Jennifer and James Crumbley arrested in manhunt after Ethan Crumbley parents went on the run after being indicted. Found hiding in a Detroit warehouse.
The parents of the alleged Michigan teen shooter have been arrested hours after failing to turn themselves in following prosecutor’s involuntary manslaughter indictment. The couple were found hiding in a Detroit warehouse early Saturday after leading authorities on a widespread manhunt, police said.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were arrested and booked into the Oakland County Jail after officers acting on a tip found them in a room inside the commercial building, Detroit Police Chief James White said.
‘They appear to be hiding inside the building,’ White told reporters.
The Chief described the fugitives being ‘very distressed’ upon their capture, adding that one of the two had their head down and a hoodie on and appeared ‘just very upset.’
A tipster reported seeing the couple’s SUV in the building’s parking lot, some 50 miles from their Oxford home, and not far from the border with Canada. The person also had video of one of the fugitives entering the warehouse, White said.
A first hand look at the building that the parents of Ethan Crumbley were arrested, and the Kia they abandoned.#EthanCrumbley #Crumbleys #crumbleyparents #CrumbleyKia #OxfordShooting #oxfordhighschool pic.twitter.com/tBJAkTMeSH
— TheFamily’sSoup TV (@FamilysSoupTV) December 4, 2021
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Jennifer Crumbley in custody, getting booked at the Oakland County Jail. Her husband, James Crumbley was booked as police backed our cameras away from the area. @FOX2News pic.twitter.com/2DrSVr2Q94
— Jessica Dupnack (@JDupnackFOX2) December 4, 2021
Couple withdrew $4K from ATM before going on the run
The Chief said it appeared that someone helped the couple get into the building, and that person could now be facing charges, .
‘They didn’t break in. Somebody let them in,’ White said.
Local cops and federal authorities said they were hunting for the couple, who were supposed to turn themselves in Friday afternoon by 4pm, after Oakland County prosecutors charged them each with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with their son Ethan Crumbley’s school shooting attack on Tuesday.
Leading into Friday late afternoon, the parents’ attorneys maintained that the pair had left town for their safety and were not trying to elude law enforcement. Of note, the couple had withdrawn $4,000 from an ATM machine the day before their indictment, presumably after being tipped off by prosecutors that they would face charges on Friday.
Failure to preempt
Police had converged at the couple’s Oxford home, Friday afternoon, only to find their SUV vehicle and the pair gone. After failure to turn themselves in, authorities issued notice of a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the capture of Jennifer and James Crumbley each, US Marshals announced Friday night, as they released “Wanted” posters of the pair.
The charges for the couple — which experts said were very rare in such a case — stem from having purchased a gun for the teen in the days ahead of the shooting and for failing to take action when alerted to Ethan’s concerning behavior, according to prosecutors.
The 15-year-old allegedly opened fire on his Oxford High School classmates and teachers Tuesday, killing four and wounding seven. He was charged as an adult with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of terrorism causing death, and was being held without bail. The Crumbley parents are expected to be arraigned at around 9 a.m. Saturday.
