A mother of three young children who says she fatally shot her husband in self-defense this fall in Manassas, Virginia, will stay behind bars.
A judge ruled Thursday there is enough evidence to move forward with a second-degree murder charge against LaToya Crabbe in the killing of Curtis Crabbe, News4 is first to report.
Large groups of supporters of the victim and accused killer attended a court hearing. Curtis Crabbe’s family left court together, all wearing specially made buttons and necklaces bearing his name and photo. Family and friends of LaToya Crabbe showed support for her too.
LaToya Crabbe was arrested on Oct. 21 after she and her mother called 911 and said she shot her husband in self-defense.
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Her mother, Marilyn Martin, said she had braced herself for the judge’s decision to keep her daughter jailed.
“I’m not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. They came in assuming that she’s guilty even though we said up front what the situation was,” she said.
The mother and daughter’s 911 calls were played in court. Martin was at the store when her daughter called her to say she had shot her husband in the couple’s bedroom.
“My daughter just called me and said she shot her husband because he’s attacking her and threatening to kill the family,” Martin told the dispatcher.
The dispatcher got LaToya Crabbe’s number, called her and asked, “What’s going on?”
“I shot my husband,” she replied. “We separated. He threatened my family over the weekend.”
When News4 first met with Martin last month, she showed threatening text messages Curtis Crabbe allegedly sent to his wife.
“Toya, I’m not playing around. I will hurt everyone in that house then set it on fire,” one message read.
Martin said Curtis Crabbe made the threats not long after he was given a notice giving him 30 days to move out of the Martins’ home.
A Manassas sergeant testified he found the document in the room with the husband’s body, along with a knife and gun.
Key evidence about the gun was presented: Detectives say five bullets were fired and that LaToya Crabbe would have had to reload the gun to fire the fatal shot.
The judge said the act of reloading the gun showed malice and supported the second-degree murder charge.
Martin said she sees it differently.
“If the gun was reloaded, she had to reload it because she had to do enough shots to stop him,” she said. “She did enough that it took to stop the threat.”
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Police had little to say about the knife found near the victim, telling the defense attorney they didn’t know whether it had been sent in for forensic testing.
The case will move to the grand jury, and a trial date will be set in January.
