WASHINGTON -- Accused Logan Circle killer Anthony Crawford muttered to himself and rocked his head back and forth in court as prosecutors laid out their case against him.
Crawford, 23, has a history of paranoia and delusions, and detectives believe he stabbed Wendy Martinez to death in September just because she happened to jog by him.
A DC judge had planned to rule at a preliminary hearing on Thursday on whether there was enough evidence for the case against him to proceed, but testimony took far longer than expected, and the judge has now continued the hearing until Friday.
It was a terrifying and apparently random murder caught on video in busy Logan Circle. Newly engaged Wendy Martinez stabbed repeatedly while passers by watched in horror. DC Police Detective Charles Fultz detailed the evidence against Anthony Crawford in testimony at the courthouse.
The detective said Crawford took a knife from the Giant grocery on 7th St. NW just 20 minutes before the attack at 11th and P Sts.
Witnesses say Crawford was acting so strangely they crossed the street to avoid him. But Martinez was caught by surprise.
Witnesses heard a woman’s scream. Crawford allegedly slashed her in the throat, severing her carotid artery and jugular vein. She stayed alive just long enough to stumble into an Asian carry out, and plead for help.
Witnesses say the saw the killer drop a knife and take off a blood-soaked sweater. Investigators say they found Crawford’s DNA on both.
RELATED: 23-year-old man arrested in fatal stabbing of Logan Circle jogger, background under investigation
More than a dozen of Martinez ‘s friends and relatives crowded the courtroom, crying at times as they listened to the evidence.
When he wasn’t muttering to himself and holding his head in his hands, Crawford spent several long minutes scrawling notes with his left hand. Police say the video shows him stabbing Martinez with his right hand. It was blood from cuts on his right hand that apparently caused him to leave his DNA on the scene.
Martinez Friend’s and family has set up a scholarship in her name.
