ATLANTA — In the past two days, several new details were revealed in court as the accused killers of Alexis Crawford appeared before a judge.
Jordyn Jones, the friend and roommate of the slain Clark Atlanta University student, was in court on Thursday for a bond hearing. Nearly 24 hours later, Jones' boyfriend appeared for his preliminary hearing.
Jones and Brantley are both charged with malice murder in the killing.
The timeline of the days leading to -- and after -- the murder of Alexis Crawford became more clear.
The following is a summary of what Detective Michael Young testified in court on November 22 (all paraphrasing of the testimony is in italics):
October 26 was homecoming for Morehouse and Spelman. Jordyn Jones told detectives that she, Alexis Crawford and Barron Brantley were out drinking. They came home and began drinking more.
Jones got sick and went to bed for about an hour. She last saw Alexis and Brantley in their living room. She wakes up – they’re not in the living room.
The bathroom door is closed and locked. She knocks on it – Brantley comes out and without her asking him anything, immediately says, 'I didn’t touch her, I didn’t rape her.'
It's not clear if Jones sees Alexis unconscious first or starts yelling at Brantley – but she told police that she started arguing with Brantley, who grabs her car keys, runs out of the apartment, and takes off in her car.
Jones calls 911 to report her car was stolen (unclear if this is before or after she realized Alexis was passed out). Jones told police Alexis was unconscious on the floor.
The detective says Jones called Brittany, a Clark Atlanta mentor who graduated 10 years ago and knows Jones’ sister. She tells Brittany her car was stolen and ‘something happened to my friend.’
Brittany comes over and when she gets there, Alexis is sitting on the ground, crying. Alexis tells Brittany she was sexually assaulted. Brittany calls 911 at 1:01 a.m. Police, fire, EMS respond to the apartment and police talk to Alexis and Jones.
Alexis goes to the hospital to have a rape kit on Oct. 27.
Brantley's defense attorney asked the detective if Jones physically attacked or got into a verbal fight with Alexis before police arrived. The detective would only say that Jones told police she was upset and seemed to refute Jones physically attacked Alexis that night.
Brantley told police that Jones sneaked him back into the apartment from Oct. 27 through Oct. 31. Detective says Brantley stayed in Jones' room and Brantley told police Alexis had no idea he was in the apartment during that time.
Jones went to class at times, meaning Brantley was alone in the apartment with Alexis, without Alexis knowing it.
The detective said Brantley didn’t leave Jones' room until Jones and Alexis got into a physical fight in the living room on Oct. 30 after coming home from the liquor store.
As they’re fighting, Brantley comes out of the bedroom and chokes Alexis. The detective is specifically asked if Brantley was trying to break up the fight, but the detective says Brantley was choking Alexis.
As he’s choking her, Jordyn gets a trash bag and puts it over Alexis’ head. Alexis tears a hole in it, but she’s gasping for breath and making sounds of agony.
Jones did not tell police she put the bag over Alexis’ head. Brantley told police that, the detective testified.
Brantley told detectives they knew she had died because she stopped breathing. The detective said Brantley cleaned up the blood (there are 5 or 6 bloody spots that police discovered with luminol in later searches of the living room). They also found a bloody sponge in the kitchen with hair on it.
They get a bin and put Alexis in it. Jones told police she did not help clean up the blood. This happens sometime between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.
Just before 3 a.m., they have phone records showing Alexis’ phone goes off the network. It’s never used again after that.
The detective says surveillance video from the apartment shows Brantley and Jones get into Jones’ car around 3 a.m. They back the car up to a vestibule in the apartment complex. You can’t see what happens next in the video, but they leave about 15 minutes later at 3:17 a.m. Video doesn’t show which direction they’re going, but Brantley is driving.
Jones told police they went to a park and dumped the bin over a hill. Jones wasn’t sure which park – she went with her dad and a detective to a couple of parks before they went to Exchange Park. That’s where police found the body. It had fallen out of the bin after it was pushed, but was right next to it.
The hoodie she was wearing the night she was killed had been used to tie/bind her hands. There was a blue t-shirt around her neck. There was a trash bag with a hole found with the body. The body was wrapped in a blue blanket. There was some type of white powder on the body. Police initially thought it was possibly baby powder. They’re testing it to check.
Detective says after they dumped the body, they went home. Surveillance video shows the car returning to the apartment at 4:09 a.m. They went to sleep, and went to a Halloween party later in the day.
Jones asked a friend about the plastic bin because her parents had given it to her and were coming down to help her move out of her apartment. She thought they would ask about it missing. She told the friend to say she had borrowed it. Police have screen captures from the texts that the friend gave them.
The first time police searched the apartment after Alexis was reported missing (before they realized she was dead), they found a small drop of blood on Jones’ bathroom sink.
Neighbors said they didn’t hear anything or see anything the night of Oct. 30. The defense specifically asked the detective about this -- and he pointed out it was 3 a.m.
A judge ruled probable cause for Brantley's case to proceed forward towards a trial. Jones waived her hearing, and so will also move forward.
Brantley is charged with malice murder,felony murder, aggravated assault - strangulation, and concealing the death of another.
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