Intruder Shot On Porch May Have Been Sleepwalking
At 4 a.m. Friday, Spencer Crandall, 31, began to knock on his neighbor’s door and ring the bell, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said. Craig Rigtrup was inside with his wife and 14-year-old daughter and didn’t know the early morning intruder.
Rigtrup called 9-1-1 to report someone was trying to break in.
“The homeowner armed himself and went outside,” Walker said. “That’s when he saw a man trying to jump a fence that was between his house and his neighbor’s home,” later clarifying that Crandall was trying to climb a privacy fence into Rigtrup’s backyard, about 40 miles northwest of Dallas.
The two fought in Rigtrup’s yard.
“At some point, (Rigtrup) backed away from the man and told him he was armed,” Walker said. “The man kept saying he needed to get inside of the house.”
Then Rigtrup fired one shot at Crandall’s chest, killing him. Deputies arrived to find him dead on the front porch.
Ryan Crandall, a lawyer in Plano, Texas, said his brother had been sleepwalking and that the problem had been getting worse. Spencer’s wife, Amanda, suspected a link to muscle relaxers prescribed for ruptured discs.
“Sometimes he would make it into the front yard, and she would go out and physically grab his arm and pull him back into the house so that he would be safe,” Ryan Crandall said.
[one_fourth]
[/one_fourth]
But on Christmas night, Spencer Crandall was alone, his brother said. His wife had gone out of town to visit with family.
“He was hurting really, really bad on Christmas Eve,” Ryan Crandall said. Perhaps he drank some beer on top of the medicine, something he would not normally have done because he was a Mormon, and the faith forbids alcohol. “He would only have obtained it for the purpose of dealing with his back pain.”
Spencer Crandall’s sister, Jessica Crandall Lawrence of Shreveport, La., said her brother had been a missionary in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“He was the kindest, meekest, most gentle person I’ve met in my life,” she said.
Spencer Crandall was not armed and didn’t make any threats, Walker said. But he would not stay on the ground when Rigtrup instructed him to.
Spencer Crandall was arrested two years ago in neighboring Denton County on a criminal trespassing charge, records show.
Ryan Crandall said his brother, who graduated from the University of North Texas in Denton with a degree in accounting, drove past a traffic barrier at college.
Investigators are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether the 31-year-old had drugs or alcohol in his system and have asked neighbors to review any surveillance video they might have as they piece together what happened.
A grand jury likely will decide whether to press charges against Rigtrup, Walker said.
“Right now, it just appears the homeowner was doing what every homeowner would do and protect their home and their family,” the sheriff said.
