The quiet community of Brookwood, Alabama, has been left reeling after a heartbreaking tragedy unfolded inside a local home earlier this week. What was supposed to be a peaceful house- and pet-sitting job turned into a nightmare when 22-year-old Jazmine Alexis Bates, a bright University of Alabama student weeks away from graduation, and her friend, 31-year-old Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, a devoted single father of three young children, were found fatally shot. The tragedy also claimed the life of the family dog they were caring for. The suspected gunman has been identified as 24-year-old De’Kendrick Crawford, a former co-worker who was well-known to both victims, stripping away any sense of a random crime and replacing it with a profound sense of betrayal.
The horror began to unfold in the early hours of Monday morning when the homeowner, who was traveling outside of the United States, checked her home security cameras remotely. To her alarm, she spotted a suspicious figure lurking on her back porch. Becoming increasingly anxious when she subsequently could not reach Alvarez-Duenas by phone, she contacted local authorities to request a welfare check on her property. When deputies from the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrived and opened the front door, they were met with a grim and devastating scene. Alvarez-Duenas lay deceased just inside the foyer, while a further search of the residence revealed Bates’ body hidden inside a back bedroom closet.
Thanks to the homeowner’s surveillance system, police were able to quickly identify the intruder. Investigators soon realized that the suspect was not a stranger, but an acquaintance of the victims and the homeowner. Crawford, Bates, and Alvarez-Duenas had all previously worked and socialized together at Buffalo Phil’s, a popular local restaurant in Tuscaloosa. “They all worked together, they all knew each other and socialized together at some point in the past,” explained Captain Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. This shared history made the sudden, violent nature of the attack even more baffling to investigators and loved ones alike.
Following the discovery of the bodies, law enforcement launched a manhunt for Crawford, tracking him to a relative’s apartment in Northport, about 22 miles away from the crime scene. What followed was a tense, hours-long standoff. Crawford barricaded himself inside the apartment, refusing to surrender even as tactical teams deployed drones, tear gas, and K-9 units, eventually breaching the walls, doors, and attic of the residence. Investigators noted with frustration that Crawford showed absolutely no remorse during the standoff, seemingly caring only for his own safety. He was finally taken into custody roughly ten hours after the victims were found.
This was not Crawford’s first run-in with the law involving firearms. At the time of the murders, he was already wanted by police for a May incident on the University of Alabama campus. After being fired from his job with a construction contractor on campus, Crawford reportedly fired multiple gunshots out of his car window as he drove away, striking a building near Coleman Coliseum. Now facing capital murder charges as well as the prior firearm offense, Crawford appeared in court on Wednesday and was ordered held without bond. Authorities have also indicated that animal cruelty charges are forthcoming for the killing of the dog.
As the legal process begins, two families have been left to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives, and a community is mourning the loss of two promising individuals. Bates was looking forward to celebrating her college graduation this December, while Alvarez-Duenas’ three children are now faced with growing up without their father. Perhaps the most agonizing aspect of the tragedy is the complete lack of answers. Police confess they are still searching for a motive, noting that the victims had done absolutely nothing wrong. For those who knew and loved Jazmine and Jose, the painful mystery of why someone they once worked alongside would steal their futures away remains a heavy, unresolved burden.
