A brother, a son, a teacher, and a friend. He was just 44 years old when his life was brutally cut short. Now investigators are searching for who killed James Roy Crosby in 1985.
Kerri Crips, sister
His life was taken in a senseless and brutal manner. Justice needs to prevail if at all possible in this lifetime. So if anyone knows anything the family sure would appreciate any tips that are out there.
Amanda Granit, Host: A BROTHER, A SON, A TEACHER AND A FRIEND.
HE WAS JUST 44 YEARS OLD WHEN HIS LIFE WAS BRUTALLY CUT SHORT.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
when you look at the crime scene photos, and you go back to the descriptions of the crime scene photos from the investigators, it gives you the idea that it was a crime of passion. It was a crime of anger. There was a lot of deep seated anger in involved in this crime.
Amanda Granit, Host: WE ARE TAKING A LOOK BACK AT THE MURDER OF JAMES ROY CROSBY IN HOPES THAT YOU CAN HELP US SOLVE THIS UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR JOHN MURTAUGH IS PART OF THE TEAM DEDICATED TO SOLVING THE COUNTY’S COLD CASES.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
Before I came here, January of this year, I had spent 23 years with the New York City Police Department. The last 13 of which I spent with the Intelligence Bureau, working on multiple cases from criminal to terrorism cases. And that experience I'm hoping will translate well to researching these cases as I go forward.
Amanda Granit, Host:
Certainly, and when you are opening up a cold case here for HCSO, what are you looking for? Where do you start? How do you utilize that experience?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator: So the first thing we do is we take the files off the shelf and we start from page one, and that is learning your victim that is learning the crime scene. That is looking at the individuals that have been interviewed in the past. That has been some phenomenal work done by the investigators in these case files. And you look back and you see very in depth conversations with individuals who either were ear witnesses, eye witnesses, people that knew the victim, and you get a good picture of the whole situation. Unfortunately only due to limits in forensic testing. There may have been some roadblocks that they may have come across. So as we go forward, we look at the evidence list to see what we would be able to bring into a new avenue of approach in the forensic world with modern advances in DNA and blood typing and stuff like that.
Amanda Granit, Host:
So let's start back in 1985, I believe. What case are we talking about today?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
So today we're talking about the case of James Roy Crosby, Jr. Mr. Crosby was a language teacher at Admiral Farragut Military Academy in St. Petersburg. He had been there since 1981, so he was going on his fourth year. And at the time he was living in an apartment over in St. Petersburg, Mr. Crosby, after his last school year closed in June, he was kind of just living his life, doing his thing. He was very private. If you read the accounts by from his family and people he worked with, he was a very private individual. And they basically said that he kept to himself and that he spent a lot of time out in the evening. Others' had said that Mr. Crosby had identified as homosexual and then would go out in the evenings. And he was very private about his evening affairs.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator: On the evening of June 20th. He was last seen by his father. He had stayed the night at the house. And then on the 21st, he had left and spoken to his sister by phone, told his sister, Hey, could you take the clothes out of the dryer for me? And then, Hey, I want to speak to my brother as well. Can I reach out? Can you have the brother reach out. A couple days later he's found, unfortunately in a old orange Grove, in Citrus Park, he was bound by duct tape at the ankles, the wrist which where his hands were actually placed behind his back, his pants were lowered to his knees. There was a cloth rag and a duct tape wrapped around his face that had been shimmied down. So he was able to, it wasn't in his mouth at the time.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
And he was found face down next to his vehicle. The vehicle had extensive damage to it and the crime really, when you look at the crime scene photos, and you go back to the descriptions of the crime scene photos from the investigators, it gives you the idea that it was a crime of passion. It was a crime of anger. There was a lot of deep seated anger in involved in this crime. However, many people it was we don't know, the motivations behind it we don't know. We don't know his whereabouts before this incident, phone records are not as extensive as they are now. So we aren't able to do a timeline with his phone activity. And so we're looking in 1985 where we're getting witness accounts. And then what eventually find as Mr. Crosby is found after he's been murdered. There are some ear witnesses in the area that describe some arguing and some loud fighting the night before he has found, but there's no eye witnesses to any activity back in that area at the time.
Amanda Granit, Host:
Can you say how he actually passed away?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator: So yes, he was beaten considerably. And I apologize for not mentioning that earlier. He was beaten considerably. We believe it was with a blunt object, when they looked for the tire iron for his vehicle, the actual iron itself, the angle iron was not found, but they did find the base thrown into the bushes nearby a couple feet away. So they believe it may have been the weapon that was used on both the vehicle and Mr. Crosby. So he was beaten considerably and left with his considerable injuries.
Amanda Granit:
And as you said, kind of when you were looking at this case, it's kind of recreating it in your mind's eye, what it looked like, what the scene looked like, this area that he was found and presumably murdered in, what was it like in June of 1985?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
So in June of 1985, we were told it, what I've read was it was a former orange grove that had gone dormant. So it was a pretty desolate area. When folks in the neighborhood were interviewed, they said the area was used by individuals a lot to ride three-wheelers, to run trucks back there, young folks hung back there and hung out and partied. So it was kind of an area that was well off the main road. And it was kind of desolate from an eye shot from the road. The area itself was pretty rural. They were in the process of beginning to create a subdivision in that area. So it was soon to be redeveloped into a subdivision. But at the time of this homicide, there was very little activity going on as far as any building or any changes, it was mostly just rural.
Amanda Granit:
And that must have created a roadblock for detectives and investigators back then.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
Oh, of course, I believe it does at, at that point, with only a few ear witnesses without specific information, three individuals had found Mr. Crosby, they were back there. I'm sorry two individuals had found Mr. Crosby. They were back there on three wheelers. They had notified a deputy that had been in the area. And that was in the evening on the 24th, which was a Monday and they had flagged him down. But otherwise there was really no way to see Mr. Crosby, unless somebody went back there.
Amanda Granit, Host:JAMES ROY CROSBY’S YOUNGER SISTER. KERRY CRIPPS REMEMBERS JUNE 24, 1985 AS THE DAY HER WHOLE LIFE CHANGED.
Kerry Cripps, sister:
Well, the detective came to my house in the middle of the night. I had just fed my little baby girl, she was six or seven months at the time. I was awake, because it was 2:15, 2:30 in the morning, something like that. It was the middle of the night, and I had been up feeding her. They banged on the door pretty loudly, knocked on the door pretty loudly and I let them in, and they informed me that they were looking, they were about James [inaudible 00:05:59] Crosby, and initially I thought it was my dad they were talking to because Jim was a junior. They said no, this would be your brother. So I let them in, and they told me that he had been found as a homicide victim, and of course it was just, people say things like it was so surreal. That's exactly how it was, it was like it wasn't sinking in. I asked, how was he killed? They said, "We can't tell you that at this time, everything is under investigation."
Kerry Cripps:
So, it was just a complete fog came over me. They were there for a little bit, I don't remember how long. It wasn't a real long time, my baby woke up while they were there and I had to go get her, she was crying. Luckily my little boy didn't wake up, but then it was just very strange. After they left, I was just 24 years old, a single mother going through a divorce. I felt very strange to be the only one in our family who knew that Jim had been killed, so I called my brother Steve and after that I called my brother Dan and asked him to come over in the morning, in a few hours to help me, to tell my dad, to let him tell our mother. That's how it went that night.
Amanda Granit:
From what the detectives tell me, they believe that this really seemed like a crime of anger and a crime of passion, but from everything you're saying it doesn't add up that your brother would have an enemy with such anger.
Kerry Cripps:
Yeah. You know, he was a private man, Amanda, and so I just don't know what relationally was going on. He was a bachelor, he was very private. I don't know, but certainly you're right. From what the file says and what was discovered, with the brutality of his murder and the vandalism of his vehicle, it does certainly seem personal. Or it could be hatred, like a hate crime as well. I don't know.
Amanda Granit: AND THOSE AS THE ANSWERS HCSO IS WORKING TO UNCOVER, BY COMBING OVER THE TIMELINE.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
So he leaves on the 21st on the 23rd, excuse me. He's seen by a neighbor in his apartment complex, walking from what she believes to be the pool. He is shirtless has a towel over his shoulder. No small talk or anything. She observed him walking back. She assumed he was either coming or going from swimming. And then the next time he's discovered and identified as when he's found murdered in the orange grove.
Amanda Granit, Host:
So you believe that he was murdered sometime between the 23rd and the 24th?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
Yes, I do. It was a morning time when he was seen by the swimming pool or vicinity of the swimming pool of the complex. And then he was found at about eight o'clock the night on the 24th. So somewhere in that ballpark.
Amanda Granit, Host:
In those conversations that he had with his sister and then the subsequent in the conversations he had with his sister and then his brother, did he make any indications that he was fearful or felt that he was in any kind of danger?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
No. By going through the different interviews that were taken by the family members, he had expressed to his sister, he needed to speak to his brother, but didn't particularly mention any reason. And the brother had attempted to reach out to him twice in between when the sister had gotten the request and when he's found, and there seemed to be no concerns, outwardly displayed. The parents as well knew he led a homosexual lifestyle but he was extremely private about it. And they didn't have any issues that they can speak to either that he had mentioned. And the father actually noticed that the car was in fine working order and had no considerable damage. The last time he had seen it on the 20th and 21st.
Amanda Granit, Host:
Is there a presumption that someone may have targeted Mr. Crosby because of his homosexuality?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
Unfortunately, we do not know. That would be one of the things we would actually like to know, which is why we would like anybody who has further information on this case to come forward. And maybe they have some sort of background information on his relationships or anybody that may have knowledge of this case. But otherwise, unfortunately we don't really have the real context to this, to the motive behind this homicide.
Amanda Granit:
And so many years have passed from this. What are you looking for from people? What are you hoping for? Cause I would assume that you are under the assumption that obviously someone knows something, there at least is a murderer out there who knows what they've done.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
Yes. So we've looked at the evidence. The evidence has been tested numerous times over the years. And as advances in DNA testing goes into a smaller amount needed. I mean the science is growing rapidly and becoming more pinpointed. We're looking to retest some of the evidence that was left behind from whether the binding of the gags. And then we're also looking to find old witnesses and just kind of sit back down and rehash the story, speak to people he worked with at the school, speak to people he may have been friendly with, look at his phone records and see who he spoke to go back. And unfortunately with a case this old though, you run into the roadblock of people, not no longer being with us. You hope that the ones that you do, are able to track down do have some sort of recollection. And, it also leads itself to victimology too.
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
So we really learn to learn our victim even more, the detectives did a phenomenal job back then of getting a good idea of who Mr. Crosby was, but it'd be good now with the years behind us to kind of get a renewed look at who our victim was and what may have brought him to that orange Grove at that time.
Amanda Granit, Host:
Without saying anything that would compromise the investigation was DNA recovered from unidentified individuals from the scene?
John Murtagh, Special Investigator:
Yeah, there is some DNA, but it needs to be retested. Then other items need to be retested. And we are in the process of trying to identify who that DNA may belong to, which is another reason why we are appealing to the public, to if they do know anything to come forward.
Amanda Granit: KERRI’S PLEA IS THE SAME, SO THAT SHE AND HER FAMILY CAN HAVE ANSWERS ASX TO WHO CUT THEIR BELOVED BROTHER’S LIFE TOO SHORT.
Sister: Jim was a very cultured guy. As I said, he went to Europe every summer for two or three weeks. Being fluent in French and German. He loved art. He absolutely adored college sports and watching games with family. Interestingly, he loved beauty pageants. The poise and grace of the contestants, he just found it so fascinating and loved to watch it. As far as telling someone who may know something about this I just want to say, he was such a support to me for many years there, the last part of my marriage. It was not a healthy and happy one. He never got to see me come out of being a very poor single mom into I just left my marriage and career in the last three decades of my life. His life was taken in a senseless and brutal manner. Justice needs to prevail if at all possible in this lifetime. So if anyone knows anything the family sure would appreciate any tips that are out there.