Fugitive Darryl Crenshaw Sought in Ex-Girlfriend's Death

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Ashley Peoples was last seen by relatives driving off in a car with her ex-boyfriend, Darryl Crenshaw.

The last time Ashley Peoples' family saw the always smiling 22-year-old, she was headed off to work at a car dealership. When Ashley didn't return home to Enfield, Conn. the next day, her stepfather Rev. William Baskerville called police.

What he learned of Ashely's fate has changed his life forever.

Authorities learned that Ashley had, in fact, gone to work that morning of Aug. 8, 2008. Her co-workers say her ex-boyfriend of two months, Darryl Crenshaw, came to see her. They say Crenshaw started an argument with Ashley, and violently shoved her out the door. Cops say, at that point, he left, but he didn't go far.

Police uncovered that after Ashley finished work that day, Crenshaw followed her to an appointment at a local salon. That's where customers say they saw Crenshaw drag Ashley into his car and punch her in the face.

Neighbors Call Police With Evidence

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Ashley was unaware that Crenshaw was out on bail for kidnapping and assault charges on a previous girlfriend.

The news of Ashley's whereabouts came the following Sunday, three days after her disappearance.

A neighbor called police to say they had seen Crenshaw entering his home with a body over his shoulder. Police immediately went to check Crenshaw's apartment in Enfield, where they found Ashley laying in Crenshaw's bed. She had been badly beaten and strangled to death.

What's worse, police learned that after Crenshaw allegedly killed Ashley, he took another woman on a date to an amusement park.

Police have since charged Crenshaw with Ashley's murder, but they say he took off before they could arrest him.

Crenshaw was later seen in surveillance video withdrawing $200 from an ATM in Hartford. It was the last time anyone would see him, but not the last time they would hear from him.

On Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, Rev. Baskerville says he received an unexpected phone call from Darryl Crenshaw at his home. Ten days after Hartford Police say Crenshaw brutally killed Ashley.

William says Crenshaw called to apologize for killing Ashley. William says he was crying, and said, "we all know where I am going." William's strength in the Lord has allowed him to forgive Crenshaw, but not forget.

Darryl Crenshaw's History of Violence

Police say Crenshaw is dangerous, and has threatened to harm police if caught.

Police say this isn't the first time Darryl Crenshaw has had a run-in with the law: he is also facing kidnapping and assault charges.

Another of his ex-girlfriends, Savania Jefferson, told police that he choked her when she tried to end their one-year relationship in April.  Jefferson told AMW, "I was lucky because I survived".

She says he then hit her and sped off with her in the vehicle. Savania alleges that she escaped Crenshaw's wrath by jumping out of a moving car in Meriden, Conn. He then threatened to shoot her if she told anyone what he had done. Crenshaw was later released from jail after posting $50,000 bail.

- By Shelaney Campbell, AMW Staff

AMW Capture #1055

AMW's Top Ten Fugitive Daryl Crenshaw Arrested

On the night of December 20, 2008, we revealed John Walsh's Top Ten Fugitives of the year. That show yielded a tip into our hotline, saying that a man, locked up in prison, recognized Darryl Crenshaw as a man he served time with in Mexico.

U.S. Marshals investigated the tip and talked to the prisoner, confirming that the man in question might actually be Crenshaw.

On the night of Tuesday January 13, 2009 the U.S. Marshals received a mugshot from Mexican authorities of a guy they had in custody, going by the name of Josh Bruff.

Bruff was being held in Mexico on an immigration violation, not a more serious criminal charge. They say he was claiming to be from Jamaica, but had no papers to prove it.

Thanks to a fingerprint comparison, U.S. Marshals confirmed that the guy calling himself Josh Bruff was indeed Darryl Crenshaw, on January 14, 2009.