Oxford Shooter Texted Friend 20K Messages Before Shooting: Detective

PONTIAC, MI — Ethan Crumbley texted a friend more than 20,000 messages describing his insomnia and paranoia in the months leading up to the deadly shooting, a former detective with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office testified at James Crumbley's trial Thursday.

In an April 2021 exchange, Ethan said he told his parents he needed help with his mental problems, but said his mom laughed at him and his dad gave him pills and told him to "suck it up," according to former detective Edward Wagrowski.

"I need help," Ethan texted his friend in April 2021. "I was thinking of calling 911 so I could go to the hospital. But my parents would be pissed."

In an August 2021 exchange, Ethan sent two videos of himself holding a gun to his friend with the caption "my dad left it out so I thought ‘Why not’ lol," Wagrowski testified.

In one of the videos, the gun had a round in the chamber, Wagrowski testified.

Ethan wrote to his friend that he was "mentally and physically dying," Wagrowski testified.

That friend, whom prosecutors have not identified, abruptly left Michigan roughly a month before the deadly shooting without Ethan knowing, Wagrowski testified.

The friend's father told James Crumbley in a series of texts that he was getting out-of-state care for his son, Wagrowski testified.

After the friend left Michigan by November 2021, Ethan communicated with "hardly anybody at all," Wagrowski testified.

Ethan and that friend had exchanged roughly 20,000 messages throughout 2021, Wagrowski testified.

Defense attorneys for James Crumbley tried to get the messages blocked from the trial because the teen will not take the stand for cross-examination. Ethan did not testify at Jennifer Crumbley's trial.

Prosecutors argued Thursday that James missed an "incredible opportunity" to prevent the tragedy that left four students on Nov. 30, 2021. Defense lawyers argued James didn't know his son had access to the gun and that he didn't know his son was a danger.

James Crumbley, 47, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deadly shooting. He faces up to 15 years in prison on each charge. His trial starts a month after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty on the same charges. Her sentencing date is scheduled for April 9.

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

Jurors will only need to believe one of two theories to declare Crumbley guilty: That James failed to perform a legal duty in parenting, or that he knew his son was a danger to others and failed to take the ordinary care steps to avoid injuring others.

Defense lawyers maintain he had no idea what his son was planning. Moreover, defense lawyers argued James cannot be held accountable because he was not "directly involved" in the Oxford school shooting, and are not "responsible for the deaths of others."

Ethan Crumbley, who is now 17, was sentenced to life without parole last December after he admitted to the shooting.

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.