Case sent to Lake grand jury

Cleveland man accused of kidnapping, attempted murder in Willoughby Hills

The case of the Cleveland man accused of kidnapping and attempting to murder two women in a Willoughby Hills apartment has been bound over to the Lake County grand jury.

Allen A. Crawford, 27, is accused of entering a Willoughby Hills Towers apartment and attacking the 22-year-old female resident and her 24-year-old sister from Euclid. Crawford is the father of the Euclid woman’s

2-, 3- and 4-year-old children, according to police.

Police stated that Crawford entered the apartment on the evening of July 21 with a handgun. He allegedly bound each woman’s hands with duct tape, stabbed them both multiple times, doused them with lighter fluid and set them on fire. He then took the children and fled in an unknown direction.

The 22-year-old woman was able to escape and call 911. She was taken by ambulance to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights. Her sister was flown by medical helicopter from University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center in Richmond Heights to MetroHealth in Cleveland.

Crawford called Lake County Central Dispatch about an hour after leaving the 27400 Chardon Road apartment and told them he had dropped the children off at his parent’s house on Muskoka Avenue in Cleveland.

He also said that he was sitting on a bench at Euclid Beach in Cleveland but when police from Cleveland and Willoughby Hills were unable to find him when

they checked the location.

Crawford turned himself in at Cleveland police station at about 9 p.m. that night.

During the search for Crawford, police found the three children safe at their

grandparents’ house.

The children are now staying with a family member, according to Willoughby Hills police.

He was charged with two counts of attempted aggravated murder and two counts of kidnapping July 22 in Willoughby Municipal Court.

All four charges are firstdegree felonies.

Crawford’s preliminary hearing in Willoughby Hills Municipal Court was originally scheduled for July 31, but he waived that hearing on July 24, according to court records.

Crawford awaits indictment by the grand jury in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

He remains in the Lake County jail.

Crawford