'He's Gonna Have To Suffer,' Shooter's Mom Said After Oxford Students Slain: Detective

ROCHESTER. HILLS, MI — Jennifer Crumbley didn't want to give up her phone and made an "odd" comment when officers searched her home hours after the deadly Oxford school shooting, an Oakland County detective told a Rochester Hills courtroom Wednesday.

Detective Lt. Sam Marzban said he was part of a team carrying out a search warrant at the Oxford shooter’s home on Nov. 30, 2021. Marzban said he arrived at the home roughly an hour after officers began searching the home.

Marzban said he told Jennifer and James Crumbley that officers will be taking their cellphones as part of the search. He said Jennifer "was not happy" about detectives taking their cellphones.

"She did not want to give me her phone. She seemed irritated about it," Marzban said.

Only after James told Jennifer that they should turn their phones over did Jennifer give up her phone, Marzban said.

After Jennifer gave her phone to officers, Marzban said she refused to give detectives the passcode to unlock the phone. Marzban then told her detectives could bypass the passcode under the court order, so either way the phone will be unlocked, and that's when Jennifer gave detectives the passcode.

Marzban said he allowed Jennifer to write down some contacts from her phone and told the couple that they should buy prepaid cellphones and then give their new phone numbers to law enforcement.

Prosecutors said the couple did purchase new cellphones, but Marzban said the new phone numbers were not provided to him, and that he didn't know if the phone numbers were shared with anyone else in the department.

As detectives were finishing up the searching the couple's home, Marzban said he noticed the parents didn’t ask any questions about the shooting when he told them multiple children were shot dead.

In addition, Marzban said he told the parents that the shooting was all over the national news and that the U.S. president knew about it.

That's when Jennifer said, "lives were lost today, and he’s gonna have to suffer," (referring to her son), Marzban said.

Marzban said Jennifer's use of the word "suffer" struck him as odd, especially since he said he has spoken to parents and relatives of someone who had killed others.

• Related - Jennifer Crumbley's Reaction 'Atypical' After Shooting, Detective Says

Prosecutors are trying to prove the couple committed gross negligence leading up to the shooting. They claim the couple ignored disturbing warning signs from their son leading up to the deadly shooting, and instead of getting him help, they bought him a gun.

The couple, however, maintains that they had no idea what their son was planning. Moreover, defense lawyers argued the couple cannot be held accountable because they were not "directly involved" in the Oxford school shooting, and are not "responsible for the deaths of others."

The couple were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deadly Oxford school shooting. They are being held in the Oakland County Jail on $500,000 bond each.

Their son was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in December for the deadly shooting. He has since appealed his life sentence and will not testify during his parents' trials.

James' trial will start on March 5, according to court documents.

The four students killed in the shooting were 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin and 17-year-old Justin Shilling.