On October 29, a Prince William Circuit Court judge denied an appeal for bail for Dr. Latoya Crabbe, who stands accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of her husband, Curtis Crabbe Jr.
Prosecutors allege that Crabbe admitted to the October 21 shooting. Her attorney, David Daughtery, maintains it was an act of self-defense. With Judge Kimberly A. Irving’s ruling, Crabbe will remain in the Prince William County jail without bond.
Judge Irving challenged aspects of the prosecution’s argument, particularly regarding the number of wounds and the gun’s ammunition count. Prosecutors claimed that four wounds indicated a need for Crabbe to reload, given the gun’s seven-round capacity. Daughtery countered that two of the wounds were caused by a single bullet passing through the body.
Judge Irving left open the possibility for a renewed bail request pending further investigative reports from the Medical Examiner or Manassas Police Detectives.
A Woman on the Move
Crabbe graduated from Osbourn High School in Manassas in 2008. Due to her academic record and high SAT score, she was awarded a full tuition scholarship to Hampton University, where she received her doctorate in Pharmacology in 2014. In her last year of school, Crabbe began dating Curtis and returned to Manassas after graduation.
In 2015, Crabbe took a position as the Clinical Pharmacist for Indian Health Services in Chinle, Arizona, as part of her role in the uniformed U.S. Public Health Service. She continued the long-distance relationship she had started in college with Curtis, using FaceTime and text as a substitute for traditional dating.
After returning to Virginia in 2018, Crabbe took a position with the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, where she was a cadre instructor for newly commissioned medical professionals entering the National Health Service. Crabbe currently holds the rank of 0-4 Lieutenant Commander.
In 2020, she took a full-time position as a Program Manager at the Food and Drug Administration and went to a part-time position in the Public Health Service.
Crabbe’s best friend and fellow Hampton University alum, Alicia Banks, accompanied the defendant’s family to court to support her friend. In the courtroom, Banks described Crabbe as a patient woman.
Banks said Crabbe was always giving back to the community In addition to the time she spent on the Navajo Reservation deployed with the U.S. Public Health Service as a Clinical Staff Pharmacist for the Indian Health Services, “this is homecoming week at Hampton. She took a vacation from her job so she could be at Hampton to be a mentor to students.” Banks said she’s had to tell several alumni and faculty at Hampton about what she’s accused of since the arrest has kept her away from the school.
“When I tell people about this, even former professors, they can’t believe [Crabbe] was involved because she’s never even raised her voice to people. She doesn’t get angry. I don’t think she’s even yelled at her kids,” said Banks.
On the Rocks
The Crabbes were married in 2018 and had their first of three children a year later. The couple moved to a 10-acre home in Ruther Glen, but Crabbe found it difficult to commute to her U.S. Public Health Service job in Maryland four hours a day and raise children without the support of her family. According to Crabbe’s mother, Marilyn Martin, even though Curtis objected, Crabbe moved the family into her mother’s basement in Manassas. Martin, a former Prince William County foster parent, babysat the Crabbe children during the day while Crabbe worked. Martin alleges Curtis’ insistence on moving nearly 70 miles away from her family in Manassas home was a way to control her.
According to court testimony by Daughtery, Crabbe filed for divorce in July, the second such filing for the couple. Martin showed reporters a copy of an eviction notice she issued Curtis on October 9. Martin said Crabbe ended the first divorce proceeding when Curtis threatened violence “because she was scared for the safety of all of us, especially the children,” she added, “[Crabbe] knew of his violent history and knew he wasn’t bluffing.”
Martin showed reporters a six-page document that she claimed showed emails Crabbe sent to a domestic violence counselor this summer in which she spelled out the physical and emotional abuse she and her children suffered under Curtis. Martin also showed reporters an internal security video showing Curtis slapping his three-year-old child on the side of her head because she was crying in the days before his death. Martin provided that video to investigators but did not provide the emails to reporters, as she said her attorney had not yet reviewed the documents.
Martin shared text messages allegedly from Curtis to one of her other daughters in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic that appeared to show a late-night text where Curtis wanted to go to the other daughter’s home because he was “try[ing] to chill for a few,” and he “didn’t want tonight to end.” Still, his wife “went to bed before [he] got home.” The unnamed daughter called his request “strange,” and Curtis later wrote to ensure she “didn’t get the wrong impression” of his late-night text request.
A text exchange allegedly from Curtis in 2019 blames Martin for the marital problems saying Crabbe “is always stuck up under [Martin’s butt] everyday. If I don’t go upstairs, I wouldn’t ever see her. I did 3.5 years of [a] long distance [relationship]… and I see her about as much as when she lived in AZ. I’m ready to roll all the way out!!!!”
A Violent Past
In 2006, when Curtis was 18, he was found guilty of felony charges related to a violent armed home invasion robbery in Stafford County. Details in the court record are slim because most are sealed, but public records show that he was sentenced to 40 years in the Virginia Penitentiary. All of his sentence was stayed pending him completing a youthful offender program, paying fines and restitution to the victims and completing 20 years of probation.
In 2014, Curtis violated probation after receiving a DUI. Records show that three years later, the commonwealth attempted to revoke his suspended sentence for violating the probation, but instead of sending him to prison as the initial order required, in May 2018, a Stafford Circuit Court judge only ordered him to pay $186 in court costs and put back on the original probation.
When reached for comment, the victims of the 2006 home invasion robbery refused to answer questions because they still feared the potential ramifications of talking about the violent crime.
Martin said Crabbe had confided in her that she learned after they were married that Curtis was violent with previous girlfriends and had pulled a weapon on one of his family members. Martin said that Curtis’ family chose not to report the crimes to the police due to his probation status and the knowledge he would go to prison should he be arrested.
Rising Tensions Leading to the Shooting
The living situation was “contentious in the months leading up to the shooting,” said Martin. Curtis was sleeping on a basement couch during the day because he worked the night shift at a Stafford County manufacturer. Curtis only occasionally stayed at the Martin home as he spent much time with his family in Stafford, which was closer to his work.
The Martins issued an eviction notice on October 9 to Curtis. Martin says that he got angry when Curtis came by several days later. In an unanswered text message to Crabbe, Curtis allegedly wrote, “I’m going upstairs to talk to your mom about this notice too[.] I got some [stuff] to get off my chest.” Martin said that when Curtis confronted her, he refused to leave the home and stated that Crabbe only needed space in the relationship.
On October 19, two days before the shooting, while Crabbe was on a business trip to New York City, in another unanswered text, Curtis allegedly wrote, “stop [messing] with me and answer my call or I’m going to go to the house and punch your mother in the face… I’m not playing around[,] I will hurt everyone in the house then set it on fire,” then he added, “I’m taking the kids and you will never see them.”
Martin said the family added additional locks to the home to prevent Curtis from following through on his threats. Martin said that although her daughter had her gun, she also acquired a gun as well because she was afraid of Curtis as she believed Curtis blamed her for a lot of the couple’s marital problems.
The Day of the Shooting
On the morning of Monday, October 21, Crabbe and Martin were at a bus stop when Curtis drove up to the home on Brinkley Street. Crabbe later told Martin that she had recorded two hours of Curtis alternating between threatening her, threatening suicide, and begging for reconciliation that day.
According to a timeline of the day provided by Martin, Curtis ultimately fell asleep on Crabbe’s bed as she worked on her computer in the same room, barely big enough for a double bed, dresser, and small desk. Crabbe put her children down for a nap and returned to the basement to retrieve and work on her laptop in the children’s room.
Martin, who was out running errands, received a frantic call from Crabbe, who said she shot Curtis after he cornered her behind her desk when she went downstairs. Martin claims Crabbe told her that Curtis would not let her out of the room and was frantic about the relationship, showing “extreme aggression” in such a way that she felt she was about to die because he relayed that if he couldn’t have her, no one could. Martin immediately called Manassas Police, who arrived shortly after that.
In court testimony, it was revealed police found a knife not belonging to the home on the floor of the basement and two guns in his car parked outside the house. Prosecutor Burke Walker said there was no evidence of a struggle and no evidence that Curtis brandished the knife despite the defense’s claim that he had.
Curtis’s 20-year felony probation precluded him from possessing weapons of any kind. Martin said that he would regularly leave both knives and guns unsecured in the home where his young children could access them, and this is one of the concerns Crabbe listed in her letter to the domestic violence counselor.
Martin said Crabbe is being isolated at the Prince William Adult Detention Center. “She doesn’t even know what day it is. They don’t let her out of her cell. She doesn’t know if it’s day or night. She can hear other inmates but can’t see any of them from her windowless cell. They’ve only allowed her one shower in the nearly 10 days she’s been there” said Martin, who is allowed only two 30-minute visits per week.
Prince William Adult Detention Center officials haven’t responded to requests for comment about Crabbe’s treatment in their facility. With Irving’s ruling, Crabbe will remain held without bond until the conclusion of her trial. A date for that has not been set, but is expected to happen in 2025. Should a new bond hearing not happen, her next appearance is not until November 21.
Domestic Violence Statistics in the Area
Statistics from Stafford and Prince William counties show an alarming rate of Domestic Violence calls for service.
Prince William domestic-related calls for police service have risen year over year, and 2024 looks to continue the upward trend, with 2023 setting a record 31% more calls than 2020. In 2023, nine people were victims of domestic-related murder. So far, in 2024, there have been four.
A similar situation exists in Stafford, where calls are up year over year, with 2023 seeing a more modest 4% increase over 2020. Last year, Stafford had two domestic-related murders, and so far in 2024, only one.
While overall domestic violence calls for service have fallen in Manassas, the Curtis Crabbe homicide is counted as a domestic homicide, the only one on record this year. Speaking to the projected uptick of domestic violence-related crime calls in nearby Manassas Park. However, a body has not been located; Manassas Park officials are considering Mamta Kafle Bhatt, missing since July 2024, as a domestic violence murder.
In an August reporter huddle following the arrest of Kaflle Bhatt’s husband, Naresh, for felony concealment of a dead body, Police Chief Mario Lugo said, “Because of the excessive amount of blood found at her home, we don’t believe she is alive.”
If you think you are a victim of domestic violence, there is help available. In Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park, ACTS offers a 24-hour hotline at 703-221-4951. In Stafford, Empowerhouse has a 24-hour hotline at 540-373-9373.
The National Domestic Violence hotline is staffed 24 hours a day and has 200+ language support, reachable by calling 800-799-7233.
If you are in immediate need of assistance, please call 911.
Of the county’s 332,032 registered voters, 71,645 opted to vote early in person, with an additional 37,631 mail-in ballots requested. So far, 23,376 of those mail ballots have been returned, contributing to a total voter turnout of 28.62% as of October 29, 2024.
Olsen noted that this year’s early voter turnout could be 10-15% lower than the county’s record-setting early voting participation of 110,000 in 2020, a year marked by the pandemic’s impact on voting behaviors. In that election, a surge in mail-in voting saw 60,000 residents cast ballots by mail. By contrast, this year’s mail ballot requests are about half of 2020’s level, reflecting shifts in voting patterns post-pandemic.
“It’s impossible to know if changes in early and mail voting are indicators of overall turnout or just changes in how people choose to vote,” Olsen said. He cautioned against comparing this year’s turnout with that of 2020, explaining that the unique public health conditions then influenced voter behavior in ways that may not reflect long-term trends.
Historically, Prince William County has experienced fluctuating turnout in presidential election years, with the highest turnout recorded in 2012, even without today’s expanded early voting options.
Early voting will continue through Saturday, November 2, and polling locations will be open across the county on Election Day, November 5. Voters can find early voting locations and other information at pwcvotes.org.
According to a press release from I-66 EMP — an alliance of infrastructure companies contracted to work in a public-private partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation — the largest donation to date will be put toward a new mobile laboratory supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the county. Last year, I-66 EMP donated $23,000 to support the installation of maker spaces at middle schools in PWCS.
“Over the years, [I-66 EMP have] proven to be an unwavering supporter of public education here in Prince William. We’re appreciative of this donation and we’re excited to see the benefits for all our students,” Dawn Davis, executive director of SPARK, said.
I-66 EMP and PWCS have had a long-standing relationship; I-66 EMP was the platinum sponsor of SPARK’s regional science and engineering fair in 2020 and earned the Business Partner Award in the same year from SPARK.
“Supporting public education in the region we serve has always been of paramount importance to our company,” Nancy H. Smith, I-66 EMP’s director of corporate affairs, said. “And supporting STEM education is key to preparing students for a high-tech future. That’s why we’re pleased to work with SPARK to enhance STEM education in Prince William County.”
Prince William County has implemented a new jughandle turn to connect Discovery Boulevard to the parkway. A jughandle turn is meant to eliminate traditional left turns at intersections and allow drivers to use a curved ramp on the right side to loop around. From the loop, drivers wait at a signal to either cross the main road or make a left turn onto a side street.
“The jughandle turn is part of ongoing efforts to improve traffic flow and minimize delays during peak travel times,” a county press release on the change stated. “Removing left turns at this busy intersection will help reduce congestion and enhance safety for residents and commuters.”
The new traffic signals at the jughandle will become operational following Wednesday’s morning rush hour. Beginning Thursday at 9 p.m., traffic lights at the intersection of Discovery Boulevard and Prince William Parkway will be adjusted, and by Friday morning, left turns at the intersection will no longer be possible.
Changes at this intersection have been in talks in the county since 2019. This was part of the Strategically Targeted Affordable Roadway Solutions (STARS) program — under the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) — which aims to develop solutions to congestion and safety challenges in the state. This traffic pattern change is part of a larger project along the Prince William Parkway and University Boulevard.
From Mayor Earnie Porta:
Some of you may have noticed new 20 mph signs on a small stretch of Washington Street in Occoquan. Effective this past July 1, the Commonwealth of Virginia authorized localities to reduce the speed limit to no lower than 15 mph on state roads within a locality’s boundaries.
In accordance with that authority, and as reported earlier in a town newsletter, the Occoquan Town Council has decided to lower the speed limit to 20 mph on a section of Washington Street. Now, before I hear from a legion of self-proclaimed traffic experts, let me take a moment to explain the town’s rationale for the change.
First, as many of you have no doubt observed, our town police regularly assist in slowing and stopping traffic around school bus stops. This effort on the part of our town police is part of our commitment to enhancing the safety of children in high traffic areas of town. The stretch of Washington Street where the new speed limit signs have been installed is one such high traffic location.
Second, and I encourage people to read thoughtfully what I am conveying here, 30 mph is simply an unsafe speed for this particular portion of Washington Street, both because of school bus traffic in that area and due to the presence of two crosswalks. It is an unfortunate reality, however, that this speed is too often met or exceeded, particularly during afternoon commuting hours and at night.
Given that the judicial system generally frowns on tickets issued for going only fives mile per hour over the speed limit, the prior maximum speed limit of 25 mph provided us with little ability to deter those traveling at a speed unsafe for that stretch of road. Third and last, to increase the safety of the two crosswalks located on this stretch of Washington Street, particularly during non-daylight hours, we have long wanted to place flashing outline lights on the crosswalk signs to alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians. Unfortunately, VDOT will not authorize us to do so.
By installing our own 20 mph speed limit signs, however, we can eventually place such lights on those signs, thus further enhancing pedestrian safety in the area. While we have had to take a somewhat circuitous route to achieve our goals, we feel confident that the steps taken will help enhance the safety of an area about which residents have long been concerned. It is our hope, of course, that residents, visitors, and commuters will cooperate in this endeavor for the benefit of all.
On November 5, 2024, all Stafford offices and courts will be closed for Election Day. However, the R-Board/Regional Landfills will be open, and emergency services along with outdoor parks will still operate as usual.
Press Release:
Stafford offices, departments, facilities, and all courts will be closed on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, for Election Day.
Both locations of the R-Board/Regional Landfill (Eskimo Hill and Belman Road) will be open on Election Day.
The following offices and facilities will remain open:
Fire and Rescue Information (540) 658-7200
Emergency 911
Sheriff’s Office Information (540) 658-4400
Emergency 911
Magistrate (540) 659-2968
All outdoor parks are open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Press release:
The University of Mary Washington and George Mason University have renewed existing partnerships designed to accelerate student success and open the door to additional agreements between the two schools beginning as early as next year.
The signing ceremony reconfirming the universities’ accelerated degree pathway programs in computer science, engineering and law took place in the Dodd Auditorium foyer in UMW’s George Washington Hall, with provosts, deans and other administrators in attendance.
“A lot of work has gone into the efforts to make today what it is,” said UMW Provost Tim O’Donnell, who signed the official document along with George Mason Provost James Antony. “It’s really a prelude to more work to come, ultimately work that will be good work because it will benefit our students, our faculty and our programs.”
The UMW-Accelerated Mason Program graduate pathways permit dual enrollment, allowing Mary Washington students to combine undergraduate and graduate degree requirements, and reducing the time it takes to earn a master’s degree and unlock increased earning potential. They also allow participants to roll tuition and fees into existing financial aid packages, facilitate data sharing between the two schools and ultimately improve student outcomes at both universities.
Fredericksburg city press release:
Regular polling places will be open and operating per usual on November 5, 2024.
For Hugh Mercer Elementary School:
Beginning Monday, October 21, Cowan Boulevard will be closed to all traffic in both directions between Hospital Drive and Snowden Hills Boulevard. This temporary closure is for work to install the new sewer main crossing under Cowan Boulevard. This closure will be in place for the November 5th General and Special Election. Voters who live on Cowan Boulevard between Hospital Drive and Carl D Silver Parkway are most significantly affected. They should make plans to access Cowan Boulevard from Emancipation Highway.
For Walker-Grant Middle School:
Learning Lane, the traditional route to Walker-Grant Middle School, is closed for emergency stormwater pipe repairs. This closure will be in place for the November 5th General and Special Election. Voters should plan to use the posted detour route at Lafayette Boulevard and Hotchkiss Street to access the school. There are clear detour signs that will lead to the parking lot at Walker-Grant Middle School.
Early voting will be available in the Office of Voter Registration and Elections until November 2. Normal operating hours are 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.
Voting will be extended until 6:30pm on October 30. Voters may vote on Saturday, November 2 from 9am to 5pm.
There will be images of the detour route for both Hugh Mercer and Walker-Grant on the Office of Voter Registration and Elections website Fredericksburgva.gov/Vote. Look for “Detour Maps” on the homepage. For the most up to date information, please sign up for text alerts from the Office of Voter Registration and Elections. Text FXBG VOTE to 91896.
The Fredericksburg Office of Voter Registration and Elections is located at 601 Caroline Street Suite, 500 Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Contact: Email: [email protected] Web: www.fredericksburgVA.gov/Vote Telephone: 540-372-1030 Fax: 540-373-8381
