HOMICIDE: Lt. Cmdr. Crabbe’s Bond Denied; Defense Argues Self-Defense in Husband’s Killing

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.