Book of the Dead -The Death of Crystal McCrory-Jones

Promo for Rogue Darkness

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Witchcraft, the occult, extremist beliefs, murder. Tune in to Rogue
Darkness each Friday and join host Raven as I uncover
horrific crimes committed under the misconceptions and misunderstandings of witchcraft
and other belief systems. I'll cover a wide range of

(00:24):
crimes involving ritualistic killings and extremist beliefs to cult persuasion
and supposed possession, anything in everything that borders the line
of horrifying. There's always three sides to a story. Side
A side B and then the truth. Let's uncover the
truth together and explore the darkness of mankind, one crime

(00:45):
at a time. Available wherever you get your podcast fix,
simply by searching Rogue Darkness OS.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hi guys, I'm Courtney and I'm Lisa, and welcome to
the next chapter in the Book of the Day, brought
to you by dark Cast Network indie Podcasts with a twist. Hello, Hello,

(01:26):
Welcome to the next chapter in the Book of the Dead.
As you all know, I encourage anyone who wishes for
me to cover a loved one's case to reach out
to me and I will do it. In the past,
I have covered cases of clear murder for victims loved ones,
and I have covered cases that were deemed suicide but

(01:47):
were very obviously not at least in my opinion. In particular,
I covered the cases of Kayla Cigo and Alex Van Dolson,
two people whose deaths, based on clear evidence and common sense,
we're not self inflicted. There are a few reasons why
I cover cases like this and for a long time, listeners,

(02:09):
I touched on this when I covered Kayla's death, and
that is that when investigators walk into a scene involving
someone's death, they need to start investigating it first and
foremost as a homicide. If and only if the evidence
proves otherwise should they change course and look at it
as suicide, natural causes, or accidental death. And we're going

(02:33):
to go over why, because this aspect of investigators taking
protocol and changing it to fit their narrative really makes
me angry. A few weeks ago, I was contacted by
a woman named Jana who asked if I could cover
her sister's case. Her sister's death in twenty twenty three

(02:55):
raised immediate red flags for Jana and her family, and
she has worked tielessie to get answers and justice for
her sister. The following story was put together almost entirely
due to Jana's relentless pursuit of justice and the detailed
evidence documentation, recorded interviews, and transcripts she provided to me.

(03:17):
Everything stated has been backed up by irrefutable evidence. Although
my opinions are mine. Now, this is the death of
Crystal McCrory Jones. You know I love education, So before
we dive into the case at hand, we're going to
talk a little bit about the protocols I mentioned earlier

(03:38):
and why twisting the narrative and looking at a case
as suicide right off the bat is detrimental to the case.
According to homicide and forensic consultant Vernon J. Gebirth, there
are seven major mistakes in suicide investigation. One assuming a
case is suicide based on the initial report. Preconceived theories

(04:01):
or notions are dangerous in professional death investigations. In addition
to errors of assuming a suicide or natural death, other
preconceived notions may include deaths that appear to be drug
related and or domestic violence. One must keep an open
mind and not be influenced by initial reports or the
presentation of a crime scene, Everything and anything must be

(04:24):
considered evidence. So this right there is dangerous because it
skews the investigation and an investigator is more likely to
miss things. Two, assuming the suicide position at the crime scene,
perceived suicides are considered less important events. This means that

(04:45):
the concept of urgency and investigative protocol is less prevalent
because the assumption is that no crime has been committed.
Three is not handling a suicide as a homicide investigation,
something that I have said multiple times in the past.
According to practical Homicide Investigations quote, all death inquiries should

(05:06):
be conducted as homicide investigations until facts prove differently. The
resolution of the mode of death as suicide is based
on a series of factors which eliminate homicide, accident, and
natural causes of death. So investigating deaths is anything other
than a homicide at the start inevitably leads to lost
evidence or missteps. This isn't a competency issue, it's a

(05:30):
protocol issue. As much as we want to believe that
murderers aren't smart enough to get away with murder, the
rise of crime shows has taught them how to stage
a scene. It happens often and it's why you can't
just assume suicide. The fourth mistake is the failure to
conduct or establish victimology. This pertains to suicide and homicide

(05:53):
investigations and is significant in determining motive, suspects, and risk factors.
It's also crucial in determining motive and intent in suicides
to establish if there is any inclination of depression or
suicidal Ideation five, six, and seven all go hand in
hand with each other and deal with the failure to
do something in an investigation. Failing to properly document any

(06:17):
suicide notes, failure to take each factor to its ultimate conclusion,
and failure to apply three basic investigative considerations to establish
if death is suicidal in nature. Those factors are the
presence of weapons or means of death at the scene,
injuries or wounds that are obviously self inflicted or could
have been caused by the decedent, and the existence of

(06:40):
motive or intent by the decedant to take their own life.
All three factors are crucial to establish if the death
is suicide. Any suicide notes present at the scene must
be validated. Does the handwriting match, is the tone consistent
with the decedent, and finally, everything and anything must be documented.

(07:02):
Without doing any of this and following this protocol, it
is so easy to make a mistake and incorrectly determine
a case is suicide. Crystal's case is an example of
these mistakes being made. Crystal McCrory was born on May seventeenth,
nineteen seventy nine, and cross Set, Arkansas, to Janie mcgilton

(07:24):
and Doyle McCrory. She was the second child for the couple.
Her brother was four years older, and she was tall
and beautiful with dark hair and dark eyes, and she
had a personality that could light up anyone's day. She
was known to give the shirt off her back if
you needed it, and she'd set you up with pants
and shoes to match. She was beloved by all who

(07:47):
came in contact with her, and her friends and family
could go to her for anything. She loved a good
thrift store and loved a good deal and a coupon
even more. And she was an organization Queen Jana said
she could organize a sock drawer with all white socks,
that's how good she was at it. Organization was her therapy,

(08:08):
and she was one to need things her way. When
Cristel was ten years old, her twin brother and sister
came along, and they were like her babies. She taught
Jana how to do her makeup and straighten her hair,
and while the age difference meant that they didn't get
to spend a lot of time together growing up, in adulthood,
Jana and Crystel's sisterhood picked up right where it left

(08:29):
off and they were inseparable. While Cristel was so vivacious
and full of life, that isn't to say there weren't hardships.
As a young teenager, she injured sexual assault to the
hands of older men, and while she never said who
had harmed her, she protected Jana fiercely to ensure that
she was safe. Fresh after graduating from Bastrop High School

(08:50):
in Louisiana in nineteen ninety seven, Krystel met who would
become her first husband, a man named Jeremy. They would
go on to have a son named Corbin, and Crystal
thrived in motherhood. Her son was her life and she
loved him more than anything. The little family moved to Syracuse,
New York, where Cristel would go on to make some

(09:11):
of her best friends. She would also go on to
become an insurance agent for State Farm and spent the
bulk of her work life with the company, and she
was insanely good at her job. Eventually, Jeremy and Cristel
separated and she and Corbin moved back to Louisiana, where
she would meet and marry her second husband. They went

(09:32):
on to have another little boy named Mason, and Crystal
basked in the joy of being a mom to her
two beautiful boys. Cristel would spend a lot of time
raising the boys by herself as her husband was deployed
with the Marines, but when he returned, the family picked
up and moved to Keithville, Louisiana. In twenty fourteen, when
Jana was going through a terrible emotional time, Cristel left

(09:54):
her second husband when he wouldn't allow her to be
with Jana, picking up the kids and her things and
moving back to Bastrop because no one was going to
keep her from being with her family, especially when they
needed her. After they moved back to Bastrop, Cristel would
go on to reconnect with an old friend named Damon,
and she and Jana became even closer Crystal and Damon

(10:17):
would go on to get married, and Jana and Crystal
saw each other daily. Their kids all went to the
same school, and Jana thought that this marriage would be
different for Crystal. However, on January third, twenty seventeen, when
the heating went out in their home, Crystal meant Tony Jones,
and she was smitten. Tony was legally married and waiting

(10:40):
for his divorce to be finalized, but he swept Crystal
right off her feet, filling her head with promises of
a financially abundant life and stability, and he'd make all
of her problems go away. He's sweet talked her, telling
her quote jump off that cliff, I'll be your parachute,
and anything else he could say that would convince her

(11:01):
to leave her husband, until she finally did. Tony and
Crystal married in twenty eighteen and moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi,
with their children. Tony had two of his own, until
they soon made their way back to Oak Grove, Louisiana
after family discourse drove them back. And we'll come to
Tony and who he is soon. But for Crystal, things

(11:24):
would take a turn. In twenty twenty three, according to
the investigative report written by Deputy Chief Alan Arby of
the West Carol Parish Sheriff's Office, this is what the
quote official narrative of the events that occurred on February nine,
twenty twenty three are. At four thirty five pm, the

(11:45):
West Carol Sheriff's Office gets a report of death by
firearm at fourteen thirty eight Highway to in Oak Grove, Louisiana.
This is the home of Crystal and Tony Jones. When
police arrive, Deputy tah Charles Harris is already there and
he says that Tony, who was once employed by West
Carroll as an officer, had asked Deputy Harris if he

(12:08):
could go to his home and check on Crystal because
he hadn't been able to reach her by phone and
she had missed a two thirty doctor's appointment. Tony said
he was at the karate school that they owned with
his daughter, waiting for Crystal to arrive for their evening class,
but she never showed up. Deputy Harris agreed and arrived
at the home, knocking on the door, but there was

(12:30):
no answer. Tony told Deputy Harris that the door would
be unlocked and that he could go right in Crystal
could most likely be found in their bedroom. So Deputy
Harris entered the home and found Crystal lying on the
bed in the master bedroom on the west side, in
her robe, partially covered with the comforter. In her hand

(12:50):
was a nine millimeter handgun and she was dead from
a gunshot wound to her head. According to this report,
the projectile was fired at point blank range into the
right side of her skull, exiting on the left, penetrating
the pillow and headboard before taking a downward trajectory and
lodging into the south wall. Police again, according to this report,

(13:13):
could not locate a shell casing and observed the gun
had jammed. They theorized that the casing might not have
been ejected properly and would most likely be found during
the autopsy in Crystal's hair or clothing. They observed that
body heat was still present when removing the covers, and
that rigor was not fully in place. Lividity was present

(13:35):
on the back of her legs. In terms of an
investigation at the home, there really wasn't one. Only a
handful of photographs were taken at the scene, which wasn't
even secured properly. In more than one photo, Crystal's dog
Rocket can be seen lying on the bed next to Crystal. Now, Jana,

(13:57):
having been notified by their brother Dane of Crystal's deay
at four forty four, arrived at Crystal in Tony's home
at five oh eight. The coroner transported Crystal's body to
the morgue at around five forty two, which is when
Jana left to return to her home. Now, while Jana
was present at their home, police said that they did
not suspect foul play. Less than two hours after a

(14:20):
report of the decedent was made to police and they
were already determining the suicide after no real investigation. Now,
before we go over the shit show of a coroner's report,
we're going to go over the narrative of the day's
events in the police report in Tony's statement. Tony was
interviewed at the station about his movements at six forty

(14:42):
five pm, which we're going to go over. But according
to the police report, Tony said he left the home
at around eight am to go to Bastrop to do
some electrical work for a man named Darren Billings. Darren
confirmed on the seventeenth, that Tony had called him around
that time saying he he was on his way and
to empty out the fridge who would be working on

(15:03):
and that while there Tony felt the need to tell
Darren all about how depressed his wife was, who Darren
did not know about her son leaving to go to
the navy. Tony arrived at around eight forty five and
leapt between nine forty five and ten am. Tony said
he called Crystal on his way back and that she

(15:24):
sounded normal and they spoke for about twenty minutes. He
went to the bank to deposit a check, went to
the bakery Barn for lunch, and then he headed to
Forest School to do some work, where he spoke to
West Caroll Deputy Zach Crimes, who was there for sro detail.
He checked his daughter out of school at two forty five.
They went to lunch at Sonic across the street from

(15:47):
the Karate school, and then waited for Crystal there. At
around three pm, he texted Crystal and received no answer.
According to the police report, he calls her doctor to
confirm if she was still there, and then he called
Deputy Harris when they said she never showed up. Harrs
said that there were two phone calls between them. Tony

(16:08):
called asking for the welfare check at four twenty three,
and then Harris called him back at four forty one
to notify Tony about Crystal's death. According to the police report,
that is the timeline of events leading up to the
discovery of Crystal's body. The following is from Tony's interview
with police. At six forty five pm, he said quote,

(16:30):
I left the residence shortly after eight o'clock. I went
to Bastrop to a customer's house, Darren Billings. I worked
on stuff for him, and I left there, and it
was shortly before ten o'clock or so. I called Crystal
at ten o six and she answered the phone and
I was like, what are you doing? And I stayed
on the phone with her for fifteen or twenty minutes.

(16:50):
I had another job to do at Forest High School,
so I went into town. I put a check in
the bank, I turned around and then I went to
eat at Bakeery Barn. I left there and went to
Forest High School and I was there until just shy
at three o'clock. I got my daughter. I checked her
out from school. Since I was already there at like
two forty five, and I drove and I sent her

(17:11):
a message saying, hey, I got little girl, and she
didn't respond, which she normally does. Then I drove into
town and I got me and my daughter something to
eat at Sonic and I tried to call her again
and she didn't answer. So then I contacted the East
Carol Medical Clinic because she had an appointment at two
thirty and this was like three forty five or something,

(17:32):
and I asked them, I said, my wife was supposed
to have an appointment. Is she's still there? I gave
them her name and she was like, well, she never
checked in. So then I tried to call a couple
more times, and we were worried at this point, so
I called Deputy Harris. He's my neighbor, and he said
he was almost home and that he would go check.

(17:54):
So he got there and he said that no one
was answering the door. Her vehicle was there. I was like, well,
please go inside. The door is unlocked. He went inside,
was calling her name. I said, the bedroom is in
the very back of the house and her name is Crystal,
So he's calling Crystal, Crystal Crystal. Now he was asked
if he was still on the phone with Harris while

(18:15):
this was taking place, and he states that he was
on the phone with Harris the entire time. So Harris
says two phone calls, Tony says one on the phone
the entire time. Tony also states that he was at
the bowling alley next to the Karate school waiting for Crystal,
and that Crystal had been struggling with depression and she
had been taking a bill of five. He also said

(18:37):
that her doctor took her off of it and that
Crystal hadn't been feeling well, so he told Cristel to
make an appointment with the doctor that morning. He also
said that when he had spoken to her that morning,
she sounded very sleepy. It's also important to note that
the entire conversation was recorded as being like seven minutes.
That's how long the interview was that Tony had with police.

(19:02):
They took him longer to drive there. So there's already
inconsistencies between Tony's recorded statement and the police report, and
all of these inconsistencies are backed up by geolocation, text
messages and phone records that Jana was able to obtain.
Jena obtained these records through Crystal's computer which was given
to her by Tony, as well as all the passwords

(19:24):
for logins, which Tony said via text he could provide.
It's necessary for us to go over the day by
daytime stamps, but in order to do so, we have
to talk about the coroner's report in the narrative. First
first and foremost. In the report written by Frank Peretti, MD,
Crystal's name is spelled wrong and her date of birth

(19:46):
is incorrect. Additionally, her hair and eye color is wrong.
The time of her death is listed as ten thirty
five no am or PM, but I would assume AM
because all of this occur before ten thirty five at night. However,
this time was crossed out by hand and changed to

(20:07):
five ZHO five PM. Her body temperature is just listed
as cold, no temperature, which is standard procedure. They take
a liver temp just cold. I don't know what cold means.
Don't know what her actual body temperature was, which is important,
but that was never recorded every corner's report. I have

(20:30):
ever read Gibbs an exact temperature, but apparently in West
Carol Parish they don't do that. Besides the fact that
having things worded incorrectly is unacceptable since this is an
official document. For instance, at the bottom of the report,
in the box titled probable cause of death, it's listed
as cardiopulmonary arrests do too, and it states quote close

(20:54):
contact wound to the right side of head. Why doesn't
it specify gunshot wound because that is the cause of death,
a gunshot wound. Now, there is no mention of crystal
suicide attempt eleven years prior in personal history, although I
can concede that it's very possible the coroner was not
told about this. The document also states that Crystal suffered

(21:17):
from insomnia, anxiety, and atrial fibrillation, which, for those that
don't know, according to Valley Health, disrupts your heart's regular
rhythm of electrical signals which control your heart beat. This
causes the upper two chambers of your heart, the atria,
to quiver, beating very quickly and irregularly. In turn, your

(21:38):
lower two chambers beat faster than normal. Now Janet confirmed
this is not something Crystal suffered with. The coroner also
states that Crystal also suffered from pneumonia, diarrhea, diabetes, and
had a history of seizures. Which is also all untrue
and can easily be verified by her doctor and her

(21:58):
medical records. According to the narrative, which was written by
the coroner, Lewis Carter, he states that when he arrived,
and there's no time given as to when he arrived,
he was met by WCPSO Deputy David Void. No other
investigators are mentioned, which is interesting because the Crystal's family
they were told that Alan Urby had handled the case

(22:20):
from the start. In the narrative and the report, it
stated that no slug was recovered, which is interesting because
the police report clearly stated a projectile was recovered from
the wall at the scene after the coroner's arrival on
February ninth. However, I'm inclined to believe that the coroner

(22:41):
believes no projectile had been found, because in clearly timestamped photos,
the bullet was found on February tenth, the day after
Crystal's death, and these were not official crime scene photos.
They were labeled as screenshots from a phone. The report
claims that there were no signs of a struggle or

(23:02):
other injuries to Crystal's body. However, in the photos taken
by the coroner at the scene, there's bruising on Crystal's legs,
bruising and lacerations on her left arm, her left ring
fingernail was missing, and her other nails, which were clearly
freshly manicured, were dirty underneath. Again, these are all things

(23:23):
that can clearly be seen in the photographs that the
coroner took himself. Her anatomy and organs associated with the
female anatomy were all normal, except Crystal had multiple surgeries
and her ovaries removed, so that's not accurate. You can't
say that these particular female organs were normal if they

(23:46):
did not exist. He reported there were no abnormalities or
evidence of fractures new or old to her cervical, thoracic
or lumbar region, which is her spine, except Crystal had
been in a serious car accident in twenty eleven which
left her with a broken bat ribs and sternum, as
well as sustained injuries to her neck, which again is

(24:07):
easily verifiable. So I'm a little confused as to how
all of this information was so glaringly incorrect. Additionally, while
the coroner's report said originally that her time of death
was ten thirty five before being crossed, out. The death certificate,
which was signed off on by the coroner, stated the

(24:28):
time of death as eleven am. Now we're going to
go over the timeline by time stamp, factoring in the
evidence that corroborates everybody's movements. At eight oh six am
on February ninth, Tony leaves his home and arrives at
eight forty five at the home of Darren Billings. This
is confirmed a nine point fifty nine. He leaves at

(24:52):
ten oh six. He calls Crystal and according to the
police report, Crystal sounded normal, but in the interview, Crystal
sounded sleepy, so not normal, and they are, according to
the police report, on the phone for twenty minutes or
so at ten thirty five is the original reported time
of death. At ten fifty one. Police, according to their report,

(25:14):
allegedly have a copy of a receipt showing that Tony
deposited a check at a Region's bank in Oak Grove,
which means he was in the area of his home
at the time of crystal death. It then says he
went for a haircut. However, Tony never mentions a haircut
in his interview. At ten fifty three, Tony arrives at
three oh five east to Main Street, which is the
West Carrol Sheriff's office, which is never mentioned in either

(25:37):
his interview or police report. This is only reflected in
geolocation tracked by Tony's phone. Eleven am is when Lewis
Carter estimated Crystal's time of death to be according to
her death certificate, and at eleven oh nine, Tony leaves
the Sheriff's office and arrives at the bakery barn at
eleven eleven. At twelve oh one, here at Forest High School,

(26:01):
and according to invoices obtained from the West Carrol Parish
School system, he worked for two hours. His geolocation has
him being there for two hours and forty two minutes.
At one sixteen, FedEx drops off a package to Crystal
in Tony's home, but no one answers the door to
receive it. The courier is Jana's cousin, Loretta, and grew

(26:22):
up with Crystal. She would frequently go into Crystal's home
to chit chat and maybe use the restroom if she
was delivering there, and Loretta said that Tony's work truck
and Crystal's car were in the driveway, but no one
answered the door when she arrived to deliver the package,
which was a new phone for Tony. At two forty three,
Tony checks his daughter out of school. The police report

(26:45):
says this suppers A two forty five geolocation says that
during this time Tony drove so slowly around Oak Grove
that he appears to stop at an unidentified location for
seven minutes. Between three oh three and three ten, the
distance between the high school and Sonic is six point
two miles, which should have been a nine minute drive,

(27:06):
took Tony thirty five minutes. At three o'clock, Tony texts Crystal,
which can be reflected in crime scene photos that police
took of crystal cell phone. At three forty five, he
claims to a call Crystal's doctor. However, he would not
look up the number for East Carol Medical Clinic in
Lake Providence, Louisiana until four sixteen, as proven by his

(27:28):
own search history. At three fifty seven, he leaves Sonic
and takes six minutes to drive one point two miles.
At four oh three, he arrives at Walmart, and he
leaves eight minutes later at four sixteen, Besides looking up
the number for Crystal's doctor. He stops at an undetermined
location a mile from the walmart. At four twenty three,

(27:50):
Charles Harris says that Tony called him for the welfare check,
and photographs of Crystal's phone notifications show that Tony also
called her at Tony said he was on the phone
with Harris the whole time he was at their residence.
Harris said two phone calls were made. At four thirty five,
Alan Urby records this as the time of police being

(28:11):
notified of a death by firearm. However, if Tony and
Harris were on the phone with each other, as Tony stated,
how could Harris have notified police. It's possible he did
it with his radio, but it seemed he was on
his way home. It's possible to assume that Harris didn't
have a walkie on him or a radio on him
to radio it in. At four thirty seven, Tony leaves

(28:34):
his location, and at four thirty nine, the coroner's report
states that they were notified of the death. At four
forty one, Harris says that this is when he called
Tony back and asks where he was. Tony said he
was at the karate school, but he had already left
and was driving when this call was made. At four
forty four, Janet is notified by her brother about Crystal's death,

(28:56):
who was contacted by Tony. At four forty nine, Chef
Deputy Alan RB, Chief Investigator David Voight, Sheriff Scott Matthews,
and Police Chief Louis Bubba Russell arrive at the scene
and are met by Officer Chuck Harris. At four fifty one,
Tony arrives at his home. From the address he was on,
it would have taken going to speed limit fourteen minutes

(29:18):
to get home based on the established timeline. Tony did
not drive with any urgency to get home. It took
him fourteen minutes now between four fifty two and five
oh five, which is the amended time of death or
when pictures are taken within the home by police and
the coroner. All photos have a clock in them, and
according to Janna, all police personnel could identify Tony by name.

(29:42):
Jenna left at five forty two, which, as I mention,
is when Crystal's body was removed from the home, and
Tony left at five fifty six, arriving at six point
thirty eight at the sheriff's officers interview so there are
clearly issues with the timeline and the evidence contradicts absolutely everything. Now,
on the thirteenth, Crystal's loved ones are planning her funeral.

(30:05):
While the funeral was to be held in bass Drop
by Cox's Funeral Home, Tony insisted that a Cox's Funeral
Home employee at the Oak Grove location do the preparations,
which is interesting because so far everyone involved in Crystal's
death in terms of the investigation or lack thereof, or
all Oak Grove employees and Tony had done contracting and

(30:27):
handyman work at the Oak Grove location for Cox's Funeral
Home as well as the employee's home, so get another
person directly connected to Tony. Tony stated at the meeting
held with the funeral director and Jana among other members
of her family, that donations had come in from members
of Oak Grove community, but he would still be struggling

(30:48):
to pay for the funeral expenses. It was suggested that
they set up a GoFundMe, so Jana would go on
to do that to help with these expenses, so that
Tony wouldn't need to take out alone. That same evening.
According to his Google searches, Tony googled what the appropriate
time to date after the death of his spouse was.

(31:08):
Jana and her sister in law, Julie, noticed bruising on
Crystal's body while dressed in Crystal and doing her hair
and makeup to prepare for a funeral. The funeral director
advised that these were not due to the autopsy process
and to take pictures to document what they found, and
this would be the bruising on her arm and legs,
as well as the broken fingernail. At the viewing, Tony

(31:30):
brought a female friend with him, which the funeral director
told him was very inappropriate because it is. And that night,
Tony miraculously finds the shellcasing that police couldn't find on
the day of Crystal's death. He calls Dane McCrory to
tell him he found it on her vanity, which is

(31:51):
so fortuitous because not even the cleaners that had come
happened to find it. At this point, Jana is more
more than suspicious of what really happened, and Jana begins
the process of having Crystal's cremation, which no one wanted
done except for Tony to begin with, delayed. However, the
cremation goes through on the twentieth, two days before the

(32:13):
autopsy report is released. This is also when Shanner receives
Crystal's laptop, which Tony never checked, and saw that Crystal
had been locked into Tony's accounts, seemingly looking for something
and tracking his movements, which will go over. On February
twenty third, Jana, her brother, Dane, his wife, and their

(32:35):
cousin attended meeting with Sheriff Scott Matthews to go over
their concerns about the investigation or lack thereof, and there
are concerns about Tony, and this interview was recorded. It's
worth noting that Sheriff Matthews seemed very flustered during this
meeting and kept interrupting and trying to stop on every
point that they made. So Dane mentions how Tony found

(32:59):
the shellcasing and how it was strange that police didn't
find it because the room was so small, only fifteen
by fifteen. So Sheriff Matthews interrupts and comes up with
all of these reasons as to why they didn't see it.
You know, it was in her hair or her clothes,
they thought, And he says how when Tony called orbi
to tell him he found the casing. They looked at

(33:21):
the crime scene photos that were taken and they could
clearly see it on the vanity, and they didn't check
the vanity because it was like six feet away. However,
the only photo that shows the shellcasing is in a
screenshot taken from a cell phone on the day that
Tony found it, not in any crime scene photos taken

(33:43):
the day of Crystal's death. He said, they went over
everything with a fine toothcomb except the vanity, which is
so odd to say because it's very clearly not what happened.
But okay, he said, quote, we just did not search
the top of that makeup stand maybe like we should have.
But again, they're in the photo. You complainly see the

(34:05):
shell casing is laying there, except it's not in a
crime scene photo. Dane talks about how Tony said the
coroner determined the time of death to be five hours
after he had last spoken to her, and that he
had heard from the pathologist by then, which wasn't accurate
because at that point the pathologists report wasn't finished, And

(34:25):
Matthew says that Tony got the information from himself and
he said to Tony that it seemed like she had
been deceased for four to five hours. They then go
into all the other concerns that they have. There's the
issue of the timeline that doesn't make sense, as well
as Tony's whereabouts. There's the proof that Crystal and Tony
had financial trouble, but all of a sudden after the funeral.

(34:48):
All these bills were scheduled to be paid after Crystal's
death and money started coming in from the community. There's
the issue that the FedEx package that was delivered on
the day of Crystel's death was a new phone for
Tony because his was supposedly broken, but the day before
he had paid one hundred and fifty dollars to have
it fixed. There was the issue that Tony said their

(35:10):
ring camera had been broken for a month, but it
was active and recording up until the days leading up
to Crystal's death. And there was proof that Tony was
on various dating websites. All of these concerns about Tony
came up that Crystal seemed to have learned about in
the month prior to her death based on the login information.

(35:32):
Janna brings up that there's documentation that Tony started making
payments on a rental property in Tennessee and booked a
rental car to be picked up in Hawaii on March
ninth that he booked on the fifteenth of February. They
talked about the fact that Crystal showed zero signs of
suicidal ideation in the weeks and days leading up to
her death, contrary to what Tony was telling Darren Billings

(35:54):
that Crystal was depressed over her son leaving for the Navy.
Cristal had also ason exam to move up in her job,
that she had taken a picture of to commemorate because
she was so excited, and she had saved a bunch
of inspirational quotes to her computer and had just learned
that she was going to be a grandma as her

(36:14):
son Kerbin and his fiance were expecting a baby. She
was so excited and she was making plans for her future.
They bring up that there's possible discrepancies about the bullet
wound and that while Crystal was right handed, the exit
wound seemed to be on the left. Now the coroner's

(36:35):
reports us say it was on the right. However, I
don't know if I can trust what was written because
of all the mistakes, but Sheriff Matthews dismissed everything. You know,
Tony is a liar. You can't trust everything he says.
He likes to pretend to be somebody he's not, just
making up all sorts of excuses, and it's you know,

(36:57):
he's he's not a killer just because he, you know,
is spending money that wasn't to be used for his
own personal fun, which is all true. That doesn't make
him a killer. It makes him a really shitty husband.
But it's weird, and all of these little weird things

(37:19):
can add up to something bigger, something more suspicious. On
March twenty first, after receiving a copy of the death certificate,
Janna speaks to Sheriff Matthews about the time of death
being recorded as eleven am, and Sheriff Matthews kind of
freaks out about it, saying that it's just an estimate,
demanding to know who said it. It's impossible to really know,

(37:44):
you know, it could have been two o'clock. It could
have been nine o'clock. It could have been eleven o'clock,
could have been five o'clock, it could have been all
these random times. However, what he's saying isn't necessarily true.
There's various ways to get a fairly accurate time of death.
According to the National Library of Medicine, the pre mortem
interval is classified into immediate, early, and late stages. In

(38:06):
the immediate stage, biochemical and physiological changes occur, the cornea
begins the cloud within two hours after death, and the
skin appears pale. The early stage, which occurs between three
and seventy two hours after death, is the most important
in the primary way to establish timeline in circumstances of death.

(38:28):
This involves using rigor liver and algor mortis to estimate
time of death. Alger mortise is the cooling of the
body and is most accurate in determining time of death.
The general rule of thumb is the body cools one
point five degrees fahrenheit for every hour that passes. This
is determined by rectal temperature. Rigor mortis is the stiffening

(38:51):
of muscles and starts within the first two hours, usually
in the face, before moving into the upper limbs and hands,
and then finally into larger areas of the body. This
process takes six to eight hours, then usually lasts from
twelve to twenty four. Finally, there is liver mortis, which
is bruising in discolouration on certain parts of the body

(39:11):
depending on where the blood has settled. This process usually
starts within thirty minutes to two hours after death and
grow larger if the body is not moved, completing in
around twelve hours. Now, since we have no idea what
her body temperature was based on the fact that the
coroner only said she was cold, we have to use
other evidence to make a guess on what time of

(39:33):
death was. Now we can make an educated guest based
on the police report stating libidity had started and rigor
was in place. That they don't specify how complete rigor was,
but rigor has at least started, so we can make
the guess that Crystal died between six and eight hours
before she was found. Obviously, that's excluding any other factors

(39:56):
like temperature in the home, but since it was February,
I could same that the temperature in her home is comfortable.
This will put time of death sometime between nine thirty
and maybe one thirty. Since phone records confirmed that Tony
was on the phone with Crystal at ten am for
approximately twenty minutes, you could hazard a guess that Crystal's
time of death moves somewhere between ten thirty and one thirty. However,

(40:20):
at one sixteen, the right of the FedEx currier arrives
at the home and doesn't get an answer when she
knocks repeatedly at the door. So we can now move
the timeline back even further and guesstimate somewhere between ten
thirty and one o'clock. When you factor in the original
time of death from the coroner's narrative at ten thirty

(40:43):
five and the death certificates dating eleven o'clock, we could,
in theory move the timeline back even more saying that
Crystal's death occurred sometime between ten thirty and eleven. Again,
I'm not a pathologist, but I do have critical thinking skills.
So based on documented evidence as well as what was
originally stated in both the death certificate as well as

(41:06):
the coroner's narrative, Sheriff Matthews is completely incorrect in stating
that it's impossible to accurately establish time of death. You
can get a very good estimate based on what was
written in all of these reports. On March twenty ninth,
Jana and Dane meet with the district Attorney, Penny Dosier,
and she says that when she was first contacted, she

(41:28):
believed something suspicious was going on, but upon reading the
police report and autopsy reports, they have her fully believing
that this is a suicide. She seems very dismissive of
any of Dane or Jana's concerns, regardless of the fact
that they have proved that Tony was in the area
at the time of Crystal's death and she was investigating

(41:49):
his movements after parents started pulling their children from the
karate school when whispers of his inappropriate behavior started circulating.
Besides the fact that he knew who she was watching him.
Docier said that she thinks the Sheriff's office did a
thorough job, which is mind boggling because everything I've set

(42:09):
proves otherwise. And they go over the toxicology report, which
shows that Crystal was taking her meds contrary to what
Tony said about her stopping, and that that was what
pushed her over the edge. During this time. In the
weeks and months that followed, Jana is tracking down every
piece of evidence pertaining to her sister's case, contacting everyone

(42:31):
she could think of as well as talking to investigator
she has connections to for help. On May eighth, she
requests the results from the ballistics testing, and when she
receives them, she notices the testing was not done until
she had requested the results. Additionally, it was stated by
Sheriff Matthews during their meeting on February twenty third of

(42:54):
twenty twenty three that they were working on having the
firearm't processed, except that the test was showed that the
firearm wasn't sent for analysis until March twenty seventh. The
report from the North Louisiana Criminalistics Lab states that the
evidence they received was a nine millimeter Ruger pistol model
EC nine from the home of Tony and Crystal, an

(43:16):
envelope with test fires from the pistol, a bag with
one fired nine millimeter cartridge case labeled WCSO number one A,
and one bag with a spent bullet labeled as coming
from the wall behind the bed of their home. These
labels are interesting because the only thing not specifically labeled

(43:36):
with an exact location is the shell casing that Tony found. Additionally,
they have the serial number for the Ruger listed as
four or five six DASH two four three six eight,
except that's not the serial number for the Ruger model
EC nine. That's the serial number for an LC nine,

(43:57):
which is easily verified by looking up the number on
Ruger's website. It literally took me thirty seconds to do it,
and it would have taken me fifteen if I had
remembered to put in the dash. It's that easy to do,
as you could tell based on everything I have laid
out for you. And that's not even covering all of

(44:18):
the grief and aggravation that Jana and her family have
had to deal with coming from Tony's friends and Tony
himself in the form of text messages and Facebook comments.
Nothing was done properly in this investigation. I do not
believe for a second that Krystal McCrory took her own life,

(44:38):
just like I don't believe that the West Carol Paris
Shiversoffice conducted a thorough on biased investigation. They all know
Tony Jones very well. He used to work with them
and did work as a handyman for most of the
people in Oak Grove, even though he didn't have license
to do so. It had been revoked since twenty eighteen.

(44:59):
It is more more than possible that Crystal learned about
the CPS investigation. She was already aware of his infidelities
and was gathering evidence, and it's very possible that Tony
found out about what she was doing. There's also the
fact that Crystal had previously left an ex husband for
not allowing her to go be with her sister when

(45:21):
she needed her, and I fully believe that Cristel also
would have left Tony if he told her that she
couldn't go visit her son and grandbaby didn't matter if
they didn't have the finances for it, which is what
he was telling her. I did not know Cristel, but
I know for a fact if she had to, she
would have walked from Louisiana to Syracuse to seek her son.

(45:46):
That's not out of the realm or the scope of
what she would have done if it meant being with
her son and her grandchild. It's very possible that Crystal
threatened to leave and was gathering evidence to justify it,
and Tony found out. Now, obviously I can't say that
he's guilty of doing anything to her, but everything needs

(46:09):
to be looked into, because nothing that happened that day
looks meaningless now. The reason I laid out the seven
mistakes made in a suicide investigation is because every single
one of them applyed to Crystal's case, and Jane and
her family know it too, because that report was among
the files that Jana provided to me. It's the same

(46:30):
report I've used in the past when looking at Kayla
Cego and Alex Van Dolson's case because it applied to
theirs as well, and with Crystal it's undeniable. Jana and
her family have been relentless in fighting to have Crystal's
case recategorize as a homicide, and it should be. And
the links below you can find the petition Jana started

(46:51):
to try and compel it to happen. When writing out
what I wanted to say for this chapter, I included
pretty much everything Jana provided to me, because to cut
things out would be a further disservice. You need to
know about everything to fully understand the scope of what
went on during the sorry excuse for the police's investigation.

(47:12):
To Janna and the rest of your family, I hope
you get the justice for Crystal that you so desperately deserve,
and I thank you for trusting me to tell Crystal
Story again for you all listening. Check out the petition
and please sign it. It takes thirty seconds to do so,
because anything and everything helps get the word out. As always,

(47:36):
I hope you guys have a wonderful week and I
will see you in the next chapter of the Book
of the Dead. Bye, guys, thank you so much for
listening to this chapter of the Book of the Dead,
and don't forget that you could always connect with us
on Instagram, you can connect with us on Twitter, and
you can absolutely connect with us on Patreon. We also

(47:59):
have a merched as well that we have frequent discount
codes coming out for so that you guys can get
merch hand You're on by myself at a better cost.
We hope you have a lovely rest of your week,
and just remember, please be kind and don't forget to
always stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant. Bye guys,

(48:22):
bybe night.