The Trial Of Ex Simpson County Deputy Sheriff, Randall Creek, In The SENSELESS Killing Of His Ex Girlfriend, Debbie Rediess, Begins In Warren County.

Seven testify against Creek
Jurors hear voice mails defendant left colleagues about ex-girlfriend’s death
The SensDeeBy JUSTIN STORY

Hours after shooting his former girlfriend outside her home, Randall Creek admitted doing so to his ex-wife, their son and his colleagues at the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office before fleeing to Iowa.

The trial for Creek, 43, began Tuesday in Warren Circuit Court, and a jury of eight men and six women heard testimony from seven witnesses. Creek is charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and first-degree wanton endangerment.

Creek’s attorney, Sam Lowe of the Department of Public Advocacy, isn’t disputing the fact that his client, a former Simpson County sheriff’s deputy, shot 46-year-old Debbie Rediess in the driveway outside her home on Hays Road North near Smiths Grove on Oct. 5, 2008.

Lowe is arguing that Creek did not intend to kill Rediess when he visited her home after completing his shift at the sheriff’s office.

During Lowe’s opening statement, he told jurors that Creek and Rediess had dated for four years until Rediess, eager to get married, ended the relationship in 2008 because Creek, who had endured a bad divorce earlier, was reluctant to get married.

Lowe also said Creek served in the armed forces, fought in the first Gulf War, spent a career in law enforcement, was active in Republican politics and had no criminal history prior to the shooting.

Creek realized he had made a mistake and eventually reached out to Rediess in an effort to reconcile, Lowe said.

Creek left several messages with Rediess the night before the shooting and the morning of her death that went unanswered.

When Creek arrived at her home on Oct. 5, 2008, and saw her car and the car of Lynn Wilson, with whom Rediess had begun a relationship, Creek was “devastated,” Lowe said.

“When he saw that car in her driveway, he knew it was over between them ... he knew who she had chosen,” Lowe said.

At that point, Creek lost control of his actions to the point that he now does not recall shooting Rediess with his service weapon, Lowe told the jury.

“He did not intend to take that gun and kill her,” said Lowe, adding that Creek was also taking Medrol, a prescription steroid for a skin rash that, in rare cases, causes people to lose control of their actions as a side effect. “This is a horrible tragedy, but it is not a murder.”

Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron began making his case Tuesday that Creek was aware of his actions, telling jurors that this case wasn’t a “whodunit.”

‘Surreal’ visit to ex-wife

Angela Lay, who was married to Creek from 1988 to 1995, testified that Creek visited her home in Allen County in the late morning hours of Oct. 5, 2008, and told her and Andre Creek, the son they had together, that he had shot Rediess.

Lay described her relationship with Randall at that time as “cordial,” but they were not friends. So his visit to her home was unusual, and the news he delivered shocked Lay.

“What I’m thinking was, ‘He didn’t shoot her, he shot at her surely to goodness,’ ” Lay said.

Lay said she asked Creek to clarify and Creek repeated that he shot Rediess. When she asked her ex-husband if Rediess was dead, Creek said, “I don’t see how she couldn’t be,” Lay told the jury, and went on to describe Creek’s demeanor.

“It was unusual, like he had just gotten the oil in his car changed or had just come back from the store,” Lay said. “At that point, I was the one crying. He asked, ‘Well, why are you crying?’ and I said, ‘Because someone’s died.’ ”

Lay said Creek then told her he wanted to see his son, now 21, to tell him goodbye before he “hit the road.”

The three were then together in Andre Creek’s basement for a “surreal moment,” Lay said, and Andre Creek had just listened to a voice mail from his father about the shooting and how Randall Creek told his son to write and visit him after he was sent to prison.

Lay said she did not see Randall Creek leave, and after the Allen County Sheriff’s Office arrived at her house to respond, they found Randall Creek’s uniform, service weapon and gun belt in Andre Creek’s car.

Lay also testified that her ex-husband sent e-mails to her and to others providing regular updates on his life, and that she remembered receiving one from him on Oct. 4, 2008, asking if she knew of any single friends. Another e-mail Lay received about one or two weeks before the shooting addressed Randall Creek’s relationship with Rediess, and Lay said he seemed upset and distraught about it.

Voice mails left with colleagues

Creek left voice mails on the cell phones of Jim Bauer, then a deputy at the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office, and of Simpson County Deputy Jailer Tim Phillips in which he admitted to shooting Rediess.

Bauer said nothing about Creek seemed unusual when he arrived at the office on Oct. 5, 2008, for his shift as Creek was leaving.

At work that morning, Bauer received a message from Creek in which Creek said he and Rediess, who he described as his girlfriend, were having trouble. Creek said he visited her home and shot her and said he was sure she was dead.

“I’m sorry for what went down, but when you lie to me that’s what happens, especially when you love someone like I loved that girl,” Creek said in the message to Bauer.

Bauer notified his supervisor of the message, and the sheriff’s office contacted the Kentucky State Police, he testified.

Phillips said a similar voice mail from Creek arrived on his cell phone while he and his wife were at church.

In that message, which was also played for the jury, Creek said he “shot the bitch in the back of the head” and shot her two or three more times.

“I’m sure she didn’t make it, but if she did, she’s going to be brain (expletive) dead,” Creek said. “If my lady of five years lies to me, this is the (expletive) repercussions. If she were truthful, she’d be living right now.”

Creek said that he was on the road waiting for the police to pick him up and that he was unarmed and would not resist arrest.

Under cross-examination from Lowe, Phillips said Creek was a very good deputy who did what was expected of him.

Witness describes hearing shots

Lynn Wilson of Bowling Green testified that he and Rediess met through a mutual friend on July 5, 2008. The pair had grown friendly and a relationship was developing. On the night before Rediess’ death, the two went to Russell Springs, where Rediess met Wilson’s family for the first time.

The two returned in Rediess’ car to her home in Smiths Grove at 10:22 p.m. on Oct. 4, 2008, where they spent the night, Wilson said.

The following morning, Wilson and Rediess were awakened by a knock at her door some time after 7 a.m., and Wilson heard a man ask Rediess if he could talk with her.

The door closed, Wilson got up and went to the living room window and watched what was happening outside. Wilson testified that while he could not hear the conversation, he could see Creek standing beside his pickup truck but could not see Rediess.

Wilson testified that he went to the bedroom to get a beer bottle, which he threw away in the kitchen. As he walked back to the bedroom, Wilson said he heard several shots.

“If there was any delay in the rapid fire it was after the first shot,” Wilson said, adding that he remembered hearing three to five shots altogether. “My heart just fell ... I knew I needed to go check on Debbie.”

Wilson said he did not know Creek well, and when he stepped outside, Creek was at his truck holding his .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

Creek trained the weapon on Wilson and yelled at him to “get the (expletive) away,” Wilson testified.

“As fast as I could, I ran back in the house and slammed the door and locked it,” Wilson said. “In my mind, Randall Creek was coming after me.”

Wilson said he watched Creek back out of the driveway and drive back toward Smiths Grove. Wilson then ran outside to place a blanket over Rediess, took a few steps toward Rediess’ parents’ house along Hays Road North before changing his mind and dialing 911.

The first police arrived at about 8 a.m. that morning, Wilson said.

Cohron played the 911 call for the jury while Jayne Davenport, a dispatcher for the state police, was on the witness stand.

In the call, a frantic Wilson tells Davenport that someone shot his girlfriend, identified the shooter as an ex-police officer named Randall and said that Randall pointed the gun at him.

During cross-examination by Lowe, Wilson said Creek pointed the gun at him for two or three seconds, but never indicated that he was going to shoot Wilson.

Lowe asked whether Creek seemed abnormally calm during the incident.

“He screamed the words, he screamed at me at the top of his voice,” Wilson said, but noted that he would have expected Creek to have left the area in a different manner. “I would expect tires squealing and him getting out of there at rapid speed.”

Gary Madison, a paramedic who assisted at the scene, said Rediess showed no signs of life, and Trooper Greg Dukes, who at the time was a detective and led the investigation, described a series of 10 photos taken at the crime scene.

The pictures depicted Rediess’ home from several angles, showed the blanket next to Rediess’ body, the victim’s bed, two shell casings and a tooth belonging to Rediess as police found them at the scene.