Ethan Crumbley’s mother was having an affair while ignoring son’s ‘troubling’ behaviour, say prosecutors
Court documents say Jennifer Crumbley was having ‘at least one intimate affair’ with ‘explicit videos’ found on her phone
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Ethan Crumbley’s mother was having an affair with another man while she and her husband continued to ignore their son’s “troubling” behaviour, according to prosecutors.
Court documents filed on Thursday allege that Jennifer Crumbley was having “at least one intimate affair” in the run-up to the mass shooting at Oxford High School, with investigators finding “explicit videos” on her phone.
Ms Crumbley allegedly messaged her boyfriend on the day of the massacre claiming that she kept the firearm used in the attack inside her car.
Instead, prosecutors said the firearm was kept in an unlocked drawer at the family’s home, from which 15-year-old Ethan took it out and took it to school that day.
The teenager is accused of murdering four students when he opened fire in the hallway of the Michigan high school on 30 November.
He was charged with 24 counts including first-degree murder and terrorism.
His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were arrested and charged days later with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors said they bought their son the gun used as an early Christmas present and ignored multiple warning signs of the impending violence.
New details of their alleged culpability in their son’s shooting rampage were revealed in court documents filed by the state on Thursday in response to a request from the defence that the Crumbleys bail be lowered from $500,000 each to $100,000 each.
Prosecutors wrote that the parents were aware that their son was depressed, had developed an obsession with guns and was torturing animals prior to the mass shooting.
But they ignored his spiraling beahaviour and failed to act, being too preoccupied with their own financial troubles, substance abuse, caring for their horses, and having extramarital affairs, according to prosecutors.
“Instead of paying attention to their son and getting him help, they bought him a gun,” the documents state.
Ms Crumbley, in particular, was “seeking” relationships with other people and had engaged in “at least one intimate affair” outside of her marriage, the documents say.
Prosecutors said that the Crumbleys could split up once more details of the affair come to light, arguing that this would make both parents a flight risk as they would no longer have ties to one another.
“When Defence counsel shares the explicit videos found on Defendant mother’s cellphone, it is possible, even likely, that Defendants will go separate ways,” the documents state.
Prosecutors said Ms Crumbley also gave “inconsistent statements” to various people about the location and the accessibility of the gun, including telling her boyfriend the gun was in her car.
There is no mention in the documents as to whether Ethan could have known about his mother’s alleged infidelity.
The documents also provide a greater glimpse into the “disturbing” behaviour the alleged gunman was displaying prior to the massacre.
“Their son was torturing animals, even kept a baby bird’s head in a jar on his bedroom floor, which he later took and placed in a school bathroom,” the prosecutor’s filing states.
“The defendants had information long before Nov 30 (six months prior to the shooting) that their son’s only friend moved at the end of October, that the family dog died, that their son was sadder than usual, and that he was sending his mother disturbing texts about his state of mind,” read the court filing.
“They knew that their son was depressed, that he was fascinated with guns... that he had been researching ammunition while at a school and that he was seen watching violent videos of shootings that morning.”
The day of the shooting, the parents were called to the school after Ethan was found to have drawn images of a gun, a bullet and a shooting victim on his maths worksheet.
The phrases “he thoughts won’t stop, help me”, “the world is dead”, “my life is useless” and “blood everywhere” were written on the paper, which was seen for the first time in the court documents.
The filing detailed how the teenager then scribbled out some of the disturbing phrases and images and added more cheerful phrases like “I love my life so much” and “we’re all friends here”.
The alleged gunman’s parents were called into the school and shown the drawing but failed to take action.
“Before they left school that day, they had also seen the disturbing drawings,” the filing states.
“All they had to do was tell the school that they had recently purchased a gun for their son, asked him where the gun was, opened his backpack or just take him home.”
The document adds: “Defendants were in a better position than anyone else in the world to prevent this tragedy, but they failed to do so.”
Four students were killed in the school shooting: Hana St. Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, and 17-year-olds Justin Shilling and Madisyn Baldwin.