Fort Worth dad arrested for murder claimed to hear voices
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth man who was arrested for murdering his wife and infant son earlier this week reportedly told co-workers that his new medication made him hear voices.
Craig Vandewege was taken into custody in Colorado Wednesday, less than a week after his wife, Shanna, and 3-month-old son, Diederik, were found dead with deep cuts across their necks.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Vandewege initially told police that he found their bodies after returning home from work on Dec. 15. He said the front door was unlocked and the house was all “torn up” when he got home.
But, police observed that valuable items like TVs and electronics and the contents of all the opened drawers and cabinets appeared untouched. Two safes that were found open in the home also appeared to have been opened by someone with a key and combination.
Police also observed that Vandewege’s wife did not have any visible defensive wounds, leading them to believe that she was either killed while asleep or unconscious. Crime scene investigators then found evidence that blood was cleaned off the edge of the master bathroom sink.
The affidavit states police interviewed Vandewege’s co-workers about his whereabouts on the day of the murders. One supervisor reported he was 45 minutes late for work. Another co-worker told police that Vandewege often complained about his wife.
Vandewege told his co-worker while his wife was pregnant that “he wished he could push her down the stairs and kill her that way.” He also said he had been taking prescription medication that “makes him hear voices that tell him to kill people,” the affidavit states.
Fort Worth police continued to collect evidence and did not obtain a murder warrant for Vandewege until after he had been taken into custody in Colorado.
Someone at a convenience store in Glenwood Springs, Colo. called police about a bizarre run-in with Vandewege. He allegedly asked to borrow the stranger’s phone and said he “was on the run from police.” He had no license plates on his car at the time.
According to the police documents, Vandewege told the stranger “the government was trying to conspire against him by saying that he killed his family” and “he was headed to Las Vegas to see Donald Trump to work it out with him.”
Responding officers pulled Vandewege over for speeding. He told them he was in town for his wife and son’s funeral and without much emotion said, “It’s been a long week. My wife and kid were murdered in Texas.”
Inside his vehicle, police found guns, ammunition, empty gas cans, camouflage clothing and numerous bottles of medication. He also had a number of condoms in his pockets, but there were no knives.
Investigators said all of this evidence gives them reason to believe Vandewege “knowingly and intentionally” murdered his family.
He is currently being held in a Colorado jail and is expected to be transferred back to Fort Worth soon. His bond was set at $1 million.