The Crowley Family
David Crowley was described as a loving, family man who loved his family more than anything else. David was described as an artistic individual who did not show any signs of violence. David believed in a higher power, but tried to keep religion out of his daily conversation. He was not an alcoholic or even a frequent drinker but when he did, he went above and beyond. David had been wildly upset about his time in the army and he was especially upset about the introduction to drones being used to kill innocent people. Although David was angry about the current state of war, it wasn’t about politics for David, he was actually widely active in support rallies, he was not happy with the republican side nor the democratic side but he was far from being totally against the government. It was unclear through family and friends if David was really as crazy about the government as he made it seem OR if he was playing his part, knowing that footage for ‘Gray State’ was constantly being filmed, and in the film his character is massively driven by his hatred of the Government. David completed basic training in Georgia and was stationed in Iraq when an IED had blown up, leaving no survivors other than David and another teammate; they lost several members that day. David had wanted to be honorably discharged after he was shipped to Texas, where he had met Komel and gotten married. The army decided to commence a ‘Stop Loss’ on David, revoking his choice to discharge. So instead of being done with the military, he was deployed in another tour but in Afghanistan, and although they did not speak much about what had happened in Afghanistan, they talked extensively about the IED incident in Iraq. He was given an honorable discharge after his Afghanistan tour.
David was not the only one with a military background, as Komel and her sister had both been born in a Saudi Arabian military base, her father was with the US military. After his deployment, the family moved back to Pakistan, the original birthplace of Komel’s mother and father. When she turned 17, Komel’s family moved to Texas. While in Texas Komel met David, they were soon wed and Komel fell pregnant, right before the unexpected deployment of David. Komel moved back in with her family and upon his return, Komel and David had moved to Minnesota. Komel had called her father in early 2014 to discuss financial issues that were leading to Komel’s lack of hope in the marriage, but by the end of the call she had agreed to continue working on the issues her marriage was enduring. In July 2014, Komel’s mother had been diagnosed with cancer and she quickly began chemo, which Komel did not agree with. In October 2014, David had called and had a very intense conversation with Komel’s father where he had informed his son-in-law that they were no longer to contact the family. The last time that Komel’s sister had seen David, she stated that he was skinny and he had disheveled hair, which was an unusual look for David. She states that he looked crazy and he refused to let her see Komel, insisting her sister only speak to her in the driveway, she thought that her things were off and she had found a note in the car she was driving back home, the note was on the driver’s side of the car found on the back of a picture of Komel, her sister and her mother which stated “I will always love you and mom -Komel”. In 2014, Komel had quit her job as a dietician and was beginning a book on eating disorders. And in a meeting with an ex-coworker Heidie Lish, she stated that Komel had shared that she was terribly depressed and would go weeks without leaving the house. However, over text everything was fine but their communication was fairly inconsistent after she had quit her job at Melrose at Methodist Hospital which was an eating disorder clinic.
Raniya was attentive, extremely smart and bright, she never missed school and her parents were very active in her daily schedule. So when Raniya’s teacher had noticed that she had failed to return to class after Christmas break, Ms Wallick called Raniya’s parents and left several voicemails requesting information when she would be returning to school. Raniya had a very strict diet and had a strict water intake as well, and there was an instance in which Raniya became upset and refused to come out of the classroom and had to be sent to the office but other than that, there were no issues with Raniya or her parents. Raniya’s parents also did not place any ‘emergency contacts’ on the information sheet.
Komel and David met in Texas, at the time of their meeting, Komel identified as Muslim and had converted to Christianity in order to marry David. This obviously had upset Komel’s family but David refused to speak about religion, it just wasn’t something he was comfortable with. They were comfortable in the presence of each other, often standing away during school events and didn’t socialize much; they were a very quiet couple. The couple was young, but adamant that they wanted no more children and that Raniya was enough for them. David’s family states that the pair had distanced themselves from them since the middle of October the same year. However after examination of the email threads, it is not clear why they wanted to cut ties with them. Family explained that the couple had changed their phone numbers and had given nobody their new numbers.
Neighbors explain that the Crowley’s had only lived there a little over a year, December of 2013 and had very little contact with the family although they seemed normal. Judy and Colin mention that in Fall of 2014, David began wearing military clothing and wore his hair often in the mohawk style. They noted that on top of the dining room light remaining on, the drapes began being drawn all day, which had not been the norm for them until 2014 and Judy stated that she saw the Crowley’s alive right before Christmas. Another neighbor, Lorray Tupy stated that she had not seen the Crowleys for over 3 weeks. Lorray mentions that she is the one that attempts to make contact with David, he calls his phone through her personal number and her house phone, both phones led to the same fate and was going straight to voicemail. We learn from Tupy a little more into David’s personal life as a writer and stated that he appeared friendly but sometimes came off a little moody, trying to avoid contact. Collin Prochnow informs law enforcement that sometime between December 2nd and December 19th, he had been awoken suddenly to the sound of gunshots around 1 to 2 AM. After speaking with him further to attempt to narrow down the date, Collin was able to narrow it down to December 9th or 10th, he states that he did not call police because he was not sure if it was gunshots or fireworks and he looked out the door and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
The homicide call was brought in at 12:56 PM on January 17th, 2015. Judy and Collin Prochnow were neighbors who reported seeing three dead bodies inside the home next door to hers after looking into the windows when the family had packages on their porch that were left there from January 10th, or at least that’s when the neighbors realized they had been left out. Colin even states that he stacked the boxes up at one point because they had been scattered amongst the porch and the family was known to be going to Texas for the holidays. The house she was calling in regards to was 1051 Ramsdell Drive; Apple Valley, Minnesota the home of Rayina, Komel and David Crowley. 4 police officers arrived on scene at 1:04 PM and immediately were able to identify that there were 3 dead bodies laying in the living room of the family home which was completely dark except for the Christmas lights and the tree along with the dining room light, but according to neighbors, this light remained on most nights. Officers also note that the bodies were visible by the large bay window in the front of the house.
The family dog was also in the home at the time, which was deemed aggressive at the time, and officers treated the dog to some dog treats. Officers note seeing piles of dog feces on both levels of the house, the dog was then brought to Palomino Pet Hospital, and was put under strict instruction to do nothing but feed and water the dog.
Here is a transcript of the 911 call with Judy: (Black:Judy Red: Dispatcher)
POLICE AND FIRE HOW MAY I HELP YOU?
Ah yes, this Judy Prochnow and I live at 1055 Ramsdell Drive
Yes
I think there’s been a murder or a suicide next door
Well what’s going on?
Well, we’ve noticed that they haven’t…(inaudible)... they haven’t been around
Mm-hum
So there were Christmas presents on the stoop so I went over there and there’s a dog in the house and there’s definitely some, some bodies in the living room.
Oh okay, stay in line with me for just a minute. Do you know what their address is?
Well I’m 1055 and they would be to the West of me.
Okay so how so
So like 1050 or whatever
Okay so if I’m facing and looking at your house Judy, would it be
Ah-hm
The house to the right or left?
If, if you’re facing my house it would be your right.
To the right. What are you seeing in there?
It just looks like there’s a pile of bodies and, and one like the head is eaten off.
Oh no
I suppose by the dog, and I just, my husband thought they were dummies but they, the hands look real
(Inaudible conversation)
And they would have been there be, since before Christmas
Okay and so you haven’t seen
And all their Christmas lights are still on in the house and there’s, my husband said he saw a gun
On the floor?
Yeah
Stay on the line with me just a minute please
It would be a husband, wide and child
Stay on the line with me Judy, I’ll get some people rolling over there. You saw Christmas presents
Collin, I’m calling 911
You saw, you saw presents inside the home too?
There’s presents on the front step and they’ve been there since before Christmas; and there’s, and there’s definite, I just peaked in the front window and it’s, it’s gross. Collin what’s their address?
1051 (Collin Pronchow)
1051 Ramsdell
Okay one
Don’t look in the window Lorray
1051 Ramsdell, that’s okay
Right
And you say
Lorray, don’t look in there
No? (a third party)
No
So it looks like
Don’t look in there
So it looks like multiple bodies inside?
Yes
And it looks like the dog may have been
Yes
Okay, you saw the gun on the floor there?
Um yes, my husband saw it. He's not here right now; he’s talking to the other neighbor. We hadn’t seen any movement over there, we just thought they were gone for Christmas and we came back from Florida this week and they still hadn’t (inaudible) and the presents were still there so my husband went over there to check.
Okay so they thought they were gone for Christmas, haven’t seen any movement
Ah-hum. So there hasn’t been anything, movement there since before Christmas. They haven’t shoveled. Excuse me I think I have to throw up.
Okay mam, I won’t keep you any longer okay Judy
Okay thank you
I appreciate the call and I have helping on the way
Okay, bye
Thank you
911 call with Colin Pronchow: (Black: Collin Red: Dispatcher)
(inaudible) It’s 911 Police and Fire how can I help you
Yeah my name is Collin Pronchow. I live at 1055 Ramsdell Drive in Apple Valley and ah.. My next door neighbor’s I don't, they haven’t been home since Christmas, maybe before?
Okay
And there’s Christmas presents on the front step and there’s a dog in the house and nobody answers.
Okay and what is the address again? Your phone kind of broke out.
Oh my address is 1055 Ramsdell Drive in Apple Valley
Do you know their house number?
Yes 1051.. Would somebody come over and ah… what is it do a welfare check or something’ like that?
M’kay and you said 1051 for them?
1051
Okay
And I looked through the front window and there’s like dummies on the floor, I don’t think they’re any bodies but I don’t, but it looks like there’s a gun next to one. A handgun?
Okay and what is your name again sir?
First name Collin last name Pronchow
*THE PHONE NUMBER IS EXCHANGED*
And ah… we are out of town ah the first week in January and when we left the presents were on the ah...front step and I told my wife, you know I didn’t notice them the other day because I didn’t look, but I said I’m gonna run over and see if those presents are still there and they are. And he doesn’t answer his cell phone because the neighbor next to him on the other side has his cell phone number
Okay. Did you already call?
What? Yeah we tried calling that cell number and nobody answered.
No I mean did you call us? Your wife already called us. Judy called us.
Oh! Oh okay alright. Thank you
Thank you. Bye bye.
Yep bye.
Officers report that there were no signs of forced entry, there were no fresh tracks from shoes in the snow, only animals. The gates of the home were found closed, but not locked and the windows around the home were sealed but the rear sliding door that led to the patio was slightly cracked open. Officers state that the bodies were very badly decomposed, unable to give the identity of the bodies at the time, but they are presumed the home owners. This was confirmed for law enforcement after looking into the overflowing mailbox, they were able to put a name to the owners. One body was lying on its stomach, one on their back and Raniya lay in between Komel’s legs her right arm was no longer attached to her body. , a black pistol was found nearby. Officers make note that the smell of decomposition was very heavy in the air inside the home. Komel did not have either hand attached to her anymore, a large portion of her head was missing.She was fully clothed and found laying on her stomach, head to the West and feet to the East. David was missing a right hand and there was a small portion of his rear skull attached to the spinal column but a large portion of his head was gone. He was found with clothes on, but barefoot and was found on his back. It was concluded that the dog had been eating its owners due to how long he had gone without eating. Raniya was found with her head between Komel’s legs and she was fully clothed wearing sweatpants and a short-sleeved t-shirt. Komel was identified by the tattoo within her left wrist. David was identified by the tattoos on his left forearm and his shoulder.
Officer Adam Keeler noted that he observed military equipment, clothing, gun cases and ammunition in both the basement and the bedroom . There was another tote in the trunk of a car in the garage that contained these materials which were determined to be a part of a survival kit for someone. There were also rifles stored in the laundry room and they were contained within cases. Next to these cases were totes of food and water, in the spare room more military and police clothing was recovered but it seemed as if some of it had been being used as potential props for a movie, this was supported by the several boxes of silver and gold coins found nearby in the spare room as well. All guns were recovered and were held at the police station.
Upon further investigation of the home, law enforcement uncovers a bong, a glass pipe and a small amount of marijuana on the dresser. They also found a pad of paper and a pen on the computer desk, and on a piece of paper with blood on it read “open ‘The Rise’ most recent version”. Law enforcement was able to narrow down the date of decease to after 12-23-2014 due to a newspaper found in the kitchen garbage, that would have had to be brought in sometime after 3 AM.
Neighbors explain that the Crowley’s had only lived there a little over a year, December of 2013 and had very little contact with the family although they seemed normal. Judy and Colin mention that in Fall of 2014, David began wearing military clothing and wore his hair often in the mohawk style. They noted that on top of the dining room light remaining on, the drapes began being drawn all day, which had not been the norm for them until 2014 and Judy stated that she saw the Crowley’s alive right before Christmas. Another neighbor, Lorray Tupy stated that she had not seen the Crowleys for over 3 weeks. Lorray mentions that she is the one that attempts to make contact with David, he calls his phone through her personal number and her house phone, both phones led to the same fate and was going straight to voicemail. We learn from Tupy a little more into David’s personal life as a writer and stated that he appeared friendly but sometimes came off a little moody, trying to avoid contact. Collin Prochnow informs law enforcement that sometime between December 2nd and December 19th, he had been awoken suddenly to the sound of gunshots around 1 to 2 AM. After speaking with him further to attempt to narrow down the date, Collin was able to narrow it down to December 9th or 10th, he states that he did not call police because he was not sure if it was gunshots or fireworks and he looked out the door and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
But Colin wasn’t the only person in the neighborhood to be startled by the noises, adjacent neighbor Alan Olsen reported that he had heard several gunshots, but due to the rapidness of them, he was unable to tell where they came from. Also noted by Alan Olsen was that the time he had heard the noises were between the time of Christmas and New Years Eve, which led him to believe that it could have been fireworks. He did not alert police due to the uncertainty and lack of information on the sounds he had heard.
Another neighbor stated that when she returned from vacation on 12/23/2014 that the residence was dark and on 1/24/2015 people seemed to be cleaning out the home, she noticed that the door was ajar but it was not originally opened when she had arrived home, the neighbor did not contact law enforcement because there was no unusual activity that she could see.
Through investigation of David’s phone, they found a text thread with Christopher Peck, who seemed to be a drug dealer of some sort. Peck states that he last saw David and Komel when they entered his residence to purchase marijuana. We learn that Christopher Peck is not only David and Komel’s weed dealer, he was also his film mentor and further stated that he worked ‘on and off’ with ‘A Gray State’. Peck led detectives to Daniel Mason and Mitch Heil, who were heavily involved in ‘A Gray State’ filming and production.
Daniel Mason had stated to detectives that he had been acquainted for close to 4 years and Mason was an actor for ‘A Gray State’. Daniel had met David Crowley and Mitch Heil when he became a part of Bullet Exchange, which was a company run by the pair that trained actors for military acting, they also rented out props for films relating to military and police operations. Daniel stated that he was strictly an actor for the film, he did not contribute any funding to the film or the filming process. Daniel also informed law enforcement that the last time he had seen David Crowley’s family was at Rani’s birthday back in August, he states that there were many writers, producers or filmmakers that were somehow involved in ‘A Gray State’. But the last time Daniel had seen David, he stated he looked thinner and had almost a fragile look to him. A month after he had discussed the direction the movie was heading with David, he received an email requesting Daniel release any rights he had in the movie so that the movie could be taken in a different route than it was headed. The last time Daniel had heard from David, was December 7th, 2014 via email regarding the direction of the film. Daniel then asked the officer if they had spoken to Heil yet and he responded that he hadn’t and Daniel provided the officer the current number for Mitchell.
Mitchell Heil had advised officers he was the best friend of David Crowley beginning in high school, they went through the military training together but had been separated during assignment. Mitch stated that he did not believe that David suffered from PTSD. Mitchell stated that he and Crowley had been passionate about the same things, which ultimately led to their partnership for Bullet Exchange, it was their way of trying to get the word across of the current wars happening with the US that people did not often hear about. Mitch informs us that he and David had set up not one but 2 businesses upon graduation from film school. They were the owners of ‘Hot Head Productions’, responsible for commercials and music videos, and they were the owners of ‘Bullet Exchange’ which was, as previously stated, they provided props for police and military films and trained actors to be in military settings. However, Bullet Exchange was not a successful business and not much money was made. He had also informed law enforcement that he had left the business because David was focused entirely on ‘Gray State’ but was not focused on the financial aspect of the actions he was completing. Mitch stated that David began straying the movie so far from the original idea and the movie started going towards the conspiracy of killing people and David became distant from the company, Mitchell included. Mitchell, in a last ditch effort to save their friendship, signed over the rights to all of the businesses in September, which was the last time that Mitchell had seen David. Mitchell stated it was odd that when he showed up to David’s house, he would only let them speak in the driveway and noted that David looked frail and he had changed both physically and mentally, speaking in a way that Mitch did not recognize from David.
Another friend of David’s, by the name of Christopher Klien was attempting to be contacted in question to his visit to the Crowley residence on 1-19-2015, when detectives were finally able to reach him, he stated that he went along with David’s family and had discovered two shots, one in the ceiling and one in the roof, upon further investigation, law enforcement was able to confirm that these had come from the attic, which access had been open from the master bedroom and they did in fact find a bullet casing in the attic. Detectives looked back on the crime scene photos and were able to pinpoint the shots in the original photos, meaning it had been overlooked.
After examination of David’s social media, they find a post that states “DO NOT F**** WITH A UNITED STATES COMBAT VETRAN” there was no discussion as of what the post meant and there was really no explanation found. A warrant was then issued to Dropbox, to access the family records, as well as a warrant for their financial records from Wells Fargo Bank. A warrant was also issued for the pairs’ credit reports via Equifax, they had also obtained one for AT&T records including but not limited to: subscriber and billing info, call detail records, all incoming and outgoing messages, photos, videos, voicemail and the History file of their account. Wells Fargo responded with a request for 10 business days to obtain and return the correct information and responded giving detectives a view of the decrease in the Crowley’s savings and checking, but there was money in the account. 5 days later, detectives received another record from Wells Fargo including their records of home mortgage, and they were informed that the Crowley’s did not have a home mortgage through Wells Fargo. Dropbox had responded with a USB drive with instructions on how to retrieve the password, when detectives accessed DropBox, they found the same things that were on the electronics collected within the first sweep through in the initial crime scene. Through further investigation of the journal found, detectives determined that David thoroughly used marijuana and mushrooms. However there was never violence, fights, arguments or any negativity recorded amongst the family.
Hennepin Medical Examiner's office provided autopsy reports that show that Komel had been shot once in the back of her head, in the remaining portion of David’s skull, he was confirmed to have had one shot to his head. Below we will go into more depth so please continue with caution:
David Crowley: Gunshot wound that entered in an indeterminate area, both the pathway and trajectory were also indeterminate. The xit was through the left parietal bone. Early to moderate decomp, toxicology shows that his ethanol level was 0.109 g/dL with N-propanol peak present. Lividity and rigor mortis are absent and his left hand and foot are mummifying. The majority of the head and neck are absent equivalent with the scavenging of an animal. His right hand is absent and the left is completely intact with slight mummification beginning. His tattoos were also identified as was his clothing.
Komel Crowley: 2 identified gunshot wounds to head, entrances are the left posterior parietal region, the pathway went through her skull and brain, exit wounds were left and right and back to front. Her clothing and tattoos were identified and her body had shown massive proof of animal scavenging.
Photographs from the Crime Scene *Please proceed with caution these pictures do show blood and other sensitive material*
Resources:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4398458/
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/minnesota-screenwriter-murder-suicide/56751/
https://whatistruth911.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/gray-stage/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/10/death-of-a-dystopian
https://www.uglytruth.info/david-crowley-family-deaths/crime-scene-photos/ (to see all 464 crime scene photos and read the police report.
https://walkerart.org/magazine/alec-wilkinson-gray-state-david-crowley-erik-nelson
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