Inset: Draylon Crutchfield (Allen County Sheriff”s Department). Background: The apartment complex where Crutchfield allegedly stabbed his roommate to death in Fort Wayne, Ind. (Google Maps).
An Indiana man is behind bars and talking about what put him there after a fatal stabbing this week, Hoosier State authorities say.
Draylon Marquise Crutchfield, 25, stands accused of one count of murder, according to Allen County Sheriff’s Department records.
The incident occurred late Thursday night at an apartment complex on Stardale Drive in the Oakland Park neighborhood of Fort Wayne, according to a press release announcing the defendant’s arrest.
Officers arrived at the scene to find Muhammad Williams, 18, suffering from multiple stab wounds, the Fort Wayne Police Department says. The stabbed man was rushed to a nearby hospital in “life-threatening condition” where he later succumbed to his injuries. The defendant was quickly identified as a person of interest and later arrested at the scene of the crime, according to police.
The accused killer was allegedly voluble about the altercation.
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“Don’t be going to sleep on my mama’s couch,” Williams told the defendant sometime after 9 p.m., Crutchfield allegedly told police, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fort Wayne-based ABC, NBC, and MyNetworkTV affiliate WPTA and CBS affiliate WANE.
This charge-and-demand started a brief but eventually violent argument between the two men, according to law enforcement.
Crutchfield, for his part, allegedly said he declined to respond to that initial demand – but Williams kept up the verbal attacks.
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 allegedly said he was already holding a knife when he warned: “Don’t run up on me bro, don’t run up on me man.”
But, the defendant allegedly said, Williams just wouldn’t listen.
Crutchfield allegedly told police Williams repeatedly punched him in the head before he admittedly stabbed the deceased man an “unknown number of times,” according to the affidavit. The defendant also allegedly claimed his vision had gone blurry from being struck in the head – leading to his 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 unit, the defendant allegedly pleaded 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.
Another witness, who claimed to have witnessed the whole incident, said “the fight did not last longer than three seconds before Draylon had stabbed Muhammad,” according to the affidavit.
Police say the two men were later determined to be roommates, according to a report by Fort Wayne-based Fox affiliate WFFT.
Crutchfield is being detained in the Allen County Confinement Facility without bond. He is slated to appear in court on July 28.
