Into the Swamp - Craig Lester Thrift and Terry Eugene Rouse.
On American Monster, Season Three, the
episode titled, “Into the Swamp“ is about Craig Lester Thrift
and the murder of his best friend and blood cousin, Terry Eugene Rouse.Terry was having an affair with Rhonda Thrift, the wife of
Craig. This was apparently the motive. Craig was confident without a body he would never be arrested.
He was found guilty of felony murder, but not malice murder. He was sentenced to Life with the possibility of parole after seven years. He may be eligible for parole this year (2019).
As of November 2019, Terry Eugene Rouse's body has never been found. People continue to search.
You can write to them at:
Craig Lester Thrift GDC ID: 0000353409
Hayes State Prison
PO Box 776
Trion, GA 30753-0776
If you have knowledge of this person or have been impacted by their nefarious actions, please feel free to leave a comment below expressing this. We respect the rights of victims to feel however they feel about what has happened.
If you have knowledge of this person or have been impacted by their nefarious actions, please feel free to leave a comment below expressing this. We respect the rights of victims to feel however they feel about what has happened.
So so sad. What a tragic end and what a shocking sentence! 😲😢🤦♀️
ReplyDeletePS: I actually just watched this episode of American Monster and live in South Africa.
ReplyDeleteJust get a divorce. Why did you have to murder Terry?
ReplyDeleteHe killed Terry for insurance money. U have to watch evil lives here new season. Craig's ex wife tells her side of the story
DeleteIncreible algunas condenas, el 7 años puede salir.
ReplyDeleteMany have asked me if i knew about this when I married Craig in 2000 and all I can say is kinda.... yes. However, since I'm not from this area i wasn't aware that this story was even true. I thought it was just his way of making people fear him even though at 6'9" he didn't need to say much to make people fear him. Through the years he got back into drugs and was very abusive, often telling me i would end up like Terry if i didn't shut up, or whatever other order he had for me. That's when I began to believe his story about what he did to Terry. He told many of us and again, it took watching his actions when he was angry for us to know what he said was true. The last straw for me was May 2011. I went for a protective order and in open court the judge asked me why I was afraid of him. I said, "because he killed his cousin". Of course that judge thought I was a liar but granted the order anyway. Det Williams from Waycross contacted me because she heard about what I said in court. Many of his friends and I were asked questions over a few months. When he was arrested, Craig told the detective and anyone who would listen that he was going to kill me if he ever got out. He blames me, a person who met him 7 years after the incident happened. I didn't "rat" or "squeal" or "sing", I got taken to the GBI office on many occasions and asked questions in front of a video camera. No one intimidated me or anything like that but trust me, when that happens you will tell the truth (most of us will anyway). I had no reason to lie about a situation that I knew nothing about except for Craig's words and the newspaper articles he kept in a frame.
ReplyDeleteThank you for coming forward with what you knew.
DeleteInteresting that Craig thinks he's a red neck legal genius .... they often think that no body means no prosecution. Circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. Jealousy is the oldest murder in the bible and so jealousy/sex over a woman is a strong cause for family murders.
DeleteThe fact that he threatens to kill his last wife, is probably a good cause of why he wasn't released on probation after the minimum 7 year tariff on his 'life sentence'. To paraphrase the book of the bible belt ... when asked by the police ""Where is Terry your cousin? And he said, "I do not know: am I my cousin's keeper?" ... he was lying, and still is.
What a Mongo
ReplyDelete