St. Croix Man Sentenced for Murder and Related Firearm Offenses

St. Croix, USVI – Chief District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis on February 11, 2016, sentenced Craig Muller, 31, to 5 years in federal prison for a possession of a firearm in a school zone, United States Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced. Additionally, the court imposed a sentence of life in prison without parole for first degree murder and 20 years in prison on a local firearms offense to be served after the federal sentences. Chief Judge Lewis also sentenced Muller to a 1-year term of supervised release, pay a fine of $25,000, pay $6,360 in restitution, and pay a special assessment of $25.

After a two-week trial, on March 24, 2015, a federal jury on St. Croix convicted Muller and co-defendant, Elvin Wrensford. Evidence presented at trial established that during the afternoon on May 10, 2012, the defendants argued with a male individual at Ben’s Car Wash in Estate Princesse. The defendants left and later returned to the car wash in a red truck. A second male, Gilbert Hendricks, Jr., walked out of the car wash, observed the defendants in the truck and began running. The defendants chased Hendricks while in the truck and Wrensford began firing at him as Muller drove. Hendricks fell to the ground and Wrensford continued to shoot at him. Hendricks died as a result of the gunshot wounds. On May 16, 2012, law enforcement stopped Muller at the San Juan International Airport in Puerto Rico on his way to New York. He voluntarily returned to St. Croix and was arrested. Through eyewitness testimony, the government established that Muller was the driver of the red truck.

This case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alphonso Andrews, Jr., and Rhonda Williams-Henry.