An Augusta woman charged with killing and burying her husband in a shallow grave is on trial this week.
Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Sandra Leigh Dales, 57. Dales is accused of killing Edward Keith Cruey, 55, with a metal stake in November 2019, then burying his body in a bag containing lime in a three-foot hole by their house.
At the time Cruey went missing, Dales told family members he left with a sleeping bag and $200 for Thanksgiving and wasn’t coming back, according to prior reports.
After family members filed a missing person report, authorities located Cruey’s body and arrested Dales in February 2020. She has remained behind bars since then on charges of malice murder, felony murder and concealing a death.
Dales appeared in court Monday in a pale pink top with a black blazer and her brown hair in a single long braid. She is represented by Jennifer Cross and Jay Kim of the Augusta Circuit Public Defender’s Office.
Her lawyers indicated Monday they will try to show Dales was a battered woman acting in self-defense. Richmond County Superior Court Judge Jesse Stone overruled a motion to exclude testimony from an expert in domestic abuse.
The expert, social worker Dawn Jett, said she was prepared to testify Dales suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from battered person syndrome, based on recent interviews with Dales.
“This is years, years, years after the actual incident,” said Assistant District Attorney Deshala Dixon. Dixon and Assistant District Attorney D.K. Huff are prosecuting the case.
Police had been to the Glenn Hills-area home before after reports of domestic violence.
Dales had a pending charge of striking Cruey in the head with a hammer when she was arrested for his death. At one point, prosecutors said she admitted to a neighbor she killed Cruey after he chased her with a knife.
Dales faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole on both murder indictments and up to 10 years for concealing a death.
