On March 21, 2003, Ramona Krotine left an office party in Ohio and was never seen alive again. Nearly 24 hours later, she was found in the trunk of her car, beaten and shot to death. At first, police suspected a botched robbery but the investigation led to her husband, Jeffrey. After he was arrested for her murder, it would take three trials to reach a decision on Jeffrey's fate. “48 Hours" Correspondents Susan Spencer reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 11/24/2007. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: How did Ramona Krotine go missing?
I think it was on a Thursday. My wife answered the phone, hey, we've got an emergency, Ramona's missing. Just searching for my sister's car. Bad things were going through my mind. I start heading towards the RTA lot. Then out of the corner of my eye, there looks like a Camry. It was my sister's car. Your adrenaline's going. You don't really know what you're doing. I dialed 911. No.
What if my sister's in the trunk of this car?
I ran back to the truck, and I got a pipe wrench.
I can't break the window.
I reached into the trunk latch, just pulled up on that.
It's been, what, two and a half years? I miss her a lot. Still miss her.
The more we got to know Ramona Croteen's background, it made us more determined to find out who did this. Detective Timothy Robinson, case investigator for the Ramona Croteen death.
Jeffrey Croteen is kind of like your typical suburban male. We firmly believe that he killed his wife.
This was the home of Ramona Croteen and Jeffrey Croteen. And this is the house where we believe Ramona Croteen was killed.
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Chapter 2: What was the initial police theory on the murder?
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He's different. He's his own little character.
From the moment Ramona Croteen was murdered, friends and family all told police the same thing. I always thought he was an odd duck.
He's a flat line.
Jeff Croteen is, well, different.
Being different, I hope that never becomes a crime.
A crime? Perhaps not. But his behavior certainly raised questions. Why weren't you out looking for your wife? Your family was out searching for her. While the Wolcheskis were out looking for Mona, Jeff was keeping a routine appointment with his accountant.
What could I do? I knew people were out looking for her.
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Chapter 3: What evidence linked Jeffrey Krotine to the murder?
We started hearing the tidbits. We heard about the headboard, and I was like, wow, that's weird.
What they heard was a jaw-dropping story that Croteen had taken a saw to the couple's wooden headboard. and then burned it piece by piece in the downstairs fireplace. You were in the house when he did this?
Yeah, I smelled it. He's burning something, and then I was like, it must be the headboard, because I heard something chopping up there.
But why would anyone do that?
There was nobody in this world that was going to make love anywhere near that headboard.
You're telling me that's why you burned the headboard in the fireplace?
That's it. Basically, he refused to cooperate with the police. He never even asked us about his wife.
The police were eager to talk to Jeff, but now, with a lawyer in tow, he no longer was talking to them.
Never called us to see how the investigation's going.
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Chapter 4: Why did Jeffrey Krotine become a suspect?
Would you tell us about that?
Excuse me. That was somebody crying for help.
Do you recall what you heard on the voicemail message?
It was, help, help, help me.
And how did you react to listening to this voicemail? I was shocked. You were shocked? Shocked. Okay.
Shocked, too, is Detective Tim Robinson.
This is unbelievable. Where'd this come from?
Who says neither Ziegler nor Twining ever mentioned the call to police.
Well, Mel Twining then should have said something because he never said nothing. Sue Ziegler's never said nothing. We at Brook Park never heard of that call. Was that Ramona Croteen? No, I believe Ramona Croteen was already dead at that time.
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