Three Missouri men have been charged with murder in the death of a 20-year-old man whose death was originally ruled an accidental drowning in 2018.
The Shannon County Sheriff’s Office reopened the case of Robbie Crites’ death in early 2025 and “conducted an extensive and thorough review of the original investigation, evidence, and circumstances surrounding Robbie’s death.”
“New information and evidence” led investigators believe the “death was not accidental.”
Zachary D. Watson, Ronald D. Brawley III, and Austin D. Womack have all been charged with second degree murder and are being held on $250,000 bonds each.
Court documents do not provide an age for Crites, and the sheriff’s office twice called him a “child,” but an online memorial says he was 20 when he died.
Criminal complaints filed in the case say that Womack told at least two witnesses that he killed Crites, once because “he owed me money for dope” and a second time because he sexually assaulted his sister, according to PEOPLE. In the second telling, he allegedly told a witnesses that he beat and stabbed Crites with a fishing hook and then kicked him in the river. Brawley and Watson, he said, “didn’t do it,” the affidavit says.
Affidavits attached to Brawley and Watson say that witnesses dropped Crites at the river around 7:30 a.m. When they returned two hours later, he was gone.
A witness said that when authorities pulled Crites out of the water, he had “fishing line wrapped around his ankles, knees and back” as well as a “‘grab hook’ entering his rib cage area,” per the affidavit.
Another witness said that Brawley made a drunken confession two days later.
“Ronnie said the incident started over a drug deal that turned into a fight,” the witness said, per the affidavits. “Robbie owed Ronnie and A. Womack money. A. Womack and Ronnie gave Robbie a gram of methamphetamine for $100 dollars. Robbie never paid them.”
That witness said that Watson, Brawley, and Crites spent the day at the river before Womack arrived.
“Ronnie threw the first punch, then A. Womack jumped in,” the witness said. “Zack mouthed off to Robbie before going to his truck. Ronnie thought he had killed Robbie, so he and A. Womack put Robbie in the bushes, then wrapped Robbie in fishing wire and put him in the river underneath a log.”
The witness said that Brawley, who had been crying, stopped at that point and acted as if “nothing had happened.”
It’s not clear why Crites’ death was ruled accidental if his body was found wrapped in fishing line with a “grab hook” in his ribs.
“Our investigators refused to let this case remain closed when the facts did not add up,” the sherif’s office said. “This office is committed to seeking justice, no matter how much time has passed.”
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[Featured image: Austin Womack, Zachary Watson, and Ronald Brawley/Shannon County Sheriff’s Office]
