Reactions to Waller sentence range from relief to regret

The father of the one who was lost stood before a crowded room Thursday.

"She thought she could control him," said Stan Rawson of his daughter, Jacque Waller. "It was a big mistake. She couldn't."

During a news conference after the admission by Clay Waller that he killed his estranged wife, and a 20-year sentence was laid upon him, Jacque Waller's family and the teams of law enforcement who brought her murderer to justice recounted their experiences.

Deep inside a meeting room at the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, Jackson Police Chief James Humphreys paused several times during his address to the audience, attempting to keep his emotions in check as he thanked searchers, family members, fellow officers, federal agents and prosecutors.

Earlier in the day, Cassandra Stringer, a former friend of Clay Waller who testified at his preliminary hearing last year, stood on the north side of the courthouse, waiting. Her hands shook and she wrapped her arms around herself as Waller was led out the basement door in handcuffs, placed in a police cruiser and quickly taken away.

"The last two years have been a strain ... they've been stressful. How was I supposed to know he was a killer?" she later said. "I'm just glad it's all out there now."

More reaction came later from Jacque Waller's sister, Cheryl Brenneke, when she was asked about Clay Waller's demeanor in his sentencing hearing earlier that day.

"Not a tear," she said. "Nothing. It just goes to show you he is not human."

Rawson said at the news conference that he and other family members knew Jacque Waller feared her estranged husband, and that she had told them Clay Waller would kill her, but they didn't believe it would happen.

"It's my fault she's dead today. It really is, and don't think it don't kill me right now," Rawson said.

He added that Jacque's death should serve as a warning to other women who are in an abusive relationship.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan said after the conference that police aren't sure whether Jacque Waller had the chance to try to fight for her life the day she was killed.

"He told her to come there, and when she did, it was game on for him. But from what I know of her, she must have," Jordan said.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan watches, left, as Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh speaks during a news conference Thursday, June 6, 2013, at the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office after a hearing at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse where Clay Waller pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Jacque Waller, on June 1, 2011. (Adam Vogler)

Evidence collected in the case shows Clay Waller beat and then strangled Jacque Waller to death on June 1, 2011, after he lured her to the house in Jackson on the pretense she could pick up one of their three children. Her family has said that before she was killed, Jacque Waller was experiencing one of the happiest times of her life -- she had recently gotten in great physical shape, was in a new relationship and was expecting her divorce from Clay Waller to go through as planned.

After the sentencing, Jacque Waller's family -- her mother, Ruby Rawson, father, sister and brother -- hugged their supporters in the courthouse lobby before heading into a meeting with prosecutors before the news conference.

Wendi Bird Barnhart waited just outside the door for the Rawsons. She participated in searches for Jacque Waller in the summer of 2011, and said Clay Waller would drive by their searches and taunt the volunteers with laughs and obscene gestures.

"Clay was his cowardly self as always," Barnhart said after the hearing. "He never turned around and looked at Jacque's family. He never looked sorry. He never did act like a man."

Barnhart said the people "who lost out the most were those three beautiful triplets."

Jacque and Clay Waller's 7-year-old children, Addison, Avery and Maddox, are in the custody of Brenneke.

Family and friends said Thursday's events were "another chapter ended" in Jacque's story. There is more to come. A funeral is planned for Saturday in Park Hills, Mo.

eragan@semissourian.com

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