‘SENSELESS’
Grieving family seeks justice for slain mother
Earlier this month, friends and family of Zeneatrice Crawford gathered for a vigil to remember the woman described as a loving mother and kind soul.
Her 10-year-old twins made signs to remember their mother as the group walked through a North Memphis neighborhood recently.
Crawford, 40, died June 4 after being stabbed more than 50 times by her boyfriend, authorities said.
Raymond Clark, 40, is wanted on charges of first-degree murder in Crawford’s death. He fled in her car after the slaying. Her 2013 Buick Verano was found in Atlanta, but Clark remains on the run.
Crawford’s family members, working daily through their grief, want Clark arrested.
“We just want justice and to know why,” said Crawford’s niece De’ja Moore. “Like, what made him do something like that? To stab a person 57 times, that’s a hate crime.”
Crawford’s father, David Kent, said his daughter, who everyone called “Neicey,” was a joyful, fun-loving person, who loved her twins.
“Sometimes I pick up the phone and call her and then I say, ‘oh,’ ” Kent said. “I hope he realizes what he has done, because it was a senseless, brutal killing. We hurt what we love everyday. We need to start loving one another as we love ourselves.”
Moore said their family knew Clark from their North Memphis neighborhood. He was the quiet guy that Crawford started dating in May.
The next month, he is accused of brutally attacking and killing Crawford in front of her daughter. Her son was also at home at the time of the stabbing, but it’s unclear whether he witnessed the attack.
He then abducted the girl, putting her in the trunk of her mother’s car. The girl’s friend, who had spent the night with the family on June 3, was also found in the car.
Moore recalls seeing Clark the day her aunt was killed.
“He came to my grandma’s house that Saturday morning because we were supposed to go grocery shopping with
my auntie,” she said. “My grandma has a ramp on the house and when she got to the end of the ramp, he met her at the end and said that my auntie had gotten in a real bad fight. My grandma said, ‘well, where is my daughter?’ She tried to go to the car and he jumped in the car and pulled out of the driveway.”
Moore said she was in her grandmother’s house on the couch, but when her grandmother came back inside she sensed something was wrong.
“I went outside and by that time Raymond had called me from my auntie’s phone,” Moore said. “He was like, ‘something happened. Something is going on with your auntie. She was in a bad fight and they beat her real bad, and she does not want your grandma to see her like that.’ ”
Moore said he told her he was going to bring her aunt back to her grandmother’s house.
“So when he came back, this time he didn’t pull up in the driveway,” Moore recalled. “He pulled up at the end of the sidewalk. When I was walking to the car, he had already opened the front door, and that’s when I saw all the blood.”
She said by that time, her grandmother had made it to the ramp and they heard her cousin screaming from the trunk.
“She was saying, ‘help me,’” Moore said. “The other little girl was in the back seat. He had blood all over him and my grandma asked him, ‘what have you done to my child?’ ”
She said her grandmother tried to grab the car keys, but Clark pulled off with the kids in the car.
The children were later released unharmed.
Crawford’s body was found by police behind an abandoned home in the 700 block of Whitney in Frayser.
The U.S. Marshals are searching for Clark in connection with Crawford’s death. In addition to the murder charge, he is also charged with especially aggravated kidnapping as well as a federal warrant for fleeing to avoid charges.
Crawford is one of 18 women killed in Memphis this year. Statewide, about 60 women are murdered by men annually.
Tennessee ranked sixth in the nation in the Violence Policy Center’s 2015 “When Men Murder Women” study, which tracks the number of women who die nationwide at the hands of men each year.
Moore said it is strange not seeing her aunt, who was like a mother to her, every day.
“Our wounds will never heal,” Moore said.
Officials ask anyone with information about Clark to call Crime Stoppers at 901528-CASH or the U.S. Marshals at 901-573-8177.