Suspect had vowed to reform

CLEVELAND (AP) — A man who killed himself a day after allegedly killing his wife and four others told a judge in 2005 that he was ready to be a law-abiding citizen who would not let society down if he was released from prison.

“I swear to you from the bottom of my heart that I ‘WILL NOT’ let you down. Let my wife or children down. Let my family down. Let society down. Or especially, let myself down,” Davon Crawford wrote to Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo as part of a motion for release.

Crawford, who was freed in 2007, shot himself in the head Friday afternoon when confronted by police in the bathroom of a house not far from the house where his wife, his sister-in-law and three young children were found dead, said Police Lt. Thomas Stacho.

Police said Crawford is suspected of killing them. Cuyahoga County coroner’s spokesman Powell Cesar confirmed Saturday that all five victims were shot in the head.

Crawford, 33, was divorced from his first wife about three months after writing the letter to Russo, records show. His new wife, 30-year-old Lechea Crawford, was one of the women killed in the couple’s home Thursday night.