Body found in 1994 near Wichita identified after nearly 30 years. Tips sought in killing
A person whose body was found in 1994 in a shallow grave just southwest of Wichita has been identified, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
DNA evidence from an extended family member helped identify Harold “James” Crawford, who had been 21 and living at an apartment complex in east Wichita.
The sheriff’s office is asking for any tips to help identify his killer or killers.
“We are making great forward momentum in the case, however, any information or tips would absolutely be helpful,” said Detective Chad Graham, who is investigating the cold case. “You can never have too much information.”
Graham had been investigating the case since before the body was identified. Since then, the tips and investigation have taken off, he said.
“There is quite a bit new with it but there is not anything I can disclose with it at this point,” he said.
A grant through Othram, a forensic genetic genealogy company, allowed the sheriff’s office to test DNA from the body. A relative of the victim was identified in May.
Crawford, who had blunt force trauma to his head, was identified through further investigation.
He had been found in a shallow grave by an employee from the Kansas Gas and Electric Company, now Kansas Gas Service. The employee had been cleaning ditches and tree rows in the 5600 block of West 47th Street South during a neighborhood cleanup.
At the time, a lieutenant with the sheriff’s office said he couldn’t tell if the body was a male or female because it was badly decomposed. The body had blunt force trauma to the head.
“It has been out here for a while,” he was quoted in a 1994 Eagle story.
Graham said he now believes Crawford was killed in east Wichita, but he wouldn’t say specifically where or the circumstances.
Family reported him missing a few years after the body had been found, but then dropped the case after hearing that he had left the state or country, which he had planned to do, Graham said.
“This was a story that was concocted obviously (by) someone close to him,” he said, adding that family believed it because of the “issues around his personal life at the time.”
Graham wouldn’t say specifically what those issues were.
He added: “I wouldn’t necessarily say it was anything dangerous ... Everybody is different at 21.”
He said he has been in touch with Crawford’s family, has spoken with “persons of interest,” who are not necessarily suspects, and is still hoping to speak with others who might know information about Crawford’s death.
When asked if the family still hopes for a resolution, he said: “I think everybody does.”
Anyone with information can call the cold case hotline at 316-660-3799 or email coldcase@sedgwick.gov. You can also call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111 and remain anonymous. Any tip that leads to an arrest can result in a cash reward.
