Dalton man faces charges in girl’s death
A Dalton man is facing multiple charges in connection with the death of a girl in Ringgold in July.
Devin Wayne Crawford, 18, is facing murder charges, as well as second-degree cruelty to children and possession of schedule 1 or 2 drugs with intent to distribute, according to arrest records from the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.
After being arrested Thursday, Crawford was being held without bond at the Whitfield County Jail, Sheriff’s Office officials said in a phone call. Legal counsel or a representative for Crawford could not be reached before deadline. A Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office death investigation report gives some details on the scene of the girl’s death, but neither representatives from the Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office nor the county coroner could be reached to give an official cause of death.
The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office investigation report also said the girl’s mother learned from her daughter’s friend that the two girls had taken what they thought was Percocet, a prescription pain-killer, that the mother speculated was laced with illicit fentanyl.
On the morning of July 30, the girl’s mother entered her daughter’s room and found her lying face down “gargling on her own blood,” the report said. The mother then turned her daughter over, found she was unconscious and called 911 at 10:29 a.m.
The mother of the deceased said the last time she had spoken with her daughter was the night before at about 10:30 p.m., according to the report.
On the night of July 29 the girl had taken drugs with her friend, the friend told the deceased girl’s mother. The friend said the two had gotten the drugs from a third minor, according to the mother in the report.
Crawford is listed as one of two suspects on the Sheriff’s Office incident report.
Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Bert Poston could not be reached for comment before deadline. Conasauga Judicial Circuit District covers both Whitfield and
Murray counties.
In 2021, there were 15 opioid-involved overdose deaths in Whitfield County. In 2020, there were 10 opioid-involved deaths in Whitfield County, according to statistics from Georgia Department of Public Health.