Where are Erika and Benjamin Sifrit now? Details explored ahead of Very Scary Lovers on ID

The case of Erika and Benjamin Sifrit will be explored in Very Scary Lovers, a one-hour special premiering on Investigation Discovery (ID) on February 2, 2025. Hosted by Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, the special follows the Sifrit couple’s transformation from an ordinary marriage to a crime spree.

Benjamin Sifrit remains incarcerated at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, Maryland, serving a 38-year sentence for his role in the 2002 killings of Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley. His first parole hearing was denied, and according to WTOP (April 28, 2022), his mandatory release date is set for 2030.

Erika Sifrit, his former wife and accomplice, was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 20 years at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup. She was convicted of first-degree murder in Ford’s death and second-degree murder in Crutchley’s case. She became eligible for parole in 2024. The couple divorced in 2010, years after their conviction.

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Release of Benjamin Sifrit possible by 2030

Due to significant pre-trial publicity, Benjamin Sifrit’s trial was moved to Montgomery County, while Erika Sifrit’s took place in Frederick County. After deliberating for 14 hours, the jury found Benjamin Sifrit guilty of second-degree murder in Crutchley’s death but acquitted him of Ford’s murder.

According to WTOP, at his sentencing in 2003, Judge Paul Weinstein, who had come out of retirement to oversee the case, stated that, in his view, the crime was a “thrill-killing” and that Benjamin Sifrit was a “butcher” who had dismembered the victims for no justifiable reason.

In Maryland, individuals convicted of crimes resulting in loss of life are eligible for parole after serving half of their sentence. As per WTOP (April 28, 2022), Benjamin Sifrit became eligible for parole in 2017 but chose to postpone his hearing.

Benjamin Sifrit's first parole hearing, held in 2022, resulted in a denial, but he retains the right to request another hearing after two years if he can present new information that justifies reconsideration. As per WTOP (April 28, 2022), his mandatory release date is set for 2030, though it may be shortened depending on credits earned while incarcerated.

When Benjamin Sifrit finally appeared before the Maryland Parole Commission in 2022, the hearing lasted over an hour and included statements from representatives of the victims. The commissioners ultimately refused his parole request. His attorney, Bill Brennan, declined to comment on the decision.

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More on the case of Benjamin and Erica Sifrit

In 1998, Benjamin married Erika when they were both 20 years old. Four years after their marriage in 2002, the crimes took place over Memorial Day weekend when Benjamin Sifrit and his then-wife, Erika Sifrit, met Ford and Crutchley in Ocean City, Maryland. The four spent an evening drinking at the Seacrets nightclub before returning to the Sifrits’ rented condominium.

According to WTOP (April 28, 2022), Ford and Crutchley were later forced into a bathroom, where shots were fired through the door. Their bodies were dismembered, placed in a dumpster, and later discovered in a landfill nine days after the killings.

On May 31, 2002, the couple was arrested on accounts of burglary. According to People (June 9, 2003), upon police search, Ford and Crutchley's driver's licenses were recovered, who had been reported missing. The Sifrits were subsequently apprehended and sentenced to prison post-trials.

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Stay tuned for more updates.