The Culture of High Crime Societies 
Culture and Crime
ANT 230, Sec. 99
Course Code: 2958
Term Paper
Submitted By: Jose Flores
On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 in the early afternoon when a phone call came into the Mount Vernon Police saying a woman was hurt at a residence on Beekman Avenue, the police responded to the residence only to find New York City and Yonkers, NY police officers already at the scene. As it turns out the call was placed by Lucius Crawford, the tenant of the basement apartment at the Beekman Avenue building. And the New York City and Yonkers police were there coincidentally to question Mr. Crawford about the DNA evidence that linked him to the murder of 37 year old Nell West that took place in the Bronx on October 20, 1993. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head, face and torso as well as having her skull crushed by a blunt object. Mr. Crawford was also a suspect in the stabbing murder of Laronda Shealy of Yonkers on September 13, 1993. However, what the police encountered in that home opened up a whole investigation involving the murder/attempted murder and/or assault of up to a dozen women in New York and South Carolina over a period of almost forty years. What the police discovered was the dead body of forty-one year old Tanya Simmons from New Rochelle under a sheet on a bed in the one room apartment. She had been stabbed nine times in her chest. The police also discovered that Mr. Crawford had somehow removed his parole tracking ankle bracelet and was on the loose. Mr. Crawford was apprehended and arrested three hours later. After his arrest Mr. Crawford was taken into custody and confessed to the murders of Laronda Shealy and Nell West in addition to the murder of Tanya Simmons. He was also being looked at as a possible suspect in the unsolved murders of several women discovered on Long Island’s secluded Gilgo Beach in the last several years. However, it was determined that he was not being considered a suspect because he was incarcerated during the
ANT 230, Sec. 99
Course Code: 2958
Term Paper
Submitted By: Jose Flores
On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 in the early afternoon when a phone call came into the Mount Vernon Police saying a woman was hurt at a residence on Beekman Avenue, the police responded to the residence only to find New York City and Yonkers, NY police officers already at the scene. As it turns out the call was placed by Lucius Crawford, the tenant of the basement apartment at the Beekman Avenue building. And the New York City and Yonkers police were there coincidentally to question Mr. Crawford about the DNA evidence that linked him to the murder of 37 year old Nell West that took place in the Bronx on October 20, 1993. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head, face and torso as well as having her skull crushed by a blunt object. Mr. Crawford was also a suspect in the stabbing murder of Laronda Shealy of Yonkers on September 13, 1993. However, what the police encountered in that home opened up a whole investigation involving the murder/attempted murder and/or assault of up to a dozen women in New York and South Carolina over a period of almost forty years. What the police discovered was the dead body of forty-one year old Tanya Simmons from New Rochelle under a sheet on a bed in the one room apartment. She had been stabbed nine times in her chest. The police also discovered that Mr. Crawford had somehow removed his parole tracking ankle bracelet and was on the loose. Mr. Crawford was apprehended and arrested three hours later. After his arrest Mr. Crawford was taken into custody and confessed to the murders of Laronda Shealy and Nell West in addition to the murder of Tanya Simmons. He was also being looked at as a possible suspect in the unsolved murders of several women discovered on Long Island’s secluded Gilgo Beach in the last several years. However, it was determined that he was not being considered a suspect because he was incarcerated during the