Girl, Playing `Burglar' By Hiding In A Closet, Is Shot By Father

WEST MONROE, La. - Hiding in a closet and pretending to be a burglar was a prank typical of Matilda Kaye Crabtree. She didn't think her father would open the door with a gun in his hand.

"She went, `Boo!' and that scared him," said Stacy Redding, who crouched with her friend in the closet, and then watched as Robert Crabtree fatally shot his 14-year-old daughter in the neck.

Kaye's last words: "I love you, Daddy."

Stacy, who was not injured, said Kaye's father was devastated.

Crabtree, 53, has not been charged with any crime. Ouachita Parish Chief Deputy Richard Fewell said it was "a pure accident."

Kaye was pronounced dead Sunday afternoon. More than 200 people attended Kaye's funeral yesterday.

She was supposed to be staying at Stacy's house on Saturday night, but the two changed their minds and went to Kaye's instead.

When Kaye heard her parents drive up at around 1 a.m., "me and her went into the closet," Stacy said, "tapping the walls and stuff" as if someone had broken into the house and was trying to hide.

Fewell said it shows how scared people are in their own homes these days.

"We live in such a violent world," he said.