Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 26, 1990                   TAG: 9006260512
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD                                LENGTH: Medium

WOMAN SETTLES SUIT CHARGING WRONGFUL DEATH OF HUSBAND

The settlement was announced Monday, the scheduled trial date for the suit against Craft, 54, of Springfield. The children claimed Craft intentionally caused Sadler's death on April 9, 1988, in Grant County, W.Va.

An attorney for the children said Craft agreed to give them most of the $450,000 in life insurance proceeds from his death and some of his personal effects, including his military memorabilia and family photos.

Craft initially told authorities her 62-year-old husband, whom she met through a personal advertisement in a magazine, shot himself while playing with a loaded .38-caliber revolver at their 187-acre Grant County vacation home.

His death, from a bullet wound behind his right ear, was first ruled an accident.

But Sadler's children and others began raising questions, and Craft was charged with first-degree murder. She later changed her statement, saying she was trying to wrest the gun from Sadler when it fired.

During the 1988 trial, Craft shouted her innocence from the witness stand and apologized to jurors for not telling the whole truth the first time. She was acquitted.

Daniel R. James, Craft's attorney, said Monday that his client acknowledged having been careless.

"When she took the witness stand, she had to admit that she was negligent," James said. "She's always admitted that she grabbed a loaded gun out of the general's hand."

James said he believed the judge in the civil suit would have allowed as evidence Craft's conviction on insurance fraud in Fairfax County five months after her acquittal. Craft was convicted in a scheme involving theft of silver and jewelry that was later discovered hidden behind a fake wall in her home.

Brian C. Shevlin, attorney for Sadler's children, said the settlement is tentative until his clients receive their father's belongings. The children, from Sadler's first marriage, will receive an estimated $360,000 after the attorney fees from Craft's criminal cases are paid, he said.

Sadler's daughter, Kathy Sadler-Wright, said Craft has also given up her right to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her late husband. She has also agreed to donate to charity money generated from any book or movie based on the case.

Craft, who has published several books of poetry, is heavily in debt and has sold the farm in Grant County, James said.