911 call made by driver who spotted car helped police track Oxford shooter Ethan Crumbley’s parents
A 911 caller in Detroit helped police track down the on-the-run parents of Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley when he spotted their Kia sitting in his work parking lot, telling the operator: ‘The parents of the shooter are here!’
The unidentified male caller saw the car belonging to James and Jennifer Crumbley parked on Bellevue Street and said the mother was wearing a sweatshirt in the 911 call on December 3.
‘The f**king parents of the shooter that are running away are here,’ he yelled to a female 911 operator, in the call obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
The pair were supposed to turn themselves in to face involuntary manslaughter charges for their son’s shooting in the Oakland County school district.
When asked for more clarification, he responded: ‘The Oakland shooter, the kid has the two parents that are on the run right now. Oakland County said call if you see anything. And I just went to go park my car and switch it around at my office. I’m in my office. And there was a Kia that looked like their car.’
The man said he ‘walked around and checked the license plate’ and discovered Jennifer Crumbley ‘sitting next to her car in the parking lot’ wearing a hoodie.
‘I walked around to check the license plate and it’s their car and the woman is here, next to the car.
‘I can’t believe it, they’re here,’ he told the operator.
Soon after the call, cops found the pair hiding in the basement of an art building on Bellevue Street on Detroit’s East Side.
An unidentified Detroit man called 911 on December 3 after finding James, 45, and 43-year-old Jennifer Crumbley’s Kia in the parking lot at his job on Bellevue Street. He worriedly told the 911-operator that he saw Jennifer sitting near the car when he went to check the license plates
The unidentified man said he found their car (pictured) in his work parking lot
James, 45, and Jennifer Crumbley, 43, were reportedly ‘on the run’ after their charges were announced in relation to their son Ethan, 15, being arrested for the massacre at Oxford High School that killed four students and injured several others on November 30.
The US Marshals and Oakland County Sheriff’s Department asked for the public’s help in finding the parents after they disappeared from their home.
The Crumbleys’ defense team still maintains that they were not ‘on the run’ and were planning to turn themselves in to police the next morning.
‘It should be noted that the Crumbleys would not have retained (us) if their plans were to flee,’ Smith and Lehman wrote in the filing.
A bond hearing for the parents has been set for January 7.
On Thursday, prosecutors revealed a troubling drawing of a gun on a math homework sheet with the messages: ‘My life is useless,’ ‘Blood everywhere’ and ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.’
Police found them in an art building on the same street as the car (pictured: police searching for them)
It’s part of Oakland County prosecutors’ attempt to paint his parents as neglectful and aware of Ethan’s potential for violence. The prosecutors’ filings include allegations that Ethan’s mother was carrying on an affair while ignoring her son’s spiral and had texted her boyfriend about the murder weapon.
School counselors showed Crumbley’s parents messages and drawings just hours before he fatally shot four and injured seven others on November 30.
Their son had allegedly drawn the messages earlier that morning and a teacher had found them, took a picture and got in touch with a counselor.
It’s part of a pattern of signs that prosecutors accuse the Crumbleys of ignoring over the past six months suggesting that their teenager needed help.
The couple went ‘on the run’ after their four charges of involuntary manslaughter were announced following their son Ethan, 15, being arrested for the school shooting at Oxford High School (pictured) on November 30, killing four. Their defense claimed they were not ‘on the run’ and planned to turn themselves in the following morning
They say that Jennifer and James ‘failed to take even the simplest actions that would have prevented the massacre’ in court documents.
Prosecutors also point out that the parents had recently bought Ethan a gun.
‘The Crumbleys’ knew their son was depressed, that he was fascinated with guns… that he had been researching ammunition while at a school and that he was seen watching violent videos of shootings that morning,’ prosecutors said, but they purchased the gun for Ethan as an early Christmas present anyway
‘All they had to do was tell the school that they had recently purchased a gun for their son, asked him where the gun was, opened his backpack or just take him home,’ the prosecution alleged. ‘Defendants were in a better position than anyone else in the world to prevent this tragedy, but they failed to do so.’
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald revealed two versions of the photo in the filing. A second version that Ethan allegedly altered crosses out the disturbing messages and adds ones like ‘video game this is,’ ‘we’re all friends here,’ ‘harmless act,’ ‘I love my life so much!!!!’ and ‘OHS rocks!’
McDonald argued that instead of caring for their son, the Crumbleys spent time with their horses and Jennifer pursued an extramarital affair.
Prosecutors alleged Jennifer Crumbley had told her boyfriend the day of the shooting that the alleged murder weapon had been in her car.
The filings are part of a response by McDonald to keep Ethan’s parents in jail on $500,000 bonds.
The Crumbley’s have each been jailed on $500,000 bond since their arrest on December 4. In Wednesday’s filing, defense attorneys Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman asked that their bond be lowered to $100,000 each and said the couple would wear electronic monitors if released from jail.
McDonald, however, counters that the Crumbleys are a flight risk. They’re also behind on house payments to the tune of $11,000 and are trying to sell their assets, included horses and their home.
Their 15-year-old son is accused of killing Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17, and injuring several others after opening fire in the school. Ethan was charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism, and is being held at the same jail as his parents.
Ethan has been charged with 24 counts, including four counts of first-degree murder and terrorism causing death.
Both Crumbleys have pled not guilty to all four charges of involuntary manslaughter – one for each Oxford High School student who was killed. Each count is punishable by up to 15 years in prison along with a $7,500 fine and mandatory DNA testing.
James and Jennifer are also accused of making a gun accessible to Ethan and for failing to pull him out of school when summoned about his cryptic writings before the shooting on November 30.
Ethan has been charged with 24 counts, including four counts of first-degree murder and terrorism causing death
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald revealed two versions of a screenshot of Ethan Crumbley’s drawings in a filing Thursday. In the first drawing, pictured, Ethan writes several troubling messages, such as ‘My life is useless,’ ‘Blood everywhere’ and ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me’
Pictured: A second piece of homework that Ethan allegedly altered crosses out other disturbing messages and adds ones like ‘video game this is,’ ‘we’re all friends here,’ ‘harmless act,’ ‘I love my life so much!!!!’ and ‘OHS rocks!’
Their lawyers allege that the Crumbleys were unaware Ethan was a danger to other students and are ‘devastated by the school shooting.’
Prosecutors have argued that a ‘don’t do it’ text Jennifer sent Ethan the day of the shooting proves she knew what was going on.
Defense attorneys said Jennifer was urging him not to kill himself, and not in reference to the deadly shooting that unfolded, her lawyers alleged.
In Wednesday’s filing, the defense argued that the prosecution will be unable to prove Jennifer and James knew Ethan would take the gun they bought him as an early Christmas to his high school and fire at other members of the community.
‘The prosecution will not be able to prove that the Crumbleys … knew their son was a danger to other students, or that they knew there was a situation that required them to take care to avoid injuring another,’ the lawyers wrote.
‘The last thing they expected was that a school shooting would take place, or that their son would be responsible.’
Also, for the first time, the defense shared how James and Jennifer felt following the shooting.
‘The Crumbleys, like every parent and community member, are devastated by the school shooting,’ the court filing alleges. ‘This situation is entirely devastating.’
Madisyn Baldwin, 17, (left) and Hana St Juliana, 14, (right) died in a shooting rampage at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit
Justin Shilling, 17, (left) died in the hospital the morning after the shooting and Tate Myre (right) died in the school on November 30
The defense also noted there are community members who would ‘vouch for the Crumbleys’ but who wish to remain anonymous due to the ‘overwhelming media attention’ surrounding the case.
The Crumbleys, like their son, are being held at the Oakland County Jail.
They were arrested on December 4 after the US Marshals offered a $10,000 bounty for information leading to their capture. Their absence prompted a manhunt involving several agencies, including the Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force, state police and the FBI.
Law enforcement sources say the couple withdrew $4,000 from an ATM and were last seen around 2-3 pm shortly before the 4pm deadline to turn themselves in.
Smith said they had planned to appear the next day at a different court handling Saturday arraignments and were not trying to flee.
