Man sentenced to life for Fuquay-Varina double murder

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Monday, May 16, 2016
Man sentenced to life in prison for Fuquak-Varina double murder
Gregory Crawford

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A judge sentenced a Wake County man to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole Monday.

Prosecutors said 22-year-old Gregory Crawford and an accomplice killed two people near Fuquay-Varina two years ago.

Years after the killings, the victims' families say they're still trying to understand the motive.

"Just been a really difficult time. I miss my father every day. And it's just the heartless ... that he was taken away because someone wanted to come and take what he had," said Kenneth Brown.

Brown told the judge that his father Arthur was the kind of man who would have helped his killers if they had asked.

Arthur Brown was asleep in his bed in July 2014 when detectives say Crawford and 23-year-old Donavan Richardson broke in with an accomplice and went into the bedroom of Brown's home.

Donavan Richardson
image courtesy Raleigh-Wake City-County Bureau of Identification

The 78-year old pulled a pistol on the two. Richardson allegedly had a gun of his own and shot Brown twice in the chest.

Crawford then took Brown's gun to the next bedroom and shot 66-year-old David McKoy in the face as he slept.

Crawford confessed to that killing, but because he was committing a felony when Brown was shot he was charged with that murder as well.

Richardson's case is not expected to go to trial for another year.

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