Man kills girlfriend, then self as Warren cops confront him

Staff report

WARREN

Police said a man shot and killed his girlfriend at her house on Hamilton Street Southwest about noon Friday, then fled to a nearby vacant house on Austin Avenue and killed himself when confronted by officers.

A woman at the scene said the victim was her daughter, Jessica Crowder, 36, who lived with her at 1336 Hamilton, and her boyfriend was R.J. Culver, 27, who had been staying at the home the past few days.

“It’s like a nightmare,” Crowder’s mother told relatives and friends several hours later outside her home, where they gathered as investigators worked in the house. “I want to wake up and it all be a dream.”

She told her granddaughter to call 911 because of the type of argument her daughter and Culver were having in front of the house. “He chased [Crowder] into the house and shot her in the back bedroom,” Crowder’s mother said.

Warren police said they would not be releasing the names of the two who died until Monday, nor would they be authorizing the release of the 911 calls. One of them came from Crowder’s daughter.

The woman said Crowder “had a good heart and “cared about people.” She said Culver “had a troubled past. I think in her heart, she thought he would change.”

The woman said the couple had been together for about three years, but Culver “doesn’t trust her and argues with her all the time about it.”

If there is anything to be thankful for, it’s that neither of Crowder’s children, age 11 and 15, were killed and that Culver didn’t also kill her, she said.

“He ran right past us. It could have been so much worse,” she said.

If Crowder’s death is ruled a homicide, it will be the first one in Warren this year.