Crumbley Parents Spent $4,000 At A Liquor Store, Created 'Toxic' Home Environment: Lawyers

ROCHESTER HILLS, MI — Oakland County prosecutors filed a new court order Thursday arguing Jennifer and James Crumbley didn't just ignore their son's mental health problems, but also enabled his "pathway to violence" by creating a "toxic" home environment that included heavy drinking, arguments and affairs.

Prosecutors said the couple often drank liquor heavily and fought daily about money problems in front of their son. The court filing also said the couple spent roughly $4,000 at a liquor store in 2021 alone, but never sought counseling for their son, Ethan Crumbley, who told them he was seeing demons and needed help.

The couple also hid affairs from Ethan, sometimes even asking him to check on the other parent, prosecutors said. In one instance, prosecutors said Jennifer even brought Ethan to her lover's house and made him sleep on the couch when he was just 6 years old, the court filing said.

Jennifer asked her lover to let her move in, or she was going to Michigan to live with her husband, the court filing said. Prosecutors said the incident came up during one of the couple's arguments with Ethan roughly 10 feet away in his bedroom, just months before the shooting.

By placing him at the center of their affairs, along with the daily drinking and constant rants about money, Ethan's violent thoughts to flourished, eventually shooting up Oxford High School, killing four students and wounding seven other people, prosecutors said in the court filing.

"Alcohol and substance abuse are relevant risk factors to the pathway to violence if it occurred repeatedly, daily and in front of their son because it contributes to the level of trauma, chaos and conflict their son experienced leading up to the shooting," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors argued their son was "deteriorating" in the household and that they consistently ignored his desperate pleas for help while they stayed up all night drinking and arguing, the court filing said. Prosecutors said Ethan asked his father to take him to a doctor and his dad told him to "suck it up," and his mom laughed at him. Instead of seeking help, prosecutors said they bought Ethan a gun.

"This morning I woke up to my mom having one of her worst rants about how we have no money and can't pay the bills," prosecutors said Ethan Crumbley wrote in his 22-page journal. "This just furthers my desire to shoot up the school or do something else."

Even though the defense maintains the couple had no knowledge of Ethan's plan to shoot up the school and that the couple stored the gun in a secure location, prosecutors countered in the court filing, saying "all they had to do was pay the least bit of attention to their son."

Jennifer and James Crumbley were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after authorities said their son shot up Oxford High School on Nov.30, killing four students and wounding seven other people.

The couple was placed in the Oakland County Jail and each given $500,000 bond. An Oakland County Judge refused numerous times to lower their bond. Their trial will be held in Oakland County and is expected to start on Oct. 24.

Ethan Crumbley was charged with 24 counts, including four counts of premeditated murder and terrorism. He pleaded insanity and will go straight to trial. His trial is expected to start sometime in January 2023.