What to Know
- Lawrence Crawley is accused of stabbing and running over Angela Maya Stith in the parking lot of Vector Security.
- After the attack, Crawley drove west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, DA Kevin Steele said. He lit himself on fire inside his SUV.
- Stith and Crawley had some sort of previous relationship, Steele said, and were texting prior to the attack.
A suspected killer ran over his estranged girlfriend "again and again" after stabbing her in the parking lot of a 24/7 security-monitoring company at a suburban Philadelphia office park early Friday, authorities say.
"It is disturbing what happened here," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said.
Lawrence Crawley, 33, attacked Angela Maya Stith inside her car as she took a break from her overnight shift at Vector Security along Campus Drive in the shadow of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, around 2:15 a.m., Steele said.
Stith managed to get out of the car and began to run away but Crawley chased her down, continued to attack her and began to repeatedly stab her.
"He stabbed her to the point where the blade off the knife was in her back during the autopsy," Steele said.
Co-workers came out of the building to render aid as they called 911. She was still able to talk at that point, Steele said.
But the attack wasn't over as Crawley used his Chevrolet Avalanche SUV to drive over her "again and again and again and he crushed her," Steele said.
Crawley then drove off, leaving the 33-year-old Stith dead in the parking lot.
He then called his mother, prosecutors say, and told her, "Mom, I'm sorry I killed her. I ran over her and I killed her. I'm sorry, mom."
A Pennsylvania State Trooper spotted Crawley going west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Allegheny Tunnel, which is about 210 miles west of the stabbing scene, Steele said.
"After he was pulled over, and there may have been somewhat of a crash scene at that point, the defendant lit himself on fire," Steele said.
Troopers saved the man and rushed him to the hospital where he was listed in critical but stable condition, Steele said.
Crawley will face first-degree murder and weapons charges once he is returned to Montgomery County and won't be offered bail, Steele said. Online court records don't list an attorney who could comment on Crawley's behalf.
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Stith and Crawley were romatically involved, but broke up. Stith's family and neighbors on her East Mt. Airy block said Crawley had stalked the woman.
"She was a struggling mother. She had 3 kids and she was working and she was trying to better herself. And this guy just took her life away from her cause he couldn’t be with her," said Judson Felder, her uncle.
The killing was the first homicide in Whitemarsh Township in 17 years, police said.
