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Investigating the death of Tiffiney Crawford
48 Hours's 4-minute overview: the quickest complete way into the case.
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Tiffiney Joy Crawford, 32, was found with two gunshot wounds to the head in her van outside her Cullman, Alabama, home on May 2, 2017. Her husband, Jason Dewayne Crawford, called 911 shortly after 11 p.m. and said his wife had been shot. Some responding officers initially considered the scene consistent with suicide. The case was nevertheless investigated, and the Alabama medical examiner classified Tiffiney's death as a homicide in March 2018.
A Cullman County grand jury indicted Jason Crawford for murder in May 2018, and he surrendered on May 21. The prosecution alleged that he intentionally shot Tiffiney twice. At the November 2022 trial, prosecutors presented the 911 call, police body-camera footage, medical evidence, and testimony about the couple's conflict. CBS News reported that a DNA analyst found only a trace profile on the gun and could not compare it with a person; prosecutors argued the weapon had been wiped and placed in Tiffiney's hand.
The defense maintained that Tiffiney died by suicide. A former Alabama chief medical examiner retained by the defense testified that he believed she could have fired both shots. Jason Crawford testified, denied killing her, and said he was inside the home when the shots were fired. The defense emphasized the absence of direct physical evidence showing that he fired the weapon. Jurors reviewed the body-camera recording and requested the 911 call during deliberations. A juror later told CBS that inconsistencies between Crawford's description of the gun's position and the body-camera view were important to the verdict.
On November 18, 2022, the jury unanimously found Jason Crawford guilty of murder after four days of testimony. Judge Martha Williams sentenced him on March 10, 2023, to 99 years in prison. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overruled his application for rehearing in the direct appeal, CR-2023-0281, on December 1, 2023.
A later Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals matter under Crawford's name, CR-2025-0660, reached another application-for-rehearing denial on April 17, 2026. No source indicates that the standing conviction or sentence was reversed. The case remains solved and Crawford remains convicted.
