BARNWELL, S.C. - With a tissue in her hand, a tear trickled down her cheek as Annie McCreary recalled the last time she saw her husband alive.

"And then he said, 'I think I'll go down by the river,'" McCreary testified through tear-rimmed eyes. "He was a fisher of men and a fisher of fish. He would catch all kinds of fish and give them away."

McCreary testified Monday during the trial of the man accused of killing her husband, the Rev. Phillip McCreary Sr. The well-liked Springfield minister suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.

William Allen Owens, 32, of 1650 Halford St., Williston is on trial this week. He was charged with murder in the 51-year-old's death after family and friends located the minister's body at a popular fishing spot on the Edisto River.

Owens' co-defendant, 32-year-old Hariet Renee McKiney of Pittsville, Md., is still awaiting trial in connection with the case.

"You're going to learn that on July 6, 2007, that man is the one who executed Rev. Phillip McCreary," Second Circuit Solicitor Barbara Morgan said in her opening statement.

Defense attorney Tim Moore countered that prosecutors won't have a weapon, bullets or blood to show jurors that his client has a connection to the shooting.

"Without a question, I'll tell you, a tragedy occurred," Moore said. "But we don't want to have a second tragedy, and that's having an innocent man go to jail for something he didn't do."

The prosecution is expected to bring at least two more witnesses today. It was not clear if Moore had plans to introduce rebuttal witnesses after the state has rested.

Circuit Court Judge Jack Early ordered an alternate to replace a seated juror. Prior to opening statements, the juror informed an official he knew family members of the victim.

After the ruling, the jury pool was made up of seven women and five men.

Serving as an international police officer in the Middle East, Lawrence Blackwood was home on leave in 2007 at the time of McCreary's death. He testified he had driven his restored 1990 Ford pickup to the boat landing where S.C. Highway 39 crosses the Edisto River near Springfield.

"He was just sitting there fishing, and I asked how he was doing and he said, 'Fine,'" Blackwood said of McCreary.

Joe James Allen testified he'd been driving to work past the bridge for the past 23 years. He said he saw McCreary's truck at the fishing hole around 7:15 p.m. that day.

"When I would be going to work, he'd be going fishing," Allen said.

Allen said that as he made his way home that night, he spotted McCreary's green truck at the boat landing and a second truck parked next to it, a restored older model truck.

"There was a third truck, it didn't really catch my eye," Allen said. "If I had to say so, it was maroon."

On cross-examination, Moore focused on Allen's testimony concerning the restored truck.

"You say it was a 1960s, a two-tone?" Moore asked.

"Yes, sir," Allen said.

"It wasn't a 1990s?"

"No, sir."

"Mr. James, did you see Mr. Owens there that day?"

"No, sir, I didn't."

However, Robert Williams testified that he did see someone who looked like Owens there that day. The Salley resident said he was loading his boat when a third truck pulled into the boat landing area.

"This fellow that you say drove up, did he have anything in his hands?" Morgan said.

"No, ma'am," Williams said.

"Nothing in his hands. Did you see any fishing gear?"

"No, ma'am,"

"And what was your feeling about this guy that drove there? ..."

"I didn't see any fishing gear. .... People will drive there to meet some people sometimes."

Morgan brought out that it was through Williams' observation that investigators came up with a composite drawing of a potential suspect.

Under cross-examination, Moore said "Mr. Owens is sitting here. Was that him at the boat landing that day?"

"Yes, sir," Williams said.

"That is him, Mr. Owens? You saw him at the landing that day?"

"Yes, sir."

"You're sure?"

"Pretty sure," Moore said. "His hair's a little longer."

Blackville resident Troy O'Neal Jamison said he was baling hay at about dusk that day.

"About dark, I heard a shot," he said. "Out there, I didn't think anything about it."

Annie McCreary said her husband loved fishing, repairing small engines and serving as a handy man for others. He was in the process of fixing damage inside a relative's home the day he was killed.

"He came back and got a Mountain Dew, and I asked him where was his cup," Annie McCreary said. "He said, 'I don't know where it is,' so I said I would find it for him."

The courtroom remained still as Annie McCreary told how later that afternoon she dropped off her husband's favorite cup at the job site where he was working.

She last saw him at about 6 p.m. when he told her with a little smile he was going down to the river for a bit of fishing.

Four hours later, he hadn't returned. She tried his cell phone and even went to the river to no avail. She called a neighbor to ask his help in finding her husband of 21 years.

Along with McCreary's son, they traveled back to the boat landing a mile away.

"He went back up on the bridge and looked back down," Annie said, pausing between quiet sobs. "He started dialing 911 and told me to get back in the car. And he wouldn't tell me anything. I said, 'Don, what's wrong? What's wrong?'"

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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