HOUSTON -- The husband of a woman slain in her office was asking police Tuesday why they prevented a family priest from administering last rites to the dying woman at the crime scene.
E.H. Ivey said he called the Rev. Joe Crosthwait on Aug. 19 shortly after he found out his wife, Fran Ivey, and two other women had been shot at the Shumate Realty Co. in west Houston.
Ivey said he understood why he was barred from the crime scene but was 'shocked' when police did not allow the Catholic priest to enter the office to give Mrs. Ivey the last rites.
'When they refused to let Father Joe minister to my wife's spiritual needs I just thought it was absurd,' Ivey said. 'This is a case of priorities and it looks like they put the victim's needs at the bottom of the ladder.
'I don't care if all the evidence was ruined if one soul or one life could be saved.'
Crosthwait said he eventually did adminisister last rites as Mrs. Ivey was being carried on a stretcher to a helicopter, but he said he had to 'muscle' his way through several uniformed officers to do so.
Mrs. Ivey, 52, died several hours later at Hermann Hospital. Also killed was the company's founder Elizabeth Shumate, 54, and JoAnn Brown, 46. There have been no arrests in the case.
Crosthwait said he has been permitted into crime scenes many times in the past 20 years and has always obeyed officers' instructions not to touch anything.
'I'm not out to persecute the police,' the priest said. 'But to a Catholic it's important to be annointed.'
He said in an emergency situation he can administer last rites 'in about a minute.'
