GUILTY TX - Jennifer Crecente, 18, shot to death, Austin, 15 Feb 2006

Austin man charged in shooting death of high school senior

AUSTIN -- A 19-year-old Austin man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a high school senior found in a wooded area near her home, police said.

Justin Allen Crabbe was arrested Saturday and was being held without bail, officials said. He was charged with murdering Jennifer Crecente, 18, whose body was found Thursday behind an Austin subdivision.

More: http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=4523216
 
How horrible!

I want to know the relationship of the two. It didn't sound like it was a boyfriend, wonder if she knew him at all. I only assume it wasn't a boyfriend since the family didn't say anything, could have been.
 
From what I'm hearing either Jennifer or her mother called the police the day before on this guy for harassment. Neighbors say he's a troubled teen....ya think??? I just wonder how he got her to meet him in the drainage ditch area...although maybe he followed her there. I've heard that she recently moved out and got her own apartment....not sure on that one. The area she was killed was behind her mothers home.
 
What a scuz bucket! When are the worthless going to stop killing our valuable young people?
 
Man, 19, jailed in Bowie High student's slaying

Young woman remembered as caring, happy person.

A 19-year-old Austin man was jailed Saturday on a charge of first-degree murder in the slaying of Bowie High School senior Jennifer Crecente.
Justin Allen Crabbe was being held without bail because of previous outstanding warrants against him. Police offered no further details regarding the arrest late Saturday.

Jennifer Crecente's slaying cut short a young life with many possibilities, including plans to study psychology in college after graduating from Bowie High School in May.

...Her father, Drew Crecente, 38, who does computer work for Home Depot, was too upset to talk Saturday but issued a statement through his brother: "Jennifer was a wonderful, precious gift, and I will miss her forever."
Police have asked that the slain student's mother, who is recovering from an illness, not be called by reporters. "She's crushed by this," Brian Crecente said.

He said Jennifer Crecente was an animal lover who had various pets. She had been a vegetarian since she was 12, he said. She was a camp counselor for young children last summer in Atlanta and had volunteered in Austin hospitals during the past few years.

Her father had saved money to pay for her to go to college, and she was talking about going to college in Austin "for at least the first couple of years," Brian Crecente said.

More: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/19bowielate.html
 
Oh how sad! I just spent some time reading Jennifer's dad's blog and then found Jennifer's blog. This was an entry from her Great Aunt that really touched me.

2/17/2006 8:00 PM

Wait 9 months while praying for a healthy baby,
Eat right, Exercise, Don’t drink or use drugs,
Give birth while praying.

Take care with a lot of love, Change diapers,
Stay up late, Lots of hugs, Feed with good stuff,
Cry, Worry, Love, Worry, Love, Pray.

Go to performances, Little league, Dance classes, Birthday parties,
Blankies, Teddy bears.

Teaching about respect, Love and life,
Kindness, Roots, Family, and God.

Teenage years come!
Games, TV, “MySpace”, Drugs, Weird people, Loose families,
Driving,
Holes in ears, Tongues, Lips, Belly buttons and other places, Tattoos.
Lack of respect.
Danger.

Forget about Church and God, it’s not cool.
Yelling “music”, Screaming – Loud sounds called music.
Angry. Disrespect. Use of four letter words.
Experiment with drugs or liquor or both.

Family gatherings not interesting enough.
Floundering, Bored, TV and internet run life.
Failing classes, Doing scary things

Going off on their own.
Ready for what?
What happened?

Pray, Cry, Worry, Love, Worry, Love, Cry, Pray.

Written by Jennifer’s Great Aunt Rose Marie
Feb 17, 2006 – after hearing about Jennifer’s murder.


Continued prayers for the family . . . .
 
Monday, February 20, 2006

Justin Allen Crabbe, charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of a Bowie High School senior, told police that another man shot her accidentally while they were playing with a gun, according to a police affidavit.

Crabbe, 18, who was arrested Saturday night, is being held without bail at the Travis County Jail.

Jennifer Crecente was found shot in woods.

Crabbe first told police he had not seen the victim, 18-year-old Jennifer Crecente, since 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. But later he said he, Crecente and another friend had been in a wooded area near their houses when a gun he and the friend were handling went off, hitting Crecente, the affidavit says.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/20bowie.html (subscription I think....use bugmenot)

Sounds planned to me...and she was shot the day after Valentines...hmmm.
 
This was a story from earlier last week:

...Authorities believe she died sometime Wednesday morning or afternoon from a gunshot wound.
...They think her murder may have been planned or pre-meditated.

Police are asking neighbors especially to call with info if they saw anyone or anything suspicious on Wednesday.

More: http://story.austinglobe.com/p.x/ct/9/id/17dabb4db7984a0a/cid/42acbe017a594c30/
 
Read The Letter That Bowie HS Officials Sent Students About The Death (PDF format)
Courtesy of KXAN.com
 
How sad, I wonder how long they had been dating. It didn't sound like any of her friends were familure with the relationship. I read through quite a bit on the my space and didn't see him mentioned any where.
 
CrimeHater said:
How sad, I wonder how long they had been dating. It didn't sound like any of her friends were familure with the relationship. I read through quite a bit on the my space and didn't see him mentioned any where.

Investigators say Crabbe admitted to getting into an argument with Cresente about a day before the shooting, but he blamed another friend for Cresente's death. He said the gun went off when he and his friend were handling the gun.

The friend told police that he had nothing to do with the shooting.

Crabbe's mother told police that the teen stole the gun from her safe. Investigators noted that Crabbe changed his story several times during the investigation. They spoke with him at least twice and they say he told them two different stories.

Classmates described the couple's relationship as sometimes volatile, but they say Cresente never reached out to them for help.

"She wouldn't listen. We all told her not to be with him and not to hang around with him, but... I don't know, it was really hard," said Lauren Preslar.

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/022006kvuecrabbe1-cb.48219487.html

From what I understand he dropped out of school 2 years ago in 10th grade. Prayers for the family.
 
Looks like LE logged into her MySpace account and posted this message, or perhaps her family did:

About me:
The Austin Police Dept. is investigating the death of Jennifer Crecente (crimson77). re: APD Case 06-0471710. The Homicide Unit is requesting that anyone who knew her to call 512-974-5210. Anonymous calls may be placed to the APD Homicide Tipline at 512-477-3588. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/downloads/02-17-06%20Murder%201.pdf


From:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=2950151
 
Well it looks like Justin had a MySpace account but he never did anything with it but put his name, age, hometown, etc. Nothing much here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=6488907


Did he also, once upon a time, live in Elgin Texas?
There's another profile with the same info that came up on his search.
Just his name, age and city flle in. This one appears to be older, and lists him at 18: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=4787817
 
There's also a Justin A Crabbe who submitted his name to be on a microchip that was sent to space. It has no link to this case, but I found the link and thought it was interesting. Might not even be him, but could be....

Here's info about the project: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/microchip/faq.html

Here's a list of last names, beginning with "C", that were part of this project
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/microchip/names2c26.html

I'm just trying to get some info on this Justin guy. There's nothing out there on him and her friends are not mentioning him on the postings of her memory site at all.
 
Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The father of an Austin man accused of participating in the slaying of a Bowie High School senior said Monday that his son was with him during the shooting and could not have acted with a teenager charged in her death.

The father said he is not sure why Justin Allen Crabbe, who is charged with first-degree murder, told police that his son took part in the killing of Jennifer Crecente, 18. He said that Crabbe, 18, and his son had known each other for only a couple of weeks and that he did not know how they met.

"My boy's got nothing to do with it," said the father, who asked to remain anonymous because he thinks his son was falsely accused. "Clean as a whistle. My boy is a good boy."

The man's son, who is not being named by the Austin American-Statesman because he has not been charged, declined to comment. His father said police had interviewed his son earlier Monday.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/21murder.html
 

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