James Crumbley’s threatening prison call vows revenge on prosecutor who charged him with manslaughter in son’s shooting: ‘She’s a fool when I get out’
Threatening jail calls from the father of Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley have been released as he vowed revenge on the prosecutor who charged him with manslaughter.
James Crumbley and his estranged wife Jennifer were sentenced to 10 to 15 years behind bars earlier this week for their part in their son’s massacre.
Authorities have since released audio recordings of calls in which Crumbley threatens Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald.
In the sound, obtained by Detroit Free PressCrumbley can be heard saying: ‘Karen McDonald, you are going down. Yes, you stupid bitch in jail, record this call, send it to Karen McDonald.
‘Tell her how the hell James Crumbley is going to take her down. She won’t have a law license when I’m done with her.
‘Karen McDonald wants to work at f*****g McDonalds because she won’t be able to get a job anywhere else.’
James Crumbley, seen here, was sentenced earlier this week along with his estranged wife Jennifer to 10 to 15 years behind bars for their part in their son’s massacre
Authorities have since released audio recordings of calls in which Crumbley threatens Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, see here
In another, Crumbley can be heard saying: ‘She’s really got it coming to her when I fucking come out. Your ass is going down and you better be scared.’
Another added: ‘You know what, three months from now it goes down when I get out of here I’m freaking out Karen.
‘Yes Karen McDonald, your ass is about to drop and you better be scared.’ It remains unclear who Crumbley was on the phone with at the time.
An investigator with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office told the magazine: ‘Most of the content of the messages I have reviewed appear to be Mr. Karen McDonald looks bad to the public’
The outlet obtained the recordings through freedom of information laws, which also revealed a police report filed by prosecutors related to the calls.
The report asked the sheriff’s office to investigate what they considered “harassing and threatening” phone calls.
The calls were mentioned on the first day of Crumbley’s trial, causing a courtroom spat and the jury being sent home for the day.
Prosecutors raised an issue with Crumbley’s jailhouse communications, which his attorney objected to the matter being made public.
Crumbley’s lawyer, Mariell Lehman, has maintained that Crumbley did not threaten to physically harm McDonald, but that he was venting his frustrations.
James Crumbley is seen crying in court Monday as he and wife Jennifer received a landmark sentence of 10 to 15 years for their son Ethan’s 2021 school massacre that killed four
James and Jennifer Crumbley sat at the same table ahead of their sentencing, where they received the maximum possible sentence of 10 to 15 years
During the sentencing, the phone calls were brought up again, with prosecutors arguing they warranted a harsher sentence.
Judge Cheryl Matthews agreed, telling Crumbley he ‘threatened the welfare of the prosecutor’.
His son Ethan, then 15 years old, opened fire at the school in Oxford, Michigan, killing Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling.
Ethan was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders, after being convicted of 24 crimes, including terrorism.
Crumbley and his wife Jennifer were convicted in separate trials earlier this year, where juries found they ignored Ethan’s pleas for help and bought him a firearm.
Their sentences will be served minus the nearly two and a half years they have already served, and they will be barred from contacting the families of their son’s victims.
The two are the first parents in the United States to be held responsible for a child who carries out a mass school attack.
McDonald said Crumbley ignored signs that his son was deeply disturbed, didn’t get him the help he needed and didn’t store the firearm safely in the family home.
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to his crimes and is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after murdering four classmates in the 2021 Oxford High School shooting
Justin Shilling, 17, (left) and Tate Myre, 16, (right) were two of four students killed in the senseless shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan
Madisyn Baldwin, 17, (left) and Hana St Juliana, 14, (right) died in the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit
McDonald also presented the jury with texts Ethan Crumbley had sent to a friend and journal entries he had written in the months leading up to the shooting.
In these he talked about wanting medical attention and hearing voices, but he was afraid his parent would be ‘pissed off’.
On one occasion, according to a text message to a friend, Ethan asked Crumbley to take him to the doctor, but his father ‘gave me some pills and told me to suck it up’.
Defense attorney Mariell Lehman argued that James Crumbley could not possibly have foreseen that his son would carry out a mass shooting.
Crumbley, accompanied by Ethan, purchased a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol over Thanksgiving weekend in 2021.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald has the murder weapon in James’ trial as jurors heard how he bought the firearm for his son despite his disturbing behavior
The boy called it his ‘new beau’ on social media. His mother described the gun as a Christmas present and took him to a shooting range.
Four days after the purchase, the parents went to Oxford High to discuss a violent picture their son had drawn on a maths paper.
Next to the drawing included phrases that said: ‘Thoughts don’t stop. Help me.’ There was a gun on the paper that looked like a Sig Sauer.
The Crumbleys didn’t take him home, and the school staff – who believed he might be suicidal – didn’t demand it either.
But no one checked the boy’s backpack for a gun, and the shooting happened that afternoon.
Ahead of his sentencing, James read a statement in which he said his ‘heart is broken for everyone involved’ and stressed that claims he had no remorse for his son’s actions were not true.
‘I know the pain and loss will never go away.’