Anthony (Tony) Tyrone Crews, 43, initially charged with second-degree murder in the February stabbing death of 28-year-old Ashley Bain, was indicted Monday for first-degree murder.
Bain was found lying on Feb. 5 in a bedroom of the Cookeville Highway home she and Crews shared. According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, she had been stabbed numerous times about the upper body. A copy of the indictment obtained by the Review alleges that "Crews, on February 5, did unlawfully, intentionally, and with premeditation, kill Ashley Bain, constituting the offense of first degree murder."
Crews reportedly called 911 at 2:33 p.m. to report that he had entered the residence and discovered Bain’s body. Sheriff’s deputies rushed to the scene, and were soon joined, at the request of District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway, by agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A joint investigative effort by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, the TBI, and the District Attorney General’s Office determined that Crews had committed the crime and falsified the story about finding the body.
According to a TBI spokesman, "TBI Special Agents began investigating the death of 28-year-old Ashley Bain 3870 Cookeville Highway on Feb. 5. On that same day, Anthony Tyrone Crews called DeKalb County 911 to report that he had arrived at the home he shared with Bain and found his girlfriend unresponsive. During the course of the investigation, TBI Special Agents working alongside detectives from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the 13th District Attorney General’s Office, developed information that led them to Crews as the individual responsible for the murder."
Crews will be arraigned in Criminal Court on August 10.
Meanwhile, the suspect’s truck, a Chevrolet Tahoe, was found burning at the scene of the crime two days after the incident.
The DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department was summoned to the home where Bain was killed just before 9 a.m., and the Tahoe, still parked in the driveway of the home, was engulfed in flames. It was essentially destroyed by the fire. A Mazda Millennia, reportedly belonging to the victim, was also damaged by the blaze.
In a related story, Clay Andrew Bain, 23, the alleged murder victim’s brother, was indicted for disrupting a meeting or procession and two counts of assault as the result of an outburst in the courtroom at a preliminary hearing for Crews.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, Bain was charged after he made verbal threats and physically assaulted Crews after the hearing in March. The sheriff said that Bain hit Crews on the head in DeKalb County General Sessions Court Thursday. He was charged with an additional count of assault after injuring Sergeant Brian Williams’ left hand while the officer was attempting to prevent Bain from gaining access to Crews.
Witnesses said that Bain stood and walked toward the door of the courtroom after the hearing, and when Judge Bratten H. Cook II asked him to return to his seat, he instead made his way to the defendant’s seat and struck the handcuffed Crews in the head with his fist, and striking a deputy in the process. Crews stood up, but was quickly restrained, and both he and Bain were removed from the courtroom by officers.
He will be arraigned on August 10 in criminal court.
