Alexis Crawford’s Disturbing Last Moments And Cause Of Death Revealed
Details about Alexis Crawford’s last moments alive were released by the Fulton County Superior Court on Tuesday (Nov. 12).
The 21-year-old Clark Atlanta University student was strangled to death, and her remains were placed in a plastic bin and dumped in a park, WSB-TV Atlanta reports.
Court documents also detail how within hours of Crawford and her roommate, Jordyn Jones, taking a late-night trip to a liquor store, they got into a physical fight inside their off-campus apartment, WSB-TV Atlanta reports.
Jones, 21, is a suspect in Crawford’s murder along with her boyfriend, 21-year-old Barron Brantley.
When the two women got into a fight, Brantley got involved, court documents state, according to WSB-TV Atlanta.
“As a result of the physical altercation, Barron Brantley choked the victim until she was deceased,” an Atlanta Police Department reports states, according to WSB-TV.
According to 11Alive, court documents also alleged Jones smothered her “with a black trash bag until Crawford stopped breathing and was deceased.”
“Afterwards Jones and Brantley placed Alexis Crawford in a plastic bin and transported her body to Exchange Park in Decatur, Georgia, where they placed her body in the woods,” the report also states, according to WSB-TV Atlanta.
Brantley reportedly admitted those details during an interview with authorities on Nov. 8, 11Alive reports.
Brantley has a criminal background, and as of Friday’s arrest, he violated his bond condition from a previous arrest in February, involving charges for theft, battery and cruelty to children.
Jones’ father told the court she was on probation for a DUI in Michigan, 11Alive reports.
Both Jones and Brantley face charges of malice murder, which involves deliberate intent and is punishable by death or imprisonment for life with or without parole.
Crawford was reported missing by her family on Nov. 1, but investigators said it was likely she had already been killed.
Court reports state she was killed on Halloween, 11Alive reports.
A medical examiner concluded the cause of death was asphyxiation.
Her death came days after she filed a sexual assault report on Oct. 26 against Brantley for “unwanted kissing and touching.”
According to the police report Crawford filed, she told authorities Brantley had mistaken her for Jones and rubbed her shoulders and kissed her on the neck while they drank alcohol. When she entered a restroom alone, Brantley followed.
Jones told police she found Crawford locked inside the restroom wearing only a bra, and authorities later recovered a “pair of cut panties” in the restroom.
Jones was not only Crawford’s roommate but also a close friend who spent holidays with the victim’s family.
“That makes that tragedy all the more difficult to understand and reconcile,” Rev. Markel Hutchins, the spokesman for Crawford’s family said, adding that Jones spent Easter and Thanksgiving with the family.
“They knew Jordyn, they liked Jordyn. There was never a reason to suspect that Jordyn would do anything wrong or ill to Alexis,” Hutchins said. “One family member described them as two peas in a pod … To go from that to where we are today, it’s unthinkable.”
Crawford’s funeral will be held on Saturday (Nov. 16) at the Hill Chapel Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia.
