PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — The trial for Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, continued in Oakland County court on Wednesday. Jennifer and her husband James Crumbley are each facing four charges of involuntary manslaughter. They will be tried separately.
The first person to take the stand was Sam Marzban, a detective lieutenant with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office's city of Pontiac detective bureau. He discussed searching the school after the shooting and how officers and deputies searched the school.
According to Marzban, he was also tasked with identifying two of the students who were killed in the shooting – Hana St. Juliana and Madisyn Baldwin.
Prosecutors also showed a photo of the shooter's phone with a text message from Jennifer Crumbley that said "Ethan don't do it" and another one from James that said "Ethan call me now." Marzban said the texts were sent around 2 p.m., which was about an hour after the shooting.
He also spoke about Jennifer Crumbley's demeanor as police worked to seize her and her husband's cell phones as a part of a search warrant that was issued. Marzban noted that she was reluctant to give up her phone.
"She seemed irritated and frustrated. I remember taking notes down and she made a statement to me saying that lives were lost today and he's going to have to suffer," Marzban recalled. "And I found that odd."
She eventually turned over her phone and password when told it was part of a court-ordered search. Soon after, she picked up a new prepaid phone but didn't share the number with detectives.
CRUMBLEYS' ARREST: PUTTING 'TWO AND TWO TOGETHER'
Next on the stand was David Hendrick, who worked for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office on the day of the shooting. He recently retired as a detective sergeant as part of the fugitive apprehension team. He was tasked with finding James and Jennifer Crumbley after the shooting. A search warrant for their arrests was signed Dec. 3, 2021.
Hendrick said his team wasn't able to broker a "safe" surrender of the Crumbleys when meeting with their attorney. So, they began searching elsewhere.
Hendrick detailed looking at several hotels, family members' residences and finding a vehicle registered to the Crumbleys abandoned in Auburn Hills at a hotel.
It appeared the prosecution was looking to show the Crumbleys intended to run following the shooting.
Up next on the stand was Luke Kirtley, who owns Coffeehaus, a coffee roasting company in Detroit. He has a location in the warehouse where James and Jennifer Crumbley were eventually found on Detroit's east side. Prosecutors played the 911 call where Kirtley called police to let them know the Crumbleys were there.
The Crumbleys were arrested around 1 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2021, after they were missing following charges in the shooting. A portion of the arrest video was also shown in court.
“I remember specifically putting the plate, two and two together. That’s a feeling you’ve never felt before. Then I walked back into my office and locked all the doors,” Kirtley said.
Following Kirtley was Detroit police Cpl. David Shaw, who was part of the team that searched the building when they were looking for the Crumbleys.
"I see two people laying on a mattress... facing each other, making no sound," Shaw said.
Body camera video of the arrest was played in court.
Several times throughout the trial, the defense noted that the Crumbleys had no intention of running and were at an art gallery inside the warehouse that night as a safety precaution with intentions to turn themselves into police early the next morning. Defense attorney Shannon Smith said at the time, the Crumbleys were receiving multiple death threats.
AFFAIR OFFICIALLY ON THE RECORD
Following lunch, Brian Meloche, a friend of Jennifer Crumbley who has known her since high school, took the stand. They showed different Facebook messages between Jennifer Crumbley and Meloche, and his interviews with police.
There was also much debate about an allegation over police intimidation, and it led to an extramarital affair between Jennifer Crumbley and Meloche being put on the record.
The defense spent hours with Meloche going through pages of Facebook messages that showed what Jennifer Crumbley was saying to him after the shooting. The messages showed how she was feeling and also mentioned how she and her husband were on the run after charges were issued.
"We're on the run again. Helicopters not sure where to I'll message you," one of the messages read.
After going through the messages, the prosecution returned examining the witness and asked questions about whether or not Meloche felt threatened by police officers, which was originally what brought up line of questioning.
Prosecutors said they had a few more witnesses to call and could soon rest their case. But after evidence of the alleged affair, they said it changes the course of the trial. The judge expressed concerns about relevance and whether that information could prejudice a jury.
EVIDENCE IN WAREHOUSE INCLUDED THOUSANDS IN CASH
The last witness to testify on Wednesday was William Creer, a forensic technician with the city of Detroit. He and the prosecution made it clear that he is not a police officer but investigates crime scenes. He said he arrived to the warehouse around 2:40 a.m., after the couple was arrested.
Creer said he and his partner took pictures and collected evidence at the warehouse where the Crumbleys were found. The prosecutor showed Creer pictures that were taken, asking him what they found.
Photographs taken at the warehouse showed the couple's vehicle and cigarette butts outside. Inside, pictures showed several items such as a mattress, clothes, bags, food and cups. Several receipts were shown as well as $6,617 in cash.
There were also multiple cell phones and bottles of Adderall and Xanax that were prescribed to Jennifer Crumbley.
Evidence shown in the pictures was also brought into the courtroom as Creer was on the stand.
TUESDAY'S TESTIMONY
On Tuesday, Nick Ejak, the dean of students at the high school at time of the shooting, took the stand. He said he was first alerted about the shooter a few days before the incident via email — after a teacher caught the student looking up bullets in class, but another administrator dealt with the concern that day.
Then the day of the shooting, Ejak said he was sent another email about an inappropriate drawing the student made on a math assignment depicting a gun, bullets and writing the words “blood everywhere” and “the thoughts won’t stop help me.”
“My understanding was we would discuss moving forward with additional help that afternoon... and he would be leaving from the parent meeting with his parents,” Ejak said.
It was also revealed that Jennifer and James got into an argument with their son the night before the shooting and locked him out of the house.
Jurors also heard from two people who worked with Jennifer, including her former boss, Andrew Smith. She worked at a real estate company.
Smith said she had opportunities to work from home and could have addressed any issues with her son.
“We had a property visit scheduled that afternoon that she was invited to,” Smith said, adding that she was not required to attend and it would not have been a problem for her to leave work.
The court got an inside look at the Crumbley household. Officers say they found multiple BB guns, knives and targets in the shooter's two bedrooms hours after the school shooting took place.
A 49-minute video was also shown of Jennifer Crumbley in the back of a police car as officers searched her home. Prosecutors wanted jurors to take notes of her demeanor from surveillance video taken inside the vehicle.
On Monday, Jennifer was sworn in to allow unredacted Facebook messages from 2021 between her and her husband to be on the record.
Three witnesses took the stand Monday, including Kira Pennock, who runs the barn that cared for the Crumbleys' horses, Shawn Hopkins, who worked as a counselor at Oxford High School the day of the shooting and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sgt. Joe Brian.
Witness testimony for the prosecution continues Thursday morning.
