Man faces trial for fatal attack of woman
NORRISTOWN >> A Philadelphia man will answer to charges in Montgomery County Court that he stabbed a woman outside her Whitemarsh workplace and then drove his three-ton vehicle over her several times, crushing her to death.
Lawrence Maurice Crawley, after a preliminary hearing before District Court Judge Deborah A. Lukens, was ordered to stand trial on charges of firstand third-degree murder, possessing an instrument of crime and possession of a weapon in connection with the alleged 2:27 a.m. Aug. 3, 2018, attack of Angela Maya Stith outside Vector Security along the 5100 block of Campus Drive in Whitemarsh.
Crawley, 33, of the 800 block of North 13th Street, Philadelphia, is being held without bail at the county jail while awaiting trial.
Lukens set Crawley’s formal arraignment in county court for Jan. 16. At that time, under state law, prosecutors will have to reveal if they plan to seek the death penalty for Crawley in the event of a firstdegree murder conviction.
A conviction of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing, can carry a sentence of either life imprisonment or death by lethal injection. A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20-to-40years in prison.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele handled the preliminary hearing, at which he played for Lukens the surveillance videotape that recorded the alleged killing on the parking lot of the victim’s workplace.
Authorities believe Stith, with whom Crawley previously had a relationship, was on a workplace break at the time Crawley showed up on a rear parking lot of the business. Steele previously called the surveillance footage “disturbing.”
An autopsy determined Stith, also 33 and of Philadelphia, died from combined blunt and sharp force injuries.
Crawley, who previously claimed he is indigent, is represented by Carrie L. Allman, chief homicide lawyer for the Montgomery County Office of the Public Defender.
An investigation began when Whitemarsh police responded to Vector Security for a reported stabbing and found Stith’s body in the rear parking lot of the business.
Video surveillance showed Stith exiting a rear door at Vector Security about 2:13 a.m. and walking to her Toyota sedan.
“The victim is then observed running from her vehicle while being chased by a male suspect,” Whitemarsh Detective Stephen Kerns and county Detective William Mitchell alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding Crawley is observed attacking the woman with a stabbing motion.
The video surveillance showed that several of Stith’s coworkers appeared on the parking lot and attempted to render aid to her as she lay injured on the ground, a knife protruding from her back, court papers indicate.
“A Chevrolet Avalanche SUV is then observed driving over the area of the victim on three occasions while the vehicle circled the parking lot,” detectives alleged, adding coworkers witnessed the horrific attack.
Investigators said they found the driver’s side window of Stith’s sedan had been smashed.
“Scene evidence inside the Toyota indicates the victim was initially attacked inside the driver side of the car and escaped through the passenger door. Detectives also located a single knife, a knife handle and hammer at the scene,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Crawley, according to court documents, spoke by cellphone with a woman after the alleged attack and stated, “I stabbed her and then I ran over her with the truck. I am going to kill myself.” Crawley allegedly told the woman that “voices in his head made him do it,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Crawley later called his mother at 2:31 a.m. and told her, “Mom, I’m sorry I killed her,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Authorities alleged Crawley fled the scene in the blue Chevrolet Avalanche SUV and was spotted several hours later by state police traveling on the westbound Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County. As troopers approached the vehicle, Crawley set himself on fire inside the vehicle, according to court documents.
The investigation revealed that on May 23 Crawley was arrested by state police in Montour County following an assault of Stith during which she was strangled, according to the arrest affidavit. On July 18, Crawley pleaded guilty to a charge of simple assault, court papers indicated.