DFW Man Found Guilty of Capital Murder of Wife, Infant Child

In December 2016, a 36-year-old mother and her infant son were found in their Fort Worth home with slit throats. Suspicions quickly turned to the husband and father, Craig Vandewege. 

According to a press release from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, a Tarrant County jury found Vandewege guilty of capital murder on November 4, 2021. The conviction imposes an automatic life sentence without the chance for parole.    

Vandewege initially called 9-1-1 on December 15, 2016, at about 9:30 pm, telling dispatchers that he had returned home from work to find his house broken into and his wife and three-month-old child dead. At first, Vandewege cooperated with investigators before leaving Texas for Colorado, where the family had lived before moving to Fort Worth earlier in the year.     

Police in Glenwood, Colorado, received a tip from a clerk at a local 7-Eleven store who had overheard a bizarre telephone conversation in which Vandewege stated that he was running from police after his wife and child were found murdered.

Police located the car after spotting Vandewege swapping license plates on his car. He then sped off and was pulled over for speeding and driving without plates.   

Vandewege told police that he was “having a long week” and that his attorney had advised him to leave Texas in a car without plates to avoid being pulled over. An arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2016 showed that Vandewege gave the police numerous stories as to his reasons for being in Colorado.                         

Upon his arrest, Vandewege was carrying a concealed pistol in his coat pocket and another in an ankle holster. A semi-automatic rifle was found in the car, along with 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Vandewege had a valid concealed carry permit in Colorado.

Police records show that Vandewege claimed, “he was headed to Las Vegas to see Donald Trump to work it out with him.” At the time of Vandewege’s arrest in Colorado, Texas authorities had not charged him with any crime but had not ruled him out as a suspect.

The arrest warrant came shortly before Vandewege would have posted bond in Colorado, and he was subsequently extradited to face charges in Fort Worth.    

Vandewege’s co-workers at Costco in Fort Worth described several odd things they had heard him say while on the job. One co-worker said Vandewege had admitted to taking a medication that made him hear voices telling him to kill people.

Vandewege had also reportedly told co-workers that he fantasized about pushing his then-pregnant wife down the stairs to her death and that he dreamed of slicing her and his father’s heads “like bologna.”    

Prosecutors in the case said that Vandewege stood to gain more than $700,000 from life insurance policies on his wife and child. They noted that Vandewege staged the house to make it look like a robbery gone wrong and that his wife and child had been dead for quite some time.    

“This is not a burglary. This was never a burglary,” Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney (ACDA) Lisa Callaghan told the jury according to a press release. “Why would a burglar ever kill an infant? … It’s absurd. It doesn’t add up, no matter which way you look at it.”     

Vandewege pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his defense attorney did not make a statement about the conviction. ACDA Callaghan and ACDA Emily Dixon led the prosecution. Visiting Judge Robert Brotherton oversaw the trial.