Abramowski evidence sent to FDLE for testing gives him hope after 21 years | Torres

Jeff Abramowski has been proclaiming his innocence for more than 21 years.

Now, after all this time, after Abramowski's arrest, conviction and life sentence, the State Attorney's Office appears open to the possibility someone else killed Cortney Crandall in his Palm Shores mobile home.

I routinely look up cases of the people I have written about whom I feel have been wrongly convicted, to see if there is anything new. My eyes nearly fell out of my head this week when I saw an order, drawn up by the state without a court battle, to send the hammer and clothing iron ― the weapons used in the bloody murder of the 78-year-old drug dealer― to Florida Department of Law Enforcement's DNA labs for testing.

The state attorney and Kevin McCann ― an attorney who took over Abramowski's case just a few years ago ― are keeping quiet about the testing.

Todd Brown, spokesman for the State Attorney's Office, said the office "didn't have anything to offer at this time."

McCann answered similarly, although with a hint of optimism.

"I must defer comment at this time to avoid jeopardizing the process," he said. "Hopefully, there will be favorable information to share in the near future."

Abramowski was the subject of season four of our award-winning podcast Murder on the Space Coast.

Murder on the Space Coast: Who is Jeff Abramowski and was he wrongfully accused?

His case bothered me from the start. Abramowski got hooked on painkillers after a car accident. He soon started pill mill shopping for Crandall. Crandall would take Abramowski and others to various doctors in the area for opiate prescriptions. Crandall would pay for the visits and in return the "shoppers" could keep some of the pills. The motive behind Crandall's murder, law enforcement said, was to steal drugs. But after Crandall was found with 200 Oxycontin pills and about $90 on him, they then said the motive was anger over Crandall not giving Abramowski a ride home from Orlando.

Meanwhile, obvious suspects ― Crandall's live-in girlfriend Judy Foley (herself a drug addict) and her 30-year-old son Bruce Foley (also a drug addict) ― were basically given a free pass. This despite the fact that just a week before Crandall was found dead in his trailer with the claw of a hammer stuck in his skull, Bruce Foley attacked Crandall with a golf club. This was, according to Bruce Foley, in retaliation of Crandall hiring a pair of thugs to attack him.

The Foleys, along with Judy's sister, Rita Akridge, left town in the middle of the night of the murder before Crandall's body was found. They were found in Alabama with a piece of Crandall's custom-made jewelry given to him by his daughter, who said her father would never have given that piece away.

Oh yeah, and get this: Crandall's body was found clutching some of Judy Foley's hair and Bruce Foley's blood was found in Crandall's bathroom sink, even though he supposedly had his own bathroom in the trailer. In fact, it was never proven that Bruce Foley lived there at all.

In three separate interviews with Brevard County Sheriff's homicide agents Gary Harrell and Carlos Reyes in Alabama, Judy, Bruce and Rita had wildly conflicting stories about why and when they left Melbourne in such a hurry. The only thing their stories had in common was they each mentioned the name Jeff Abramowski. It was almost comical how all three told Harrell and Reyes that they should be looking at Jeff. They also, all three, had a hard time pronouncing his name.

Investigators interviewed Abramowski and others. They examined Jeff's clothing, his laundry, his alibi and his sneakers. But it wasn't until months later, when Abramowski turned himself into the county jail to clear up a violation of probation stemming from a DUI, that he was picked up and interrogated again in connection with Crandall's killing. I always wondered: would someone who committed a murder be that daft to go into the jail to try and clear up a probation violation?

More: Convicted killer never waivers in his innocence claim

There is also this: Jeff, a full blown addict, would never have left pills and money behind.

It was only after he turned himself in that Abramowski became the one. The hours and hours of interrogation is painful to watch. It's clear Abramowski has no idea what they are talking about.

"Do the right thing, brother," Detective Allie Roberts pleaded with Abramowski during the interrogation as his chair and agent Harrell's chair moved closer and closer until Abramowski was pinned in the corner. "You're not a bad guy. The drugs have cost you everything. I'm trying to get you on the right track. I know it and you know it. But you're lying to me. It's time to tell the truth. For once in your life be a man and stand up and tell the truth."

"Show your kids you're a man," Roberts tells him.

"You mean by telling my kids I'm a killer when I'm not?"

Abramowski was soon charged with murder.

Abramowski was convicted mainly on a trace amount of DNA found under Crandall's fingernail that the state said did not exclude him. They said it had a unique marker on it, a marker so unique the lab tech had never seen it before and it happened that Jeff also had that marker.

But Abramowski and Crandall hung out together, did business together.

But the thing about this case that really bothered me was that Brevard County Sheriff's Detective Gary Harrell flat out lied on the witness stand.

In this country law enforcement agents are allowed to lie to suspects during an interrogation. But you can't lie on the witness stand under oath. Now, agents Roberts and Harrell repeatedly told Abramowski that his hair was found in Crandall’s hand. In fact, during an attempt to make Jeff confess to the murder, agents told Abramowski 18 times during a 90-minute interview on video that the dead man was found clutching his hair. It was Crandall's girlfriend's hair.

At trial, when questioned by Abramowski's attorney if he ever told Abramowski the hair in Crandalll's hand was his, Harrell replied: "No, I did not."

The attorney pressed him and Harrell was adamant that he never told Abramowski that.

Judy Foley has since died. Her sister, Rita Akridge killed herself and Bruce Foley resides in Alabama.

With Abramowski's ability to appeal stalled at the 5th District Court of Appeals, this latest development represents his best shot at freedom if someone else's DNA comes back on the hammer and iron. Something his daughter, Jamie LeBlanc, has been dreaming of since she was a girl.

"I understand that my my dad’s lawyer and the state attorney are following up on some new information that has recently surfaced, but I am not certain of the details," she said. "I feel that things are finally moving in a positive direction and I am praying for a quick and positive outcome. My dad has been wrongfully incarcerated for 21 years now, and we all hope this nightmare will end soon."

Contact Torres at jtorres@floridatoday.com. You can follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at facebook.com/FTjohntorres.

Support local journalism and become a subscriber. Visit floridatoday.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Jeff Abramowski case: Weapons used in murder sent for DNA testing