A tragic incident has struck Brookwood, Alabama, where a 24-year-old man now faces a capital murder charge following the deaths of two individuals, one of whom was a University of Alabama student. The victims were found shot at a residence in Tuscaloosa County.
The accused, De’Kendrick Crawford from Tuscaloosa, allegedly killed 31-year-old Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas and 22-year-old Jazmine Alexis Bates. The bodies were found at a home on Alabama Junction Road on Monday afternoon.
Alvarez-Duenas was house and dogsitting while the homeowner was abroad, according to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. On July 5, the homeowner struggled to reach him and noted suspicious activity through her security cameras when someone was spotted on the back porch during the early hours of July 6. Concerned, she alerted her landlord, who then requested a welfare check from Brookwood police.
Upon arriving, police discovered Alvarez-Duenas immediately upon entering the home, while Bates was found deceased in a closet of a back bedroom. Tragically, the household dog had also been shot and killed.
Authorities moved swiftly, with Jack Kennedy from the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit confirming that Crawford was identified from the security footage and apprehended within 10 hours of the discovery of the victims.
Crawford, the victims, and the primary resident all knew one another from previously working together at a local business together.
Bates was a student at the University of Alabama.
Additionally, Crawford has an outstanding warrant for shooting into an occupied building from May 2026. In that case, Kennedy said Crawford was fired from a contractor job on UA’s campus and, as he drove away, fired a gun several times, striking an occupied office building. Warrants were obtained in that case, and authorities were actively searching for Crawford.
“This case is another example of the excellent law enforcement agencies that we have in Tuscaloosa County, and the value and efficiency of the several multi-agency task forces. This critical case began at a small rural municipality, concerned a suspect that had committed crimes on the University of Alabama campus, and every agency in Tuscaloosa County worked together seamlessly to locate and safely arrest the suspect in just a few hours. The VCU will continue to work with District Attorney’s Office to successfully prosecute this dangerous individual,” wrote Kennedy in a press release.