Crespi sobs in jail cell; begs for forgiveness
Expected to plead guilty today to killing twin daughters
GARY L. WRIGHT
gwright@charlotteobserver.com
David Lauren Crespi
Crespis ache, apart and together
RALEIGH - David Crespi cries alone in his cell when he thinks of how he stabbed to death his 5-year-old twin daughters six months ago.
He wakes up in the middle of the night and wonders: "How could I do something like this? ... I robbed Tess and Sam of a wonderful life and from the people who loved them."
Other nights, he sees them in his dreams.
"Sam and Tess are playing. Or they're riding their bikes," the 45-year-old former bank executive recalls. "We're together."
Crespi, who confessed to killing twins Samantha and Tessara, is expected to plead guilty today to two counts of first-degree murder and spend the rest of his life in prison.
During recent interviews at Central Prison in Raleigh and Mecklenburg's jail, Crespi talked about his life behind bars since his daughters' slayings in January. He spoke about his desire to live and his love for his wife, Kim, and all his children. As he reminisced about Samantha and Tessara, he wiped away tears.
"Sam and Tess are in heaven now," he said. "I know it. They were both wonderful little girls. They were innocent."
In the days after the killings, a despairing Crespi thought his wife would never want to see him again. Then, in April, she came to visit him.
Crespi recalled his first words to his wife: " `I'm sorry,' I told her. `I love you.' I told her, `That wasn't me.'
"And Kim told me, `I know.' She told me she knew that wasn't me. She knew I wasn't thinking properly."
In his confession, Crespi told homicide detectives about his long battle with depression and how over the years he had thought about killing his wife, children and parents. He even thought about running over strangers with his car.
Crespi told the detectives he had always been able to stop himself from hurting his family. The twins' killings, he said, "had to happen today because the thoughts ... weren't stopping." The senior vice president at Wachovia described how he killed the twins during a game of hide and seek.
"I knew I'd hurt them," Crespi, his lips quivering, told the Observer. "I knew they were dead. But I never looked at them."
http://www.com/mlb/charlotte/news/15141536.htmif link fails go to WWW.Charlotte.com todays paper