ATLANTA — The family of a Clark Atlanta University student who was senselessly strangled to death and her body dumped into a park are demanding a judge not to grant one of her accused killers bond.
(UPDATE: The bond hearing was postponed Friday morning. It's unclear when it will be put back on the calendar. Barron Brantley's defense requested March 24, though the judge said she would have to check the calendar.)
Alexis Crawford was first reported missing and then found dead in Exchange Park in Decatur in October 2019. The 21-year-old's roommate and close friend Jordyn Jones is accused of her death, as is Jones' then-boyfriend Barron Brantley. According to detectives, both Jones and Brantley admitted under questioning at least parts of their roles in the crime -- prosecutors have asked to use this video as evidence.
Fulton County court records show Brantley is scheduled for a status hearing Friday, nearly 10 months after he and Jones asked for separate trials.
In a statement, Crawford's family said the Fulton County District Attorney's Office notified them that Brantley is seeking bond.
"The incessant pain we feel from the cold-blooded murder of Alexis at the hands of Barron Brantley and Jordyn Jones, whom we often welcomed into our home, is constant and nearly unbearable," Tammy Crawford, the student's mother said in a letter. "I was deeply disturbed by the possibility of Barron being released on bond. I am gravely afraid. I am angry. I am also in disbelief yet determined."
She described Brantley's bail as a "slap in the face" to the family and "spit on Alexis' grave." She led a similar crusade, calling for a judge to deny bond during Jones' status hearing in 2020.
Both Jones and Brantley have pleaded not guilty to their six charges, including felony murder, false imprisonment and concealing the death of another.
Investigators say the two strangled and suffocated Crawford with a garbage bag before dumping her body into a trash bin and taking it to a Decatur park.
An intense search for Crawford lasted for days before police discovered her body after questioning Jones, who they say led them to the park. Investigators said Crawford's murder came just days after Brantley sexually assaulted her -- he's also accused of aggravated sodomy.
"While there is nothing that will bring my daughter back, jail without bail for her murderers would give me and my family some peace and security while we wait for justice to finally be served," Crawford's mother said.