Tuscaloosa suspect charged after hidden remains found

De’Kendrick Crawford has been charged with a third murder after investigators located skeletal remains partially buried in a wooded area behind the River Road Apartments in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Tuesday.

The Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit announced the discovery, which resulted in a new murder charge for Crawford, who is already facing capital murder counts in a July double homicide.

The original incident occurred on July 6, when Brookwood Police conducted a welfare check at a home in Brookwood after a renter could not reach her house sitter, 31-year-old Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas.

Officers discovered Alvarez-Duenas in the entryway and 22-year-old University of Alabama student Jazmine Alexis Bates in a closet. Both men and a dog had sustained gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead.

Crawford, 24, was identified as the renter and a co-worker of the victims at Buffalo Phil’s in Tuscaloosa. He had an outstanding felony warrant from May 2026 for shooting into an occupied building near Coleman Coliseum after being terminated from a contractor job.

Police found Crawford hiding in an attic crawlspace at a relative’s apartment in Northport approximately 10 hours after the bodies were discovered. He had refused to exit the unit, forcing a tactical breach of the secured building.

In early November, a witness told authorities that Crawford admitted to killing an unknown man at a different location before the July murders. Investigators gathered additional testimony and compared the accounts to digital evidence to corroborate specific details.

These corroborated details led officers to the River Road Apartments area, where they found the remains. The Violent Crimes Unit stated that the body was purposely hidden and would likely not have been found without the specific information provided by witnesses.

Authorities interviewed Crawford before charging him in the new case. He reportedly denied involvement again, according to the unit.

The victim has not yet been identified. Investigators believe he is a Black male between 40 and 70 years old. They noted that the man may have owned a Chevrolet Cruze frequently seen at the 10th Avenue Apartments complex, though it is unclear if he lived there.

The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences is testing the remains to determine the victim's identity. The Violent Crimes Unit is asking the public to call 205-464-8692 if they know of a missing person who fits this description.