Woman convicted in 2006 Haigh murders

URBANA – Kim Shackelford has a hard time believing three years have passed since her parents were stabbed and bludgeoned to death in their Champaign home.

"I remember the day I found out about my parents like it was yesterday," said Shackelford, the only child of Jerry and Sue Haigh, whose bodies were discovered in their home at 1702 Scottswood Drive, C, on July 4, 2006.

Learning a little more than a year later that police were about to arrest the persons believed responsible, she felt confused. "Am I supposed to be happy or relieved or mad?" she thought then.

She's still struggling with that same mix of emotions in the wake of the conviction of the second of the three people accused of murdering her parents.

A jury deliberated about two hours Wednesday before convicting Crystal Myrick, 32, of the first-degree murders of Jerry Haigh, 58, and Sue "Chi" Haigh, 66. Judge Heidi Ladd set sentencing for Dec. 18. Because the jury found the deaths accompanied by exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior indicative of wanton cruelty, Myrick faces life in prison.

Her court-appointed attorney, Walter Ding of Champaign, confirmed that Myrick turned down a plea offer that "would have allowed her some life outside of prison."

Myrick testified she wasn't present when her ex-boyfriend, Kenneth Sean Kelly, 37, and her uncle, Russell Pitcher, 52, killed the Haighs for what Pitcher said was about $85 and a handful of jewelry. (Shackelford believes they probably took much more of her mother's gold jewelry.)

Kelly has already pleaded guilty to killing Jerry Haigh and is serving a 50-year sentence. Pitcher testified in Myrick's trial that he slashed Jerry Haigh's throat and admitted he was testifying against Myrick in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. His case is not yet resolved.

Assistant State's Attorney Troy Lozar argued that even though there was no physical evidence linking the trio to the scene – the house had been cleaned with bleach and laundry detergent – their own words did. Although each of the three gave statements to Champaign police detectives that could charitably be described as inconsistent, the common theme was that all three were present when the killings occurred. Lozar urged the jury to find Myrick accountable for the actions of the others.

Ding argued what Myrick had said from the witness stand Tuesday: She wasn't there. He also attacked the credibility of Kelly and Pitcher.

Shackelford said she hoped the jury would see through the lies and realize that her parents were victimized because of their generous nature.

"They were cautious but they were never like, 'Don't forget to lock the front door,'" she said. "This could happen to anybody. These three idiots just stumbled upon them."

Shackelford admits she remains filled with anger about what happened to her parents, who she said raised her "with a lot of thought and instilled principles, morals and values" in her. She said because they were "very sensible" with their money, she didn't want for much.

"With me not having them anymore, it has forced me to really mature and face the music about the way life is," she said.

That happened almost from the minute they were killed as community members pointed fingers at her as a suspect. She said she still remembers the "sick, nauseating feeling" she had standing "in the space where they were found" and being asked by police for a DNA sample. She also submitted to a lie detector test to clear her name.

Shackelford said that since the killings, she has left her job as a mortgage banker. In October 2008, she opened her own salon in the west Loop of Chicago called Asili Chi. Asili is the Swahili word for new beginnings, she said. Chi was her mom's Vietnamese name. Although business could be better, she feels "blessed" to be open.

"I found a way to get passionate about something again, work hard at something. Never, ever in my entire life, could I call my parents lazy. They were amazingly hard-working people," she said, adding they saved aggressively and paid cash for everything.

Shackelford was not present for any of the trial except her own brief testimony, by order of the judge. Ladd had decreed that because Shackelford and her husband of nine years, Cory Shackelford, had an emotional outburst during Kelly's sentencing hearing in September 2008 during which they pummeled him, that they could not be in the courtroom for Myrick's case.

"I think it cut out a piece of closure for me and my family," she said, adding that she's not sure she will ever be able to come to grips with what happened.

Her mother-in-law now lives in her parents' home. She said it wasn't until about two months ago that she could move around the house without her husband or mother-in-law accompanying her from room to room.

"I don't know what I was scared of. I kept imagining what it looked like in there. It kept freaking me out," she said.

Shackelford has not seen the gruesome pictures that the jury was subjected to and knows there are details she hasn't heard. She's sure from seeing the house with fingerprint powder on the walls, and portions of carpet, linoleum and cabinets torn out for evidentiary purposes, that it was a battleground.

A chemical spray put on the floor made spots where there was blood luminesce.

"Portions of the tile were purple where the blood was and in the blood I could see a footprint. For 15 months, I put my foot on that print trying to solve that case on my own. I was desperate."

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