Threats and fear

Wilkerson and Crawford met online in the fall of 2011, when she lived near Panama City in Florida’s Panhandle, and he was in Augusta, Ga.

The couple soon began living together, spending time in both places before they moved with her two young children to South Florida. By Thanksgiving 2012, the relationship was over.

Crawford had become physically abusive, and kicked her and the kids out of an apartment they shared in West Palm Beach, according to a wrongful death civil lawsuit by Wilkerson’s mother. That case was eventually dismissed.

Wilkerson moved her family into a unit in the 800 block of 20th Street, and advised the leasing office not to tell anyone the address.

On Dec. 12, Crawford posted a barrage of threatening messages for her on Facebook, including one ominous warning to “make peace with your kids,” records show. Wilkerson called the police and showed officers the warnings.

Two days later, the leasing office called Wilkerson to let her know they mistakenly told a male caller where she lived. The man had claimed to be from the Urban League of Palm Beach County.

Immediately, Wilkerson feared Crawford would be coming for her. She called the police again, records show.

That same afternoon, about 4:30 p.m., Wilkerson’s daughter, Ty’Asia, was playing outside. As the girl

walked back home two hours later, she found her mom lying on the ground near the apartment, bleeding.

Ty’Asia later told detectives that she saw Crawford running from the scene. But at 8:30 p.m., police said they had a stroke of good luck.

While taking Ty’Asia and her 6-year-old brother Marquise to the police station, the girl was looking out the patrol car window and saw a man walking along the street. She yelled, “That’s Justin.”

Crawford ran but was caught by a police dog. Detectives said Crawford later agreed to talk, during an hourslong interrogation.

At first, Crawford denied he was anywhere near Wilkerson’s apartment that day, and when a detective told him Wilkerson had died, Crawford replied, “She’s not dead, man.”

Later, Crawford changed his story. He said he and Wilkerson got into an argument in her kitchen, a knife came out, and he stabbed her in the chest, in self-defense.

“This is not no first-degree murder,” insisted Crawford, who had prior convictions and a prison record.

Investigators later recovered the knife in a neighborhood field; Crawford’s DNA was found on the weapon, records show.

An autopsy determined Wilkerson was stabbed at least a dozen times.