The man accused of killing a Clark Atlanta University student allegedly told police that he suffocated her, cleaned up her blood and then went to a Halloween party that night.
Barron Brantley, 21, was in Atlanta’s Fulton County Magistrate Court for his hearing Friday on murder charges.
Brantley and his girlfriend, Jordyn Jones, 21, are charged with the murder of Clark Atlanta University student Alexis Crawford, 21, whose body was found in Exchange Park in Decatur, Georgia, on November 8.
Barron Brantley, 21, is seen here in an Atlanta court Friday for a hearing on his murder charge
Brantley and girlfriend Jordyn Jones, 21, are accused of murdering Jones’ roommate, Alexis Crawford, 21, on Halloween and then dumping her body in a park
At the time of her death, Crawford was Jones’ roommate at an off-campus apartment. The murder was said to have occurred after Crawford got into a fight with Jones on October 31.
During the hearing, Atlanta Police Department Detective Mike Young said that Brantley ‘admitted to choking Ms. Crawford,’ the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
‘While he was choking Ms. Crawford, Ms. Jones put a plastic bag over her head,’ Young added.
Young went on to say that Brantley told him that he had known that Crawford died during the incident because her ‘sounds of agony’ had ended.
The detective said that Brantley and Jones told him that they had put Crawford’s body into a large plastic bin and then left her in the park at about 4am.
They went back to the apartment where Brantley allegedly cleaned up the blood from the living room and then they went to a Halloween party, Young said.
Authorities said that it’s unclear what led to the fight between Crawford and Jones on the night that Crawford was killed.
A detective testified during hearing that Brantley (pictured Friday) told him that he had choked Crawford and that Jones had put a plastic bag over Crawford’s head
The detective said that Brantley (pictured Friday) said that he knew Crawford was dead because she stopped making ‘sounds of agony’
Crawford’s murder was said to have taken place following a fight between her and Jones (pictured at left and in her mugshot, right) that night. It’s unclear what prompted the fight
Young said that Jones told him that she couldn’t remember what led to the incident because she had been drunk that night.
Police had previously said that Crawford had contacted authorities claiming that Brantley sexually assaulted her at the apartment she shared with Jones on October 27.
According to that police report, Crawford told authorities that Brantley had rubbed her shoulder and kissed her on the neck while they were drinking together. Crawford said that Brantley claimed he mistook her for his girlfriend, Jones.
She said she entered a restroom by herself after Brantley followed her to her room.
Jones told detectives that she found Crawford locked inside the bathroom wearing only a bra, the police report states. Investigators also recovered a ‘pair of cut panties’ in the bathroom.
Jones said that Crawford told her she had passed out and did not remember what had happened.
Brantley said he did not have sex with Crawford, according to Jones.
Crawford (pictured) was reported missing on November 1. Her body was found after an eight day search in a park. The medical examiner determined she died from asphyxiation
Crawford underwent a rape examination at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. The results of that examination were not specified in the police report at the time.
However, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Thursday that Brantley’s DNA had been found.
During Friday’s hearing, Young testified that Brantley had said ‘I didn’t touch her, I didn’t rape her,’ after exiting the bathroom where Crawford was on October 27.
Crawford was reported missing on November 1, leading to an eight day search for her, which ended when her body was found in the park.
The medical examiner then determined that she had been killed by asphyxiation.
At some point during the search for Crawford, Jones told detectives that she was not ‘on speaking terms’ with her roommate because of a ‘separate incident’ that was not disclosed in the missing person report.
The report also mentioned a ‘separate incident’ on October 26, citing friends who said Crawford had started sleeping in the living room because she wasn’t comfortable in her own bedroom.
Following the detective’s testimony Friday, the court said that there was probable cause for the murder charges against Brantley to go forward.
Jones was also set to appear on her charges, but her attorney had asked for her hearing to be postponed.
Both Brantley and Jones are being held in the Fulton County jail without bond.