Trotter murder next on Crummel’s court docket

Greg Risling

From county to county he goes, and the setting is nearly identical every

time.

The tables are arranged the same. A gavel lies idly on the bench, used

sparingly in times of need. The faces are different but the people he

routinely encounters wear badges and robes.

James Lee Crummel, convicted sex offender and thief of children’s

innocence, probably could name the fashionable designer suits worn by the

parade of attorneys he sees. Next to his jail cell, the courtroom is

becoming a second home for Crummel.

Crummel, 55, who will celebrate another birthday behind bars next week,

noisily marched into a courtroom again Wednesday. Handcuffed and

shackled, he pleaded innocent to charges he killed a 13-year-old Costa

Mesa boy who disappeared more than 20 years ago.

Crummel is already serving consecutive terms for molesting young boys,

but the murder charges may be the most serious to date for the former

Newport Beach resident.

It is very likely Crummel will spend the rest of his life in prison, but

the murder of the teenage boy, Jamey Trotter, may carry a harsher

consequence.

“He is eligible [for the death penalty],” said Kevin Ruddy, supervising

deputy district attorney in Riverside County. “We will make a decision

whether to seek the death penalty within the next month.”

Trotter vanished on April 19, 1979, on his way to school. Walking along

Harbor Boulevard, the blond-haired boy was reported missing and feared

dead when no clues turned up for investigators.

Eleven years later, the boy’s charred skull and teeth were found by

Crummel near the Ortega Highway in Riverside County. Many people remain

perplexed why the boy’s suspected killer would lead authorities to his

remains.

“Only Mr. Crummel knows,” Ruddy added.

The Trotter case isn’t the first time Crummel has been suspected of

killing a young boy. Crummel was arrested for the 1967 murder of

9-year-old Frank Clawson in Arizona. The case was thrown out by a judge

in 1982 because a key witness had changed his statement.

The disappearance of 9-year-old Jack Phillips in 1995 near Big Bear Lake

also led investigators to Crummel. Phillips has never been found. Crummel

was interviewed by authorities and is considered a suspect, although he

hasn’t been charged in connection with the case.

Crummel’s rap sheet dates back three decades and contains a sordid

history of child molestation. Most recently, Crummel was sentenced to 60

years to life for sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy at a Newport Crest

condominium where he lived.

Crummel shared the residence with 82-year-old Burnell Gordon Forgey, a

psychiatrist who also pleaded guilty to child molestation charges. Both

men molested the boy, a patient of Forgey’s, on several occasions between

1994 and 1995.

The prosecutor handling the Orange County case called Crummel, “a really,

really scary guy.”

Newport Beach residents were furious about Crummel living in their

neighborhood when they were informed by police through Megan’s Law.

Megan’s Law gives police agencies the authority to notify the public that

serious sex offenders are living within the community.

When those residents learned about Crummel’s past behavior three years

ago, they picketed outside Forgey’s home, holding vigils until the day he

was picked up by authorities and charged with Trotter’s murder.

A year later, police again arrested an incarcerated Crummel, and Forgey,

for the molestation of the 16-year-old. Forgey was placed under house

arrest and Crummel has been sitting in jail ever since.