In 2019, Alexis Crawford was a twenty-one-year-old woman who was a senior in college at Clark Atlanta University, studying Social & Criminal Justice. Alexis grew up in Athens, Georgia, an hour & a half away from the university & had five brothers & four sisters with whom she was incredibly close to. Despite going away to school, Alexis maintained daily contact with her family. She was described as beautiful, bright & brilliant.
In addition to her interest in criminal justice, Alexis was also an artist & enjoyed sketching in her downtime. On October 30, 2019, Alexis talked & laughed with her mom over Facetime & then some time that day, she suddenly disappeared.
At the time of her disappearance, Alexis was living with a roommate & friend that she’d met in freshman year, Jordyn Jones. Jordyn grew up in the small town of Auburn Hills, Michigan where her father was a church deacon & a law enforcement officer. Her parents were high school sweethearts & had been married for thirty years. Alexis & Jordyn quickly bonded & became inseparable. The two decided to move in together at Heritage Station which was an apartment complex only five minutes from campus.
Because Alexis was closer to home than Jordyn, Jordyn would often come back home with Alexis for holidays, spending both Easter & Thanksgiving with the family where she was welcomed with open arms. Alexis’ family referred to the pair as “two peas in a pod.”
On Saturday, October 26, 2019, Alexis, Jordyn & Jordyn’s boyfriend, 21-year-old Barron Brantley, who was an aspiring rapper, went out for drinks. By the time they returned home that night, all three were heavily intoxicated & at some point, Jordyn got sick & went to sleep in her bed. When Jordyn woke up an hour later & tried to use the restroom, she found the door locked. When she knocked, Barron opened the door; he was shirtless & she saw Alexis lying on the bathroom floor, wearing only a bra & she didn’t appear to be conscious. A pair of cut underwear were found in the bathroom.
Before Jordyn could say anything, Barron quickly proclaimed, “I didn’t touch her. I didn’t rape her.”
Jordyn & Barron began to argue until Barron took the keys to Jordyn’s Chevy Cruz & drove off. This prompted Jordyn to call 911 & report her car as stolen. While on the call, she mentioned “I think something happened to my friend.” She then called her older sister’s friend Brittany & asked her to come over. When Brittany arrived, she found Alexis sitting on the floor, hysterically crying.
Alexis told Brittany that she had been sexually assaulted & Brittany immediately called 911 to report it. Alexis was then transferred to Grady Hospital where she filed a sexual assault claim against Barron, alleging that he may have raped her when she was unconscious.
Alexis told the Atlanta police that she had hazy bits of memory of Barron touching & kissing her, but at some point, she blacked out. When she next awoke, she found herself nearly naked on the bathroom floor. When a rape kit was completed, it confirmed that Barron’s sperm was found inside of her.
For unknown reasons, Barron was not immediately arrested for sexual assault & Atlanta police later claimed that Alexis had only reported “unwarranted touching & kissing” from Barron, not rape.
When Jordyn spoke with Barron, he managed to convince her that he had only done what he’d done because he was so intoxicated that he had believed Alexis was Jordyn. The couple reconciled & after Alexis filed sexual assault charges against Barron, Jordyn was no longer speaking to her. Jordyn even contacted some of Alexis’ family members & told them that Barron’s sperm had not been found in the rape kit which was a blatant lie. It was clear that Jordyn’s loyalty was no longer with her friend.
Throughout this time, Alexis texted her friends & told them that she no longer felt safe sleeping in her bedroom & instead, chose to sleep on the living room sofa. Little did Alexis know that Jordyn had snuck Barron into their apartment on October 27th & allowed him to stay in her room for the next four days. Even worse, while Jordyn was at work or in class, Alexis had no idea that only feet away, she was sharing her space & alone in the apartment with Barron, her alleged rapist.
On Wednesday, October 30, Alexis was on a Facetime call with her mom, Tammy at 3:23 pm. Tammy later told detectives that Alexis was in good spirits, laughing & joking. At 8:44 pm, about five hours later, Alexis’ sister Alexandria texted her & asked her what she was doing for the weekend. Alexis replied “nothing” & when Alexandria sent a follow-up response, she never heard back from Alexis.
At 11:30 pm, Alexis was seen on surveillance video at a liquor store wearing a pink hoodie & black pants; this was the last time she was seen alive.
The next day, Halloween, Thursday, October 31, Alexis’ family tried to reach her to no avail, each call & text unanswered. Since she was normally very responsive, her family was immediately concerned. Even if she was busy, she would quickly respond letting them know.
The following day, Friday, November 1, Alexis’ family reported her missing. Later that day, police went to the apartment that Alexis shared with Jordyn & she told detectives that on the night of Wednesday, October 30, Alexis asked her for a ride to the liquor store at 11:30 pm & they returned home at 12:30 am. She told detectives that she had gone straight to bed since she had an early class & when she woke up, Alexis was gone.
Jordyn told police as well as Alexis’ family that she had no idea where she was or what happened to her. Detectives were unable to locate Alexis’ phone, bank card or student ID anywhere in the apartment. Phone records indicated that the phone had been turned off sometime between 2 & 3 am. A state-wide search began for Alexis at this point & flyers were posted all over campus & neighboring towns.
Alexis’ parents spoke out to the public, asking for the safe return of their daughter. As Alexis’ father spoke, choked up with tears, he said, “I love you, baby. Just come home.” Jordyn posted a photo of the flyer on her Instagram page & later wrote, “I just feel helpless, my heart is really hurting now.”
When detectives searched that apartment Alexis & Jordyn shared, they found a small drop of blood on the bathroom sink. With the use of Luminol, they found traces of blood in at least five to six different areas inside the living room area of the apartment. Review of surveillance video from the apartment complex parking garage allegedly showed Jordyn & Barron getting into Jordyn’s car at 3:11 am which contradicted what she had told police about going to bed at 12:30 am.
The video showed Barron backing the car up to the elevator vestibule; they disappeared from camera for 6-7 minutes & the couple drove away at 3:18 am & returned at 4:09 am. When Jordyn’s phone records were checked, investigators could see that it dropped off the network at 2:52 am.
Detectives found messages between Barron & Jordyn, Jordyn telling him to destroy the parking garage surveillance cameras, “get it done.”
During the investigation, one of Jordyn’s friends contacted police & told them that Jordyn had texted her, asking her about a plastic bin. She said her parents had lent her a plastic bin as she was planning to move back to Michigan. Jordyn told her that she no longer had the bin & asked her to pretend she’d borrowed it from her just in case her parents questioned her about it.
On November 8, one week after Alexis’ parents reported her missing, detectives confronted Jordyn about the evidence & she allegedly confessed to the murder of Alexis Crawford. With her father by her side, she led detectives to her friend’s body. Alexis’ body was found in Exchange Park in DeKalb County, Georgia. She was wrapped in a blue blanket & her hands were bound with the pink hoodie she had been seen wearing in the liquor store surveillance video. A blue t-shirt was wrapped around her neck & her head had been covered in a plastic garbage bag. A plastic bin was lying next to her body.
According to Jordyn’s statement, after they returned home from the liquor store on the night of Wednesday, October 30, she admitted to Alexis that Barron had secretly been staying in her room over the past four days which started a fight between Alexis & Jordyn. According to Jordyn, at some point during this time, Barron ran into the room & began choking Alexis.
Following the confession, both Jordyn & Barron were arrested. Barron admitted to detectives that he had strangled Alexis but claimed that during this time, Jordyn had also suffocated her former best friend with a plastic garbage bag. Alexis fought for her life, ripping a hole in the garbage bag, but Barron continued to choke her until she stopped breathing. Barron told detectives that he knew Alexis was dying because she was struggling to breathe & it sounded like she was in agony.
The couple then placed Alexis’ body in a plastic bin which they loaded into Jordyn’s car which was seen on surveillance video in the apartment complex parking garage. From here, they drove to Exchange Park where they pushed the bin over a hill. The impact of the fall caused Alexis’ body to fall out of the bin which is how detectives found her.
The couple returned home at about 4 am & unsuccessfully cleaned up the crime scene until they went to bed. The next day they attended a Halloween party as if nothing had happened. After Alexis’ death Jordyn continued to text her phone, knowing that she was gone & they had turned her phone off. Her texts were those of concern about her whereabouts & wellbeing. She also posted to Instagram, thanking those that hadn’t been negative towards her: “This is obviously a difficult time for me right now & I just feel helpless. My heart is really hurting right now. The fact that y’all are telling everyone to blow my DMs up is beyond childish. How bout ya’ll put that same energy ya’ll putting into harass me into finding my friend.”
Alexis’ family were rightfully shocked that their daughter’s close friend was involved in her murder; they knew Jordyn & liked her & had no reason to suspect that Jordyn would have ever done anything to hurt Alexis. They felt that to go from their best friend status to where they now were was unthinkable & unspeakable. Mutual friends would later say that the two girls were very different from one another; Alexis was very welcoming & friendly whereas Jordyn could be more standoffish. The motive is believed to have been to protect her boyfriend from sexual assault charges. After the fact, friends have spoken out to indicate that some warning signs may have been overlooked that there was anger & hatred under Jordyn’s smiles. A psychologist believes that this could have been an example of a love-hate relationship where there is love for a person on the surface but a lot of resentment & anger beneath that many people never see.
This same psychologist speaks about the fact that the couple was able to come home after dumping Alexis’ body & go to sleep & then head to a Halloween party later in the day. When a person has no conscience, they also have no sense of guilt or compassion & when they do an act, even as horrific as this, it’s just an event for them & they move on.
Jordyn had no previous criminal record in Georgia but was on probation for a DUI charge in Michigan. Barron had a criminal past dating back to 2015 with charges including robbery, family violence, cruelty to children, hindering persons making an emergency telephone call & theft by taking. His most recent arrest happened in February of 2019 for family violence.
Fulton County court records indicate that Jordyn & Barron were indicted by a grand jury for charges of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment & concealing the death of another. Barron faced additional charges of aggravated sodomy.
Because Jordyn was considered a flight risk, her bond was denied; after the murder & before she was a suspect, she began to withdraw from the university with plans of moving back to her home state of Michigan. It was also believed that she posed a significant risk of intimidating witnesses or obstructing the administration of the case.
Alexis was laid to rest on November 16, 2019 & her family made it a point to focus on the bright, promising life she led, rather than the gruesome nature of her death. They want her to be remembered as a bright, hardworking, beautiful & good person who tried to do her very best in school.
Nearly four years have passed since Alexis Crawford was tragically murdered & the case continues to wind slowly through the judicial system. Reports indicate that the confession given by Barron shortly after his arrest cannot be used by prosecutors because his Miranda rights were insufficiently given. On the day of his confession, there is reason to suspect that he was under the influence of drugs & could not provide a “knowing & intelligent” waiver of his Miranda rights. He was never asked if he was under the influence or when he had last used drugs but he had informed officers that he was a drug user. He displayed odd behavior as he spoke with detectives, asking officers for a hug, intense chain smoking to the point of having two cigarettes in his mouth at once & needing to lean on a car to avoid falling down “corroborates his testimony that he was under the influence of drugs to such an extent that he was unable to understand & appreciate his rights & consequences of waiving those rights.” The judge also noted that detectives used language with Barron to imply “that an admission coupled with a show of remorse, would result in a lesser punishment.”
Alexis’ family have spoken out about learning that Barron was again seeking bond: “The monsters that murdered Alexis should not ever get out of jail – under any circumstances. I cannot imagine a judge finding it just or safe to grant Barron the freedom to walk around & be with his family while Alexis lies in a lonely grave.”
Both Jordyn & Barron have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
References:
- Medium: Young woman murdered after roommate’s boyfriend sexually assaults her
- BET: ‘She was a sketch artist:’ Crawford family spokesperson tells BET how they want Alexis to be remembered
- BET: Judge calls Jordyn Jones’ contact with Alexis Crawford’s family ‘ultimate intimidation of witnesses’
- Fox 5 Atlanta: ‘Slap in the face’: Alexis Crawford’s family outraged over possible bond for murder suspect
- ANF: Documents: CAU student choked, suffocated with trash bag
- Alive: Alexis Crawford murder case. Prosecutors can’t use accused killer’s confession & other updates
- Fox 5: Alexis Crawford’s family asks judge to deny bond for murder suspect
- Newsone: Alexis Crawford’s grisly killing is detailed in devastating court documents
- ANF: Psychologist examines signs of betrayal leading up to the murder of Alexis Crawford
- YouTube 11Alive: Accused Alexis Crawford killer Barron Brantley faces court hearing
