Jennifer Crumbley told Oakland County lieutenant "lives were lost today, and he's going to have to suffer" after Oxford shooting
(CBS DETROIT) - The trial of Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, continues Wednesday with the fifth day of testimony.
Sam Marzban, a lieutenant for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and commander of the Pontiac Detective Bureau, was the first person to testify.
He responded to Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, the day of the shooting. Before he went into the school, he knew there was one suspect in custody, but it was not clear whether or not there was another shooter.
Although he's worked on several homicides, he said that the Oxford High School shooting felt different.
"It was kind of surreal with it being a school, a place where kids are supposed to be safe," Marzban said.
Marzban helped evacuate students from the high school, and then he worked with Jim Rourke, a retired police officer who worked at the school, and counselor Pam Fine to identify two of the students who were killed in the shooting.
After that, Marzban discussed how he looked at the shooter's phone and could see messages on the lock screen.
Messages from Jennifer Crumbley that were sent at about 2:02 p.m. that said, "Ethan don't do it," and a message from his father that said, "Ethan call me now."
The shooter also received a text from a number that wasn't saved as a contact asking him if he had been shot. These messages were received about an hour after the shooting began.
Marzban requested a search warrant for any evidence related to the investigation, which included tablets, computers, cell phones, firearms and more. He also said he talked to a student who had witnessed the death of Justin Shilling in the school's bathroom.
After the search warrant was authorized, he went to the Crumbley family's house. When James and Jennifer got there, Marzban explained the process of what was happening, and he said the father requested an itemized list of everything being taken out of the house.
Then he had to take their cellphones, which Jennifer Crumbley was unhappy about.
"She did not want to give me her phone," Marzban said. "She seemed irritated initially, you know she was not turning it over properly."
He told the mother about the students that were killed and how significant of an incident the shooting was, and Jennifer Crumbley had said, "Lives were lost today, and he's going to have to suffer."
Marzban found this comment odd because parents don't usually use that kind of language when they're told their children committed murder.
"She was referring to a person that was her son, and I've been involved in multiple homicide investigations where I've talked to relatives and parents that their children had taken lives."
Jennifer Crumbley is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Oxford High School shooting where her son killed four students and injured seven other people.
