Atlanta college student Alexis Crawford was choked to death, dumped in park, police say

ATLANTA — The Clark Atlanta University student whose body was found last week was strangled before her remains were placed in a plastic bin and dumped in a suburban Atlanta park, according to court records released Tuesday.

Authorities say 21-year-old Alexis Crawford and her roommate, Jordyn Jones, were fighting in their off-campus apartment early Oct. 31 when Jones' boyfriend, Barron Brantley, intervened and choked Crawford until she died.

Jones and Brantley, also both 21, then put Crawford's body in the bin and took it to Exchange Park in Decatur, Georgia, where they abandoned it, court records say.

Jones and Brantley are in police custody and face charges of malice murder. Malice murder involves deliberate intent and is punishable by death or life in prison with or without parole.

Crawford was reported missing by her mother Nov. 1, five days after Crawford filed a police report accusing Brantley of what Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields described as "unwanted kissing and touching."

Shields said one of the suspects led investigators to Crawford's body on Friday. The medical examiner listed her cause of death as asphyxiation.

Fulton County Superior Court records say on Nov. 8, Brantley "admitted during his interview with detectives that he strangled the victim until she was dead" and took her body to where it was found.

"The case has come to one of the saddest conclusions possible," Shields said. "For Alexis' family, our hearts go out to you. I am so truly sorry we could not provide you with a better ending."

Staff writer Joel Shannon contributed.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police: Atlanta college student Alexis Crawford was strangled, dumped