent to a Michigan prison.

In 1960, Crump and another man attempted to rob a man in the public bathroom of a hotel building. He narrowly avoided jail time and instead pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of larceny. Later that same year, Crump was convicted of burglary, and landed himself a suspended jail sentence. In May 1961, Crump and another man were accused of kidnapping a man and forcing him into their car, before pushing him out while the vehicle was going 40mph. However Crump told a different story, that the man had gone in willingly and suddenly jumped out, and Crump and the man were not convicted of any crime in that case. The following year, in February 1962 Crump and two accomplices lured a 54-year-old man they had met at a bar to a rural area and robbed him of $82.70. They were later arrested, and Justice Ralph Rector cited that due to Crump’s habit of avoiding prosecution for his crimes, he had no choice but to sentence him to serve 1 to 5 years in prison. In 1963, Crump and his cellmate Robert Lindsey made a plan to escape from the Indiana State Reformatory, but ultimately gave up on the idea.

Thomas Wayne Crump was born in 1940 in Muncie, Indiana. In his teenage years, Crump teamed up with fellow teens Larry Morris and William Wagner, and formed a habit with them of stealing cars during the mid-1950s. In 1958, Crump was charged in his first serious crime, that of attempting to kill a woman who had a dispute with his mother in the past. A year later, Crump was accused of stealing four separate cars during the span of 48 hours. Crump avoided prison time for all of these offenses.