Inset: Draylon Crutchfield (Allen County Sheriff”s Department). Background: The apartment complex where Crutchfield stabbed his roommate to death in Fort Wayne, Ind. (Google Maps).
An Indiana resident has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term for fatally stabbing his roommate after an argument over sleeping arrangements turned violent.
Draylon Marquise Crutchfield, aged 26, was convicted last month by a jury for the murder of 18-year-old Muhammad A. Williams. The tragic incident took place in July 2025.
On Friday, Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull handed down a sentence of 60 years to Crutchfield for the crime.
The altercation unfolded last summer at an apartment complex located on Stardale Drive in Fort Wayne’s Oakland Park neighborhood, according to a press release from the city.
When officers responded to the scene, they discovered Williams with multiple stab wounds, as reported by the Fort Wayne Police Department. Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries, Williams tragically did not survive.
Witnesses at the scene of the crime told investigators the two men had been arguing about sleeping arrangements before their altercation turned physical. Crutchfield, for his part, did not dispute that narrative – but insisted Williams attacked him first.
“Don’t be going to sleep on my mama’s couch,” Williams told the defendant sometime after 9 p.m., Crutchfield told police, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fort Wayne-based ABC, NBC, and MyNetworkTV affiliate WPTA and CBS affiliate WANE. Then, Williams threatened to beat his soon-to-be killer up, Crutchfield said.
Crutchfield allegedly said he declined to respond to Williams’ initial demand about where to sleep – but that the other man kept up the verbal barrage and would not listen to him.
During the argument, Williams had an infant in his hands, which he later passed on to another person as the confrontation developed, both Crutchfield and witnesses allegedly attested.
A third person in the apartment at some point went outside to make a phone call, the defendant allegedly told police. And then, Williams’ words are said to have become increasingly aggressive.
“I finna beat the s– out of you man,” Williams allegedly told Crutchfield, according to the affidavit. “I’ve been waiting on this s–.”
At this point, Crutchfield told police he was already holding a knife when he warned: “Don’t run up on me bro, don’t run up on me man.”
The defendant claimed Williams then threw the first punch. A witness told police, “The fight did not last longer than three seconds before Draylon had stabbed Muhammad,” according to the affidavit.
Crutchfield eventually told police Williams repeatedly punched him in the head before he admittedly stabbed the deceased man an “unknown number of times,” according to the charging document. The defendant also claimed his vision had gone blurry from being hit in the head – leading to imprecise knowledge about the stabbing.
After the stabbing, Williams ran outside and Crutchfield followed – knife still in hand, according to the affidavit. At a neighbor’s apartment unit, the defendant told his side of the story.
Crutchfield, covered in blood, was armed with a kitchen knife in his right hand and told the neighbors he stabbed Williams after being punched in the face, according to law enforcement.