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David Crist was born in 1958; Scott Crist, in 1959. They were raised in a stone and shingle house in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. When the boys were 9 and 10, their father, Millard, a postal worker, fell down the basement stairs and died of a skull fracture. Catherine Crist, the boys’ mother, became engaged to a man named Alexander Gruenberg about eight years after Millard’s death. Gruenberg moved into the house but died of an apparent heart attack before the couple could be married. He left his commercial oven and furnace business to Catherine, who subsequently sold it for a couple hundred thousand dollars.
Catherine Crist died about five years after Gruenberg, leaving her estate, including the family home, to be divided equally between her two sons.
The two boys were very different from one another. David Crist barely got by in school and hung around with less than desirable friends. After high school he joined the Navy. Scott Crist, on the other hand, was described by those who knew him as a bright kid, serious and nice. After graduating from high school in 1977, he went to Lehigh University and earned an engineering degree, graduating with honors. When he got an industrial engineering job with Bendix Corp., he moved to an apartment close to his job.
Problems between the brothers escalated. Scott went home for Thanksgiving 1981 and found a wild party being held at the family home. There were biker types, dressed in black leather, and marijuana smoke everywhere. Scott made an appointment to see the executor of the estate, hoping he could force David to be more responsible and clean up his act.
In February 1982, things were very tense between the brothers. After a weekend visit to a Williamsport girlfriend, Scott drove back to his apartment in Cockeysville. He had begun taking some things out of the trunk of his car when two men drove up and shot him at close range. Even though he was able to describe his assailants, he died that evening while undergoing surgery for his wounds.
Just after Scott’s death, David began dating a woman named Kathy Montgomery. She had two children from a previous relationship and David fathered two daughters, Diane and Miranda, with her. When they split up though Kathy claimed David had cheated on her, hit her and abused alcohol he was awarded custody of the two girls.
Soon thereafter, David met and married Maryalice. For all intents and purposes, they led what appeared to be a normal life. Of course, children being children, there were the occasional accidents. Four-year-old Miranda burned her hand severely when she touched a live 220volt wire. Nine-year-old Diane suffered a broken ankle when the car jack fell over on her as her dad tried to change a tire at the side of the road.
One day last year the police arrived at the Garden View Art and Frame, a business Crist ran with his wife. They arrested Crist on murder charges to the astonishment of Maryalice.
Based on a rather amazing confession from a man named Tryon E. Eiswerth, who was sitting in a local jail awaiting a trial on bouncing checks, a local detective had done some further investigating and ultimately requested three arrest warrants be issued. Eiswerth admitted that he had been the driver of the car that pulled up behind Scott on that night in 1982. He was 17 at the time. He also gave police the name of the gunman, Daniel Pepperman, who was 21 when he killed Scott Crist.
Eiswerth told authorities that David Crist approached him and Pepperman about killing Scott and had threatened to harm them or their families if they did not cooperate. They were each to be paid $2,000 and given some drugs for the deed.
Pepperman was subsequently arrested and confessed to the crime. He pled guilty to first-degree murder and received a life sentence.
Further investigation revealed that Scott’s death was not the only suspicious happening in David’s life. Detectives claim that Miranda’s hand burn was no accident. (David) Crist had handed her the wire and told her to hold it until he came back upstairs from the basement. The child then heard a “click” and was severely burned by the 220 volt live wire. Had the electric shock killed her, as detectives believe Crist intended, there were a number of life insurance policies in effect which would have paid off. The same was true of Diane, who, when questioned, said that her father had tried to throw her in front of a pickup truck at the side of the road.
Further investigation revealed that the driver of the pickup was Lisa Cohick, Eiswerth’s girlfriend. Cohick admitted that she had indeed been driving a pickup and that Crist had offered her $5,000 to run over Diane. Cohick said Crist threatened her and her children if she did not go along with his plan, but she swerved the truck at the last possible second and avoided hitting the girl.
Eiswerth further related that he was concerned for Maryalice because Crist had taken out a large life insurance policy on his wife, and Eiswerth thought Maryalice was in danger of being killed for the insurance money.
Investigators say Crist had numerous life insurance policies in place on family members. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, solicitation, conspiracy and endangering a child’s welfare. A jury convicted him of the attempted murder charge involving Diane. The other two trials are scheduled. Because others were hired in the killing of Scott Crist, David Crist could face the death penalty.
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