Bio

John Patrick Henretta was born on February 12, 1943, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Public records from his Tennessee case state that his mother left the family when he was very young. In 1948, Henretta and his brothers were placed in a Catholic orphanage. As a child, Henretta was described in later court records as having below-average or “dull normal” intelligence. Psychological evidence presented during his Tennessee sentencing also described him as having low intellectual functioning, brain dysfunction, impulsivity, and a long history of institutionalization.

Henretta had a long criminal history before the murder of Frances Rose Crabtree. On October 11, 1974, he was convicted of rape in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, for an offense committed on July 17, 1974. On July 7, 1989, he was convicted of kidnapping in federal court for a November 23, 1988 kidnapping. On June 17, 1991, he was convicted in Pennsylvania of second-degree murder for a September 19, 1988 homicide in Lawrence County, and also of rape for a November 14, 1988 offense in the same county.

By late November 1988, Henretta and Michael Goodhart were on the run after crimes committed in Pennsylvania. They were traveling in a stolen Toyota. During that period, they passed through Tennessee and stopped in Cleveland.

The Tennessee case remained unsolved for several years. It began moving forward again in 1994 after Michael Goodhart wrote a letter to a federal judge in Pennsylvania describing a throat-cutting murder of a female thrift store employee in Tennessee. Investigators eventually connected the information to the unsolved murder of Frances Rose Crabtree.

Murder Story

On November 30, 1988, Frances Rose Crabtree was working alone at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Cleveland, Tennessee. She was 32 years old and the mother of two children. Between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., Crabtree spoke with her sister by telephone and planned to meet her at church at 7:00 p.m. When she did not arrive, her sister and others went to the store to look for her.

Crabtree’s car was still outside. The front door was locked. Her lunch box and coat were on the checkout counter. Inside the store, police found an empty cash register drawer, scattered receipts, an empty money bag, and one of her shoes. Officers later found Crabtree’s body in a cluttered storage room at the rear of the store. She was near a large pool of blood and partially covered with a bed cover. She had been stabbed three times in the neck. One wound severed her jugular vein, and another fatal wound severed the carotid artery and jugular vein and exposed the spinal cord. Medical evidence showed she died from blood loss.

Her panties and purse were missing. Her purse had contained about $420, and the store proceeds of $189.60 were also missing. Testing later found sperm on vaginal swabs, her skirt, and the bed cover. The case remained unsolved until 1994. Cleveland police learned that Michael Goodhart had sent a letter to a federal judge describing a murder he had witnessed in a Tennessee thrift store. Investigators spoke with Goodhart and learned that he and John Patrick Henretta had been traveling together during the period when Crabtree was killed.

In February 1994, Tennessee investigators went to the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where Henretta was incarcerated. They obtained samples of his blood, saliva, and hair under a search warrant. After the samples were taken, Henretta waived his Miranda rights and gave a signed sworn statement. In that statement, Henretta said he and Goodhart were on the run from Pennsylvania. He said they stopped in Tennessee, drank near the Salvation Army store, waited until closing time, and then entered the store. Goodhart hid inside and opened the back door for Henretta after the store closed.

Henretta said both men had knives. They grabbed Crabtree near the storeroom entrance. Goodhart raped her first while Henretta took money from her purse and from a money bag. Henretta then raped her. According to his statement, the original plan was to rob her, not kill her. Henretta said Crabtree warned them not to leave through the back door because a police station was nearby. He then asked Goodhart if he wanted him to kill her. Goodhart said yes. Henretta struck Crabtree in the neck with his knife. Goodhart then poked her with his knife to check whether she was dead. Henretta moved her body, covered it with a bed cover, and left with Goodhart.

The men took Crabtree’s purse, panties, and pantyhose. Henretta said they later burned some items in Alabama and threw the purse into a trash can near the waterfront in Memphis. They later traveled to Arkansas, where they were arrested by the FBI on December 3, 1988, for unrelated offenses.

DNA testing later connected Henretta to evidence from Crabtree’s body and clothing. In April 1997, FBI testing showed that Henretta’s DNA matched DNA found on Crabtree’s skirt and vaginal swabs. On August 20, 1997, Henretta was indicted in Tennessee for premeditated murder, felony murder during robbery, aggravated robbery, aggravated rape, and aggravated kidnapping. The State filed notice the same day that it would seek the death penalty.

Henretta’s Tennessee trial began on April 1, 2002. During the guilt phase, his defense did not dispute that he had robbed, raped, and murdered Crabtree. Defense counsel told the jury that the case was about sentencing.

The jury convicted Henretta of premeditated first-degree murder, felony first-degree murder, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated rape, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping. The murder convictions were merged into one murder conviction, and the other duplicate convictions were also merged.

During sentencing, the State relied on aggravating factors including Henretta’s prior violent felony convictions, the especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel nature of the murder, the killing being committed to avoid arrest, and the murder being committed during rape, robbery, or kidnapping. On April 6, 2002, Henretta was sentenced to death.

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence in 2010 and set an execution date for October 4, 2011. That execution was not carried out. Later records show that Henretta received sentence relief, and reports in 2013 stated that his death sentence was commuted because of serious illness.