Andre Crawford

Case information

Andre Crawford was convicted of rapes and murders of 11 women committed between 1993 and 1999.

The offence

Crawford was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, 11 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and one count of attempted murder.

Prosecutors alleged that the victims were prostitutes and drug addicts who agreed to trade sex for narcotics but were instead attacked and then raped as they lay dying. In his videotaped confession, Crawford said he killed the women he lured from the streets into abandoned buildings to exchange drugs for sex. When women would resist having the sexual favors before the delivery of the cocaine, he would then strangle them. In at least one case, he had sex with a victim after she was murdered, moved her to another building, and returned to have sex again.

A Cook County jury convicted him on all counts.

Investigation

With Crawford’s arrest, police solved a cluster of slayings in the Englewood and New City areas that had previously been identified genetically.

Crawford was genetically linked to seven murders and eight rapes. With his arrest police solved 11 of the 13 murders originally under investigation, with three of the four DNA-patterned suspects under arrest.

Prosecutors said Crawford’s videotaped confession took three days.

Arrest

On January 31, 2000, a 50-member Police Task Force announced the arrest of 37-year-old Andre Crawford.

Police arrested Crawford on January 28 after police received several tips about him while interviewing the friends of one of the victims.

Crawford confessed on videotape to the seven murders he was linked to genetically and to three other murders authorities had not considered to be related to the case. The extra three killings involved drug-addicted prostitutes and occurred between July 23, 1997, and February 2, 1999.

Trial

A Cook County jury convicted Andre Crawford earlier in December 2009.

A unanimous verdict by the same jury was required for a death sentence.

Judge Evelyn Clay read the jury’s finding at the Cook County Criminal Court’s building. Crawford sat unmoving in the courtroom as the verdict was read.

Rena Carlock, the sister of Patricia Dunn, asked: "It only takes two killings to be eligible for death. It was 11. What kind of justice is that?"

Derrick Cotton, the brother of another victim, Cheryl Cross, said: "I saw the smile on his face, and it was a very sinister smile,"

Claudia Robinson, the only woman to survive Crawford’s attacks, denounced the jury’s decision and said: "What the justice did today tells every criminal they can kill and live,"

Other family members speculated about why a single holdout on the jury refused to sentence Crawford to death. One man said: "They thought about, 'OK, we're going to put a man to death right before Christmas. How is that going to feel on our conscious?"

Crawford pleaded not guilty.

DNA evidence linked him to the deaths of Patricia Dunn, Rhonda King, Angel Shatteen, Shaquanta Langley, Sonja Brandon, Nicole Townsend, Cheryl Cross, Tommie Dennis, Sheryl Johnson, Constance Bailey, and Evandrey Harris.

Crawford’s lawyers argued his life should be spared because of sexual abuse and mistreatment as a child. Asst. Cook County States Attorney Jim McKay said: "someone who brutalized and killed 11 women doesn't merit mercy."

This was described as the third death penalty trial in Illinois in the past three months. Brian Dugan was sentenced to death, and James Degorski was sentenced to life in prison.

Sentencing

On December 17, 2009, Andre Crawford was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Timeline

• March 6, 1993 — Andre Crawford was arrested for felony theft.
• September 21, 1993 — A 37-year-old woman was found murdered in a vacant factory lot on the 700 block of West 50th Street; she had blunt trauma to her head and DNA evidence was recovered.
• September 21, 1993 — The case included a 37-year-old woman found murdered in a vacant factory lot on the 700 block of West 50th Street; DNA evidence was recovered.
• December 21, 1994 — A 24-year-old woman was found murdered in an abandoned building on the 800 block of West 50th Place; DNA evidence was recovered.
• April 3, 1995 — A 36-year-old woman was found murdered in an abandoned house on the 5000 block of South Carpenter; DNA evidence was recovered.
• May 3, 1995 — Andre Crawford was arrested for attempted criminal sexual abuse (felony).
• July 23, 1997 — A 27-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was discovered in a closet of an abandoned house on the 900 block of West 51st Street; DNA evidence was recovered.
• December 27, 1997 — A 42-year-old woman was raped; an offender approached her from behind, placed a knife to her head, dragged her into an abandoned building on the 5100 block of South Peoria, then beat and raped her; DNA evidence was recovered.
• January 1998 — Andre Crawford was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (felony).
• June 1998 — A 31-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was discovered in an abandoned building on the 5000 block of South May Street.
• August 13, 1998 — A 44-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was discovered in the kitchen of an abandoned house on the 900 block of West 52nd Street; her clothes were found in the alley; DNA evidence was recovered.
• August 13, 1998 — A 32-year-old woman was found murdered; her decomposed body was discovered on the floor in the attic on the 5200 block of South Marshfield; DNA evidence was recovered.
• December 8, 1998 — A 35-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was discovered in a building on the 1200 block of West 52nd Street; she had rope marks around her neck and injuries to her face; DNA evidence was recovered.
• February 2, 1999 — A 35-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was discovered on the 1300 block of West 51st Street; DNA evidence was recovered.
• April 21, 1999 — A 44-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was discovered in the upstairs of an abandoned house on the 5000 block of South Justine; DNA evidence was recovered.
• June 20, 1999 — A 41-year-old woman was found murdered; her body was found in the attic of an abandoned building on the 1500 block of West 51st Street; DNA evidence was recovered from blood on the wall indicating a struggle.
• November 1999 — Andre Crawford was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (felony).
• January 28, 2000 — Police arrested Andre Crawford.
• January 31, 2000 — A 50-member Police Task Force announced the arrest of Andre Crawford.
• December 17, 2009 — Andre Crawford was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Outcome

A Cook County jury convicted Andre Crawford on all counts relating to the rapes and murders of 11 women.

Aftermath

Crawford sat unmoving during the verdict reading by Judge Evelyn Clay.

Claudia Robinson denounced the decision not to sentence Crawford to death, and asked:

Other details

Crawford was described as 37-years old at the time of his arrest announcement.

A 27-year-old woman was described as being murdered on July 23, 1997, and a 42-year-old woman was described as being raped on December 27, 1997.

One victim was assaulted and left for dead on Thanksgiving night of 1997 but survived.

Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas Epach said:

Wentworth Area Detective Trigg said at a Chicago Commons Mary McDowell Settlement House meeting following the arrest: "I found out this man was attending my meetings, clapping when I walked in,"

Coleman said: "It's scary that this man was able to be among a community and society for as long as he was, to be a part of the very effort that's supposed to protect us from him,"

Englewood resident Quincy Ray said: "You'd never expect it,"

Crawford told his interrogators: "I was glad I was caught, because I was like a shark in a pool,"

Katrina Martin, 34, described herself as a recovering drug addict. She said she had known Crawford since 1992 while swapping sex for drugs. She said Crawford was a regular at a home where crack users were allowed to get high. She started suspecting Crawford was one of the South Side killers in December 1999 after he sat behind her on a bus and told her the victims deserved to die. She remembered him saying: "(They) need to be strangled and have their heads beaten in,"

Crawford lived in the New City and Englewood area and was described as offering to do small chores for cash. He had a police record dating back to 1985.

The narrative described Crawford as unemployed at the time of his arrest and said he worked for 13 years as a newspaper delivery truck driver for the Chicago Sun-Times.

The narrative described that in the summer of 1999 he moved away from the Englewood area because there was too much heat, and that relocating to Chicago’s West Side led him to confess that “the women were tougher.”

Crawford participated in Operation Safe Passage, in which men escort children through South Side neighborhoods as they walk to school.

The narrative included that prosecutors alleged several DNA “missed opportunities” during felony theft and other prior arrests, stating that if DNA sample requirements had been followed during the March 6, 1993 felony theft arrest and later arrests, the subsequent murders and rape would not have happened. The narrative also described that if his DNA sample had been taken on March 6, 1993, the subsequent 10 murders and 1 rape would not have happened.

Crawford’s family names included Patricia Dunn and Cheryl Cross among the victims’ relatives who spoke in court.