Slaying suspect in jail

St. Stephen mother was shot in August at home

Julian Re'Analdo Crawford

A 26-year-old man wanted for murder in the death of Kimberly Jones, a St. Stephen mother of four who last August was shot while asleep in her apartment, turned himself in Friday night.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office earlier in the day issued a murder warrant for Julian Re'Analdo Crawford after conducting a joint investigation with the St. Stephen Police Department, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office.

Crawford is being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center, said Dan Moon, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

Jones, 24, was killed in the early hours of Aug. 14 when two unidentified gunmen fired at least a dozen times into her unit at Foxcreek Apartments at 260 Ravenell Drive in St. Stephen, authorities said at the time of the shooting.

Jones was sleeping inside with her boyfriend and her four children, authorities said.

Investigators weren't sure if Jones or her boyfriend, also in his 20s, was the intended target.

The two adults had been in bed along with one of the children in unit 3D when the barrage of gunfire hit the window next to them a few minutes before 2 a.m.

Moon said he can't comment on whether the suspect knew Jones, and has no other information about the investigation.

Carmen Mayes, the eldest of Jones' six siblings, said she doesn't know Crawford and never heard her sister mention that name or the aliases — Chucky and Boobie — authorities said he uses.

Jones graduated from Timberland High School, attended Denmark Technical College and had recently been working at the Citi Trends clothing store in Moncks Corner.

Her family, Mayes said, is still trying to cope with losing Jones. And family members are trying to help Jones' children adjust to having lost their mother.

Though violence in St. Stephen is rare, Jones' killing came less than a year after the beating death of 7-year-old Ta'Mya Grant in her family's home on Welch Street.

Nobody has been charged in that killing.

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.