UA Student Among Two Killed in Brookwood; Suspect Arrested

A 24-year-old has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of two people found shot inside a Brookwood home on Monday, where a dog was also shot and killed, according to local investigators.

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Commander Captain Jack Kennedy said the suspect, 24-year-old De'Kendrick Crawford, was taken into custody Tuesday after a multi-agency operation that ended with officers finding him hiding in an attic crawlspace at a Northport apartment complex on Deerfield Drive, roughly 10 hours after the victims were discovered.

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The victims were identified as Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, 31, and Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, a University of Alabama student. Both had been shot. Kennedy said the victims, Crawford and the homeowner where the killings occurred, all knew each other through a shared workplace.

The case began Monday afternoon when Brookwood Police were called to perform a welfare check at a residence in the 12900 block of Alabama Junction Road.

Kennedy said the home's primary resident was out of the country and had a friend housesitting over the holiday weekend. After being unable to reach the housesitter, the resident accessed doorbell camera footage and observed a suspicious figure on her back porch in the late-night and early-morning hours of July 5 and 6.

The out-of-country resident contacted her landlord, who requested the welfare check. When officers opened the front door, they found Alvarez-Duenas immediately. A second victim, Bates, was found in a back bedroom closet. Both had been fatally shot, as had a dog found there.

The VCU responded, and Kennedy said investigators were able to identify Crawford through the doorbell camera footage and other methods. Crawford already had an outstanding felony warrant from May 2026 for shooting into an occupied building, which Kennedy said stemmed from a separate incident in which Crawford allegedly fired a weapon multiple times after being terminated from a contractor job on the UA campus, striking an occupied office building adjacent to Coleman Coliseum. Crawford had been actively evading law enforcement in that case.

With a capital murder warrant obtained, the U.S. Marshals Task Force was called in to assist. Crawford was located at a relative's apartment in Northport, where he initially refused to exit. The building was secured, and multiple agencies converged to execute the arrest, including the VCU, the U.S. Marshals Task Force, Northport Police Department and its tactical unit, Tuscaloosa Police Department and its cyber unit, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office and its K-9 units, and ALEA.

Crawford was found hiding in an attic crawlspace and taken into custody. He was booked on his outstanding warrant and two counts of capital murder, with additional charges expected as the investigation continues.

Kennedy said the VCU will work with the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's Office to prosecute Crawford.

By the count of the Thread staff, the killings are the eighth and ninth homicides investigated by the VCU in Tuscaloosa County so far in 2026.

For more exclusive coverage of crime and public safety in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.