A University of Alabama student, a male friend and the dog he was caring for were found shot to death, authorities said, with a suspect later taken into custody following a tense standoff with police that lasted several hours.
The victims have been identified as 22-year-old Jazmine Alexis Bates, a University of Alabama student, and 31-year-old Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, a single father of three.
Alvarez-Duenas and Bates were coworkers and friends at Buffalo Phil’s restaurant in Tuscaloosa. Their bodies were discovered July 6 inside a home in Brookwood, where Alvarez-Duenas had been pet-sitting a friend’s dog, police said.
The homeowner, who was out of town, reportedly became concerned after she was unable to get in touch with Alvarez-Duenas and checked her home’s security cameras remotely.
According to authorities, the surveillance video appeared to show a man behaving suspiciously on the back porch in the early hours of the morning. The homeowner then contacted her landlord, who asked Brookwood police to carry out a welfare check at the property.
When officers arrived and opened the front door, they immediately found Alvarez-Duenas dead inside. A subsequent search of the home led them to Bates’s body in a closet. The dog was also found shot to death.
After reviewing the surveillance footage, police identified the suspect as 24-year-old De’Kendrick Crawford. Authorities said Crawford was already wanted on an outstanding felony warrant connected to a May 2026 incident involving shots fired into an occupied building.
Investigators said evidence collected at the home, along with the security footage, allowed them to quickly secure a separate capital murder warrant for Crawford.
Jose Felix Alvarez-Duenas, 31, was found dead on July 6 at a home in Brookwood, Alabama, where he was pet-sitting a friend’s dog. He is pictured with his three children
Jazmine Alexis Bates, 22, was also found dead at the home. She was friends with Alvarez-Duenas from work and a student at the University of Alabama
De’Kendrick Crawford, 24, is accused of killing Bates, Alvarez-Duenas and the dog that the father of three was pet-sitting. He has been charged with capital murder of two persons
Police soon located the suspected murderer at a relative’s apartment. They attempted to get him to exit the home, but he refused to leave.
Officers eventually breached the building and located Crawford hiding in an attic crawlspace.
‘After four hours of tactical operations including drones, tear gas, tactical units – walls, doors being breached and attics being searched with K-9s, yeah, he gave up,’ Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Captain Jack Kennedy said at a press conference.
‘He gave up only because he cared about himself more than he cared about his victims, and he knew that the guys that we sent up in that attic to get him would defend thereselves if he did anything,’ Kennedy added.
The police captain said there is currently no known reason or motive for Crawford’s alleged murders and why the victims were targeted.
‘This subject right here – this is a terrible case,’ Kennedy said. ‘These victims had no reason for this to happen to them.’
Crawford was arrested about 10 hours after the victims’ bodies were found. He has been charged with capital murder of two or more persons and is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond, according to the jail’s records.
He has also been charged with firing a gun at an occupied building for his prior outstanding warrant.
Police were called to a wellness check at the home and found Bates’s body in a closet. She had been fatally shot
Bates would have graduated from the University of Alabama in December. Her friends and family described her as ‘the kind of person you could always count on’
In that alleged crime, Crawford had been fired from a contract job at the University of Alabama campus, and he is accused of shooting his gun multiple times at an occupied office building as he drove away.
Police said that Crawford will likely be hit with multiple other charges as the murder investigation develops.
The University of Alabama released a statement addressing the death of its student, Bates, that said: ‘We extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Jazmine Bates after this tragedy. UA staff have contacted her family to offer support.’
Buffalo Phil’s restaurant, where Bates and Alvarez-Duenas worked together, released a statement that said: ‘There are simply no words to express the pain our team is feeling. They were more than employees — they were family.
‘Their kindness, dedication and the joy they brought to our workplace will never be forgotten.’
A GoFundMe was set up to help Bates’s family cover the cost of funeral expenses and transportation arrangements to bring the student’s body to her home city of Chicago.
On the fundraising page, friends and family described the young woman as ‘the kind of person you could always count on, reliable, selfless, and always willing to help anyone in need without hesitation.’ She would have graduated in December.
A GoFundMe was also set up to help Alvarez-Duenas’s family cover funeral costs and provide financial support for his four-year-old, nine-year-old and 10-year-old children, as he was their sole caregiver and provider.
Alvarez-Duenas was the sole caregiver and provider for his four-year-old, nine-year-old and ten-year-old children, whom he is pictured with
The father was described as ‘the best dad to those babies, always putting their needs first and making sure they felt loved and safe.’
‘He was also the best friend to many, a wonderful son, and a caring brother to his six sisters,’ the fundraiser added. ‘Felix never met a stranger and would help anyone in any way he could, always offering a hand or a kind word to those in need.’
