Augustan sentenced for killing husband, burying body in yard

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – On Wednesday afternoon, Sandra Dales was sentenced before Judge Jesse Stone after she was found guilty in April of killing her husband, Edward Cruey.

Instead of appearing in court for sentencing, she appeared by video and was sentenced for voluntary manslaughter to 20 years in confinement.

For concealing the death of another, she will serve 10 years in confinement, concurrent with the other sentence.

During her trial, the jury found Dales guilty of felony murder, concealing the death of another, and reduced the malice murder charge to voluntary manslaughter.

This prevents Dales from serving a life sentence. Instead, she will serve 20 years in total.

By the time she gets out of prison, she will be 78 years old.

Edward, 55, was last seen on Nov. 19, 2019.

His family spent months searching and asking questions as to where he could be.

On Feb. 1, 2020, investigators found Cruey’s body in a hole next to the carport of the home on Jeanne Road. Dales was arrested and charged with murder and concealing his death on Feb. 2, 2020.

After years of confusion, pain, and anger, Cruey’s family said Wednesday: “Today is it.”

“Today is the last day for me. You’ll never know until you lose one of your own children what the feeling is, and it doesn’t get any better. It’s just things you will never forget,” said Jerry Cruey, Edward’s father.

Now that is it all said and done, they say they are done too.

“I’m over all of that. The devastation from seeing all the pictures and things. But the devastation of losing a son, or daughter, you’ll never get over,” said Jerry.

The pain won’t bring their son back, but the next best thing, they say, is a sentence.

Kelly Cruey, Edward’s stepmother, said: “30 years is about the best that we can hope for. She took his life, it’s appropriate that she spend the rest of her life, paying for it.”

20 years is the amount Dales will spend behind prison bars.

“Today is enough. Enough of the lies, the fitful nights, sleepless nights, enough wondering if the jury saw through her lies, enough of putting the sentence off and wondering if she was going to get off with one year. Enough, enough, enough,” said Kelly.

Edward’s twin brothers say their eyes are now set on the future.

“I’m not letting the defendant take away any more of my joy. I’m taking what she did to my family, and using it for the glory of the Lord, because that’s all you can do. And I’m not letting her have any victory,” said, Caleb Cruey, Edward’s brother.

Putting their faith in God and remembering what their brother taught them.

“He said, when you get down, you stand back up, you brush it off, you pick yourself up by the bootstraps, you move forward, you seize the day. You take every bad thing in your life, and you turn it into a positive, and then it can’t be used to hurt you,” said Kyle Cruey, Edward’s brother.

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