Anthony Dale Crawford, the Manassas man who shot his wife, raped her and positioned her body in a room at the Quality Inn on Emmet Street, will serve two life sentences plus 67 years for his crimes, a judge upheld May 3. The jury recommended the sentence in February in a trial for one of the most grotesque crimes the area has seen.
Crawford, 48, and his second wife, Sarah Crawford, 33, were in the process of a divorce. Sarah had moved out and was trying to start over after their abusive relationship. Her parents reported her missing in November 2004. Crawford had kidnapped Sarah and driven to Charlottesville, where he shot her in the chest. Police found Sarah’s body in a frog-like position in room 118 of the Quality Inn. Her husband’s semen was found inside her body.
 Anthony Dale Crawford will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his wife and leaving her in the Quality Inn on Emmet Street. |
At trial, Crawford’s defense attorneys argued that it was possible the couple had consensual sex and Crawford shot his wife accidentally while trying to kill himself.
But Crawford had a history of violence against his wives—he avoided a rape conviction in South Carolina after a videotape surfaced of him having sex with his first wife while she was hog-tied and her mouth was duct-taped. Crawford had told Sarah shortly before her murder that he understood “why husbands kill their wives.”
A jury found Crawford guilty of capital murder, abduction with intent to defile, rape, grand larceny (for stealing the car) and use of a firearm in the commission of two felonies. He was acquitted of use of a firearm in the commission of a rape, suggesting the jury thought Sarah was already dead when Crawford raped her.
Judge Edward L. Hogshire upheld the jury-recommended sentence. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty in this case.
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