The Murder of Martika Ferguson | Killers Caught On Camera | Forensic Files

[AUDIO LOGO] JULIA SHAW: This time on "Killers Caught on Camera," in Oklahoma, a woman is found dead in an alley.
- There's blood everywhere. There's gunshot wound on the left side of her face. - The shotgun blew her wig off her head.
SARAH CRUMPLER: It was a complete shock. Who wanted to kill her. JULIA SHAW: They retrace her final fatal steps.
- The fact that it was a close-range gunshot wound indicated to me that the crime was of the personal type.
JULIA SHAW: And the police have a prime suspect. - This is the last time Martika Ferguson is seen alive.
JULIA SHAW: And 700 miles east in Alabama, a wife is found shot in her vehicle. POLICE OFFICER: Come back here and stand behind the van.
- She was sitting in the driver's seat with the gun in her left hand. JULIA SHAW: But was it a suicide?
POLICE OFFICER: Is there a pulse? JULIA SHAW: Or a murder? - Due to the two gunshots, it's not a straightforward case.
POLICE OFFICER: Where's the gun, Sir? - It's right here in her hands. MAN (ON RADIO): It just sounds like something
bad is happening to her. WOMAN: We know what happened because the video tells us what happened.
MAN: I heard some gunshots. POLICE OFFICER: Drop it! Whatever it is, drop it! - That does not prove that I killed my wife.
DETECTIVE: The camera doesn't lie. JULIA SHAW: In the US, Oklahoma, in the northwest,
the city of Enid. 90 miles north of Oklahoma City, it's home to about 50,000 people,
including 27-year-old Martika Ferguson and her mom, Effie Ferguson. - My daughter's name is Martika Marie,
and we all called her Tika. JULIA SHAW: Martika came into Effie's care when she was three years old, along with her siblings.
EFFIE FERGUSON: She was just a little bitty girl. And then three years later, we went on to adopt her and
her sister and brother. JULIA SHAW: Martika was a shining light within the Ferguson family.
EFFIE FERGUSON: She was always very confident. This little girl would dance. She would sing.
It was always so much fun to be around her. When she smiled, your whole heart lit up.
It was adorable. She was a good girl. JULIA SHAW: Martika was two years older than her sister, Mykalah.
- We had so much fun together. My sister and I were like two peas in a pod. We played in the orchestra growing up.
My mom had the bright idea for us to learn how to fiddle, which in Oklahoma is called the hoedown.
When we'd have family gatherings, we would get together, and we'd play. It was very fun.
JULIA SHAW: Martika and Mykalah became pregnant just six months apart. In 2012, Martika gave birth to a baby boy.
MYKALAH FERGUSON: It was just a beautiful thing to watch her be a mom. She was such a loving mom.
She loved her son so much. JULIA SHAW: But Martika's life took a difficult turn when she broke up with the father of her son.
Sarah Crumpler was a close friend of Martika's. SARAH CRUMPLER: When they separated,
she got pretty depressed and kind of self-medicated and went to drugs. Tika never really wanted the baby around--
all of the nonsense that she thought she needed to do to make herself feel better, unfortunately.
So she would you know, either leave the baby with me or with her mom while she went and did these things.
And that's when she kind of lost custody. JULIA SHAW: Effie took in her son. But Martika continued to visit him often.
- She knew that when she left to her son here that he was safe. She didn't really have to worry about him,
and she always knew she was welcome. JULIA SHAW: Sunday, November 22, 2020. Martika went to visit her then eight-year-old
son and her mom, Effie. EFFIE FERGUSON: It was always like a party when Tika was here.
We'd order pizza. She'd spend the night. We'd watch movies with her son, and they would sit and cuddle.
JULIA SHAW: But the following weekend, Martika's family started to worry when she didn't
turn up for a planned visit. [SOMBER MUSIC] Early afternoon on Sunday, November 29,
2020, 911 dispatchers received a disturbing call. Police responded to the scene.
The person who made the 911 call ushered them towards the body in the back alley.
Enid police Lieutenant Casey von Schriltz was in charge of the case. - The body was found behind a residence in an alleyway.
The deceased was a woman. She had some sort of injury to her face. In the area, near the body was a pair of pants.
JULIA SHAW: Police officers also found a wig nearby. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: The wig and the additional pair of pants
were definitely unusual. It indicated to me also that the suspect may have left some of those items behind.
JULIA SHAW: Police gathered information from local residents to try and piece together
what had happened. They used a drone to get a complete picture of the crime scene.
The police also reached out to the community in search of surveillance cameras. - Our task at that moment was to determine
who this victim was and-- and who is responsible. JULIA SHAW: Witnesses had seen the victim in the area before,
but nobody knew her name. - As of this point, we had not had anybody come forward
that had reported anyone of this description missing. JULIA SHAW: Sean Hill is the assistant district attorney
in Garfield County, Oklahoma. - Someone here working at the courthouse recognized her as Martika Ferguson.
- The next step from there was to reach out to the family of-- of Ms. Ferguson to enable
us to help identify her. - It was on November 29. About 10 o'clock at night, the police came to my house,
and they showed me a picture and asked me if that was my daughter. And I looked, and you know, I knew Tika's face so well.
And I was like, yes, it's her. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: The process of making a death notification
and speaking to the family of the victim is often difficult. There's often a lot of emotion involved.
EFFIE FERGUSON: I was just thinking, oh my god! This is my daughter, and she's laying in this alley.
And the shotgun blew her wig off her head 2 feet away. And you could see that in the picture.
And so I just was like, horrified. But I had no idea that anybody would feel that hate enough to kill her.
JULIA SHAW: News of Martika's death reached extended family and friends. SARAH CRUMPLER: Her mom called me and was crying.
And I said, oh, no, what's wrong? And she said, Tika is gone. My baby's gone. And she was murdered, is what she said.
"She was murdered." I asked her, where's the baby? Is he OK? She said, oh, yeah.
He was here. And I kind of just went over there and checked on him and just hugged him as tight as I could.
MYKALAH FERGUSON: She said they found her dead in the alley, and I couldn't stop screaming.
And I screamed, and I screamed, and I went outside, and I looked up, and I screamed some more.
And I literally felt my heart break because that broke me. I woke up the next day thinking it couldn't be real.
It couldn't be real. And then it was real. And life after that was never the same.
SARAH CRUMPLER: It was a complete shock. Who wanted to kill her? You know, she didn't do anything wrong to anybody.
It was very devastating and very surprising for that to happen. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
JULIA SHAW: The police needed to find Martika's killer. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: Now that we have the victim identified,
we're able to go back and locate her known associates, people that she may have had interactions
within the recent past, and track down her activities to develop suspects and-- and leads to follow up on.
JULIA SHAW: Detectives discovered that Martika had been living with an older man who was
brought in for an interview. Initially, they didn't tell him that Martika was dead.
Almost an hour later, they decided to break the news of Martika's death. The exchange revealed a specific interviewing style.
- From a policing standpoint, this is called strategic use of evidence. It's a very extreme form of it where
you just slam down a picture. And what they're trying to see is whether or not he shifts his strategy in relation to the new evidence
that they're presenting to him. It's designed to catch liars. And so the idea is that someone who's telling a lie
and doesn't have all the evidence that the police do, might tell a story that doesn't accommodate
all of the facts of the case. And someone who has guilty knowledge, they're likely to change their story.
And clearly, he doesn't. And instead he is genuinely sad about the image. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: His initial reaction
was that of shock and surprise that we were advising him that Ms. Ferguson was, in fact deceased.
And this indicates to me that that type of reaction that we got out of him appeared to be genuine
and made him less of a suspect in our minds. JULIA SHAW: With Martika's housemate ruled out
as a suspect, the police were reliant on any video recordings from the night before she was found.
After an extensive search near the scene of the crime, the police recovered hours of video surveillance footage.
Suddenly, there was a breakthrough. - In this particular case. There were quite a few different homes
in that immediate vicinity that captured relevant video. JULIA SHAW: At 9:08 PM on Saturday, November 28,
a woman is captured walking away from the house where Martika lived. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: I was able to identify
Ms. Ferguson within the video footage, based on the fact that this individual bore a striking resemblance
to Ms. Ferguson. You can see in this video that Ms. Ferguson's clothing is the same as what is ultimately found on her body.
You can see that it appears Ms. Ferguson's smoking a cigarette. She doesn't appear to be nervous or hurried.
There's no indication that there's anything wrong at this moment. JULIA SHAW: Two minutes later, at 10 past 9:00, Martika
was no longer walking alone. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: Ms. Ferguson is seen coming back the other direction with a male subject.
In this frame, here you can see that the man that Martika is walking with appears to be wearing a cowboy-style hat,
which is distinctive. JULIA SHAW: Police also got footage from surveillance cameras on a nearby church.
It picked up Martika in the male figure walking through the neighborhood. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: Here, you can
see that the male subject is walking with a little bit of an unusual gait. He also appears to be holding on
to something at his waistline. JULIA SHAW: And then another breakthrough-- the man walked right under a high-definition camera,
well lit by the street light. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: In this frame of the video from
the church, you can see the emblem clearly on the back of the jacket with the eagle
and the words "Live to Ride." It doesn't appear he's making any effort to conceal his identity.
JULIA SHAW: Police continued checking through the surveillance cameras to track the route taken by Martika and the unknown male.
At 17 minutes past 9:00, they were captured entering the alleyway where Martika's body was found.
CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: This alley that they're walking down is in between rows of residences that's dark and not
easily viewable to the public. It is not a very safe area for Ms. Ferguson to be walking into with this man.
This is the last time Martika Ferguson is seen alive. SEAN HILL: They're walking very casually.
It doesn't seem like there's any argument going on, and they're not moving quickly, or
it just looks like they're on a walk together. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: It was definitely surprising
that we knew that Ms. Ferguson had been killed subsequent to these videos, and it appeared in the videos
that this person that she was with was not, at that time of the video, threatening in any way.
JULIA SHAW: Neighbors were oblivious to the couple walking close by. But at 20 minutes past 9:00, significant audio.
[GUNSHOT] CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: That audio of the gunshot is instrumental in not only pinpointing
the exact time of the crime but also is audio that we can track back through our other video
surveillance, and it helps us do a match-up of times and sequence of events. JULIA SHAW: A further review of the cameras led
to another major discovery-- in a backyard next to the alleyway, a flash of light
consistent with a firearm. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: The muzzle flash was able to confirm with us that that was
the location of the homicide. This is an important video, because we were able to use this to solidify
when exactly the homicide occurred and where it had occurred. JULIA SHAW: The autopsy report revealed how Martika had been
killed and the weapon used. - The wound that had caused Ms. Ferguson's death was from a shotgun to the face.
And the shotgun pellets and contents of the shotgun shell were contained within her skull.
And the fact that it was a close-range gunshot wound indicated to me that the crime was
more than likely of the personal type, was less likely that it was between complete strangers.
- Choosing to use a sawed-off shotgun to me speaks of two things. One, you don't have a handgun available,
otherwise you just use that because it's easier, easier to hide. Second, maybe the reason you don't have a handgun
could also be that you're not allowed to buy one. And so that's because of your criminal record, for example.
You don't have access to anything else, and this is the only thing you've got. JULIA SHAW: The police had identified a potential suspect
in the surveillance footage wearing a distinctive hat and jacket. But Martika's killer was still at large and unknown.
A $1,000 reward was offered for any information leading to an arrest. Martika's mom, Effie, went on the news
to appeal for information. - A mother is found shot to death in an alley over the weekend.
EFFIE FERGUSON: Go ahead and turn yourself in. You did it. Let us know why, and then pay for what you did.
I pray a lot. And I prayed the police would find whoever shot her and get them. JULIA SHAW: As the police continued
to search through hours of footage, they uncovered another vital clue. After the gunshot went off at 9:20 PM,
a figure could be seen walking away from the crime scene. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: He casually gets onto his motorcycle
and appears to be in no particular hurry as he rides away. This distinguishing feature of the motorcycle--
it has handlebars above head level, commonly known as a hanger-style handlebars.
JULIA SHAW: At 9:45 PM, just 25 minutes after Martika was killed, the same man was captured on camera,
arriving at Walmart and shopping for groceries. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: You can see the male subject
riding his motorcycle actually into the vestibule area of the store. The video showed the male subject
was wearing the same leather jacket as seen in the video surveillance. JULIA SHAW: The prime suspect had been caught on camera
multiple times, but the police still needed to track him down. On December 1, two days after Martika's body had been found,
police got a name. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: We received a tip on one of our tip lines
from a citizen that an individual by the name of Shane Perosi had spoke about killing Ms. Ferguson.
When the tipster called, he had mentioned that Mr. Perosi had made the threat to a woman,
that she should watch out because she would end up just like Tika. JULIA SHAW: 30-year-old Shane Perosi
lived very close to where Martika's body had been found. - Shane Perosi was known to have
a extensive criminal history. That history included crimes of violence both against citizens as well as police officers.
JULIA SHAW: The SWAT team and police surrounded Shane Perosi's residence. Three people were detained, including Shane Perosi.
Inside the property, investigators uncovered key evidence. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: We were able to locate the jacket seen
in the surveillance video inside the garage of the residence, along with the motorcycle seen
in the surveillance video. Upon search of the residence, we were able to locate a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun hidden inside of a headboard
in the upstairs bedroom. JULIA SHAW: They also recovered to Shane Perosi's own doorbell footage.
It showed him wearing the same jacket seen on the man with Martika on the night of her death.
CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: From an investigator's point of view, all this evidence and information
being located inside Mr Perosi's residence, it becomes very obvious that that he
is in fact our guy that's responsible for this crime. JULIA SHAW: Shane Perosi was arrested
and taken into custody, accused of Martika Ferguson's murder. - They found him in three days--
three days. SARAH CRUMPLER: I was ready for justice to be served. I felt like if they arrested someone, they knew who it was.
And I was very glad they caught him as fast as they did. JULIA SHAW: During his interview,
Shane Perosi was confronted with the evidence. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: When shown photographs and
confronted with that evidence, he became silent and didn't speak much. JULIA SHAW: The demeanor here, it's of someone who
is guilty and has been caught. And the more evidence the police officer puts on the table, the more he realizes that.
And you can just see his heart sinking, realizing the implications of what he's done.
Some of the time he doesn't say anything. And so on a verbal transcript, you wouldn't have any response,
but you can clearly see his little nods as he accepts that that's his jacket, and that he is behaving in a way that is clear to the police
officer that he's confirming what the police officer is saying. And that's why it's so important
to also see video footage of interviews and not just read the transcripts. JULIA SHAW: As the police continued to press him,
Shane began to give more information about the night Martika was killed. - Mr. Perosi ultimately told us that he
had caught Ms. Ferguson in his garage, and he believed that that she was stealing from him.
EFFIE FERGUSON: He thought she may have Stole something from him. But if she would have said, Mom, I need to pay him back,
she knows I would have helped her, but he didn't give her a chance. JULIA SHAW: The idea that a motive for murder
could be something as banal as thinking that someone is stealing small things from you,
it feels like insufficient reason to kill somebody because it is. But if you look at research on murder, the banality of murder
is much more common. So people typically kill people over small, irrational perceived slights rather than over these big reasons.
So this is actually more normal than it is abnormal, even though it's obviously completely
an escalation beyond what anyone would consider reasonable. SEAN HILL: He was hiding that sawed-off shotgun
in those jeans and tucked up against his body to prevent Martika from seeing it.
Ultimately, because he had prior felony convictions, he wasn't lawfully in possession of that firearm.
The fact that he had possession of it and it led to her death, he was guilty of murder.
JULIA SHAW: In court, Effie presented Shane Perosi with a letter from Martika's son.
EFFIE FERGUSON: I looked him in the eye, and I held that paper up. And I said, Shane, have you seen this?
Have you read what you caused an eight-year-old boy to feel hate for the first time?
I called his name loudly. And I said, have you read this? And he said, yes, I've read it.
JULIA SHAW: Shane Perosi was convicted of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life without the possibility
of parole. CASEY VON SCHRILTZ: The video evidence gathered in this case was instrumental in getting a conviction
and a sentence for Mr. Perosi. EFFIE FERGUSON: I look out that window, and that's where Tika used to come up to the house.
And I could see her coming. And I still watch for her. Sometimes somebody will look like her, and I'm like,
oh, I wish that was you. - To know that she left something in this world behind,
that's an image of her. I still get glimpses of her, and it makes me really happy.
[AUDIO LOGO] JULIA SHAW: Martika Ferguson was shot dead in an alleyway, helpless when faced with Shane Perosi's shotgun.
In the United States, there's been a big increase in female gun ownership. - The perceived threat is coming from men.
And we say "perceived," but there is actually-- there's an actual threat. If I am walking down a street at night
and I see someone approaching me who might look like a male, it's likely that I'll cross the street to protect myself.
The risk is pervasive. It's always there. And it's quite difficult to quantify, but it is something that most women feel and understand.
JULIA SHAW: In our next case, a woman who purchased a gun for protection ends up dead in suspicious circumstances.
[LIGHT MUSIC] In Alabama, between Huntsville and Birmingham is Cullman County. AVA GLASS: Cullman's is the kind of place where
people go to raise a family. It's considered sort of a safe, lovely community where
you can get a bit of space. You can have a bit of land. It's not crowded at all.
JULIA SHAW: It was home to 32-year-old Tiffiney Crawford. AVA GLASS: Tiffiney was popular and well-liked.
She was described by friends as having a beautiful soul, as being a kind person and someone you could rely on.
JULIA SHAW: Growing up, Tiffiney's ambition was always to help others. AVA GLASS: Tiffiney went to college.
She got a bachelor's degree in education and became a teacher. She seemed to have a sort of a natural affinity with children.
JULIA SHAW: Tiffiney was already married when she met and fell in love with Jason Crawford,
a divorcée and a father. - I think Tiffiney saw in him somebody with whom she could
start a family of her own. Jason Crawford was drawn to her because she was so striking and outgoing.
JULIA SHAW: After Tiffiney divorced her first husband, she married Jason in 2011.
They had two children together. AVA GLASS: She wanted to be a mother, and this meant a huge amount to her to have this family
and to be able to raise them with someone she loved. That's what she'd wanted. JULIA SHAW: In her spare time, Tiffiney set up
a group to help other mothers. AVA GLASS: This was a group called Mothers Helping Mothers.
She set it up online, and it grew very quickly to the point where it had thousands of followers.
- It doesn't matter your background. We wanna be there to love and support you. And so we have moms that are teen moms
on up to grandmothers. It really does not matter. You can ask all sorts of questions,
and we're there to support you. JULIA SHAW: From the outside, life in the Crawford home
appeared good. But after six years together, the relationship had become strained.
AVA GLASS: There was already considerable tension between the two of them-- tension
they'd hid from many people. Tiffiney wasn't as happy as she seemed. [SOMBER MUSIC]
JULIA SHAW: Tuesday, May 2, 2017. Cullman County Sheriff's Office received a disturbing call.
Police responded to the scene. Jason Crawford directed them to his wife's van. - The Cullman County Sheriff's Department
found her slumped over in the van as she appeared to be shot in the head. When one of the deputies was assessing Tiffiney's wrist
for a pulse, there was a pistol in her hand, and it immediately fell to the floorboard of the van.
[THUD] JULIA SHAW: Emergency Medical Services arrived quickly. JOE PARRISH: EMS removed her from the van
and performed life-saving measures. So, in my experience, when somebody's been shot in the head with a gun,
they usually don't have a chance of making it. When deputies were speaking with Jason at the scene,
he appeared to be upset, and he was asking if Tiffiney was OK if she was alive. MEDIC: Pulse is fading.
JULIA SHAW: Tiffiney was declared dead. Jason's mother, Rhonda, who lived next door,
was on hand to comfort her son. But her presence compromised the police investigation.
Investigators began documenting the scene to try and find out what led to Tiffiney's death.
Tiffany's body was taken for an autopsy. JOE PARRISH: An autopsy is not standard procedure
for a suicide. But when foul play is suspected, one could be ordered. JULIA SHAW: Jason's mother worked at the Sheriff's Office,
so the case was handed over to the investigator, Joe Parrish, at the Alabama State Bureau of investigations.
- Due to the possible conflict and Rhonda Crawford working at the Sheriff's Office,
the State Bureau of Investigation was requested to conduct the investigation. JULIA SHAW: But when Joe began his investigation,
Tiffiney's white van had already been released to Jason and his family. - I had to go to the district attorney
and ascertain if we could get the van back. JULIA SHAW: When investigators finally got the van,
it was spotless. - All the blood was cleaned up. You could still smell the blood,
but there were some items of evidence that we did take out of the van, such as a right-handed Kydex paddle holster that
fit a revolver, and notebook that had some handwritten notes, and some other documentation
that Tiffiney Crawford had written down. JULIA SHAW: The gun was found in Tiffiney's left hand.
Her holster was right-handed. The autopsy on her suspicious suicide also came up with a surprise conclusion.
The preliminary report concluded that Tiffiney's death was a homicide because there wasn't one,
but two gunshot wounds to her head. - Due to the two gunshots, it's not a straightforward case of suicide,
so there had to be a further investigation. JULIA SHAW: Case agent Joe Parrish brought Jason Crawford
in for an interview. He began by discussing the state of their marriage. JOE PARRISH: The way Jason portrayed Tiffiney,
that she could have committed suicide, plus she was seeing a counselor recently, drinking excessively,
and just her mental state at the time that he portrayed she could have been a suicide-risk person.
JULIA SHAW: The day Tiffiney died, Jason had found some messages that she had sent to her counselor.
Tiffiney's messages to her counselor also revealed that she'd been seeing another man.
JOE PARRISH: Jason Crawford discovered that Tiffiney was having an affair because he found some messages she had left on the computer.
As an investigator, if it's determined that people are having marital problems or having an affair,
that could be an issue. JULIA SHAW: Larissa Johnson is a forensic psychologist specializing in trauma therapy.
- He met Tiffiney as the other man and entered into this relationship, potentially hoping that this was going
to be his forever future. And then the woman that he was with had an extramarital affair.
And so you could think like, what does that say about Jason? He might be thinking, what does that say about me?
Is it that when I go into these relationships that women take me for a fool? Why am I being used?
Why am I being taken advantage of? Why can't I just be loved and respected? And maybe he didn't want to be disrespected anymore.
JULIA SHAW: Jason explained what happened when Tiffiney arrived home. LARISSA JOHNSON: If you are cheated on,
anger is not a wrong emotion, nor is it a bad emotion. You might feel as the man that someone has essentially
insulted your relationship, disrespected your union, and disrespected you as a man of the household.
And that might be in the heat of the moment, kind of pushing forward, aggressive and then violent and then
fatal behaviors. - During an interview, Jason made his finger like a gun. And he said, I heard a shot, a scream, and another shot.
But it's the motion of his finger, and it is so consistent the whole time he was describing it.
It's not like he took his knuckle and did that on the table to make that sound. He actually pointed his finger like--
like a-- like a gun. He would had a gun in his hand and made the sound. It could be that subconsciously,
Jason was remembering that night that he had a gun in his hand. So he was describing a shot, a scream, and the second shot.
When Jason said that Tiffiney was right-handed, not left-handed, I thought that was odd
because she shot herself in the left side of the head using her non-dominant hand.
JULIA SHAW: 19 days later, Jason was brought in again, this time for a polygraph test.
JOE PARRISH: A polygraph test-- some people call it a lie detector test. And that's not what it actually is.
It measures people's stress when they're answering certain questions, and it could indicate there's a problem
in that particular area. During the polygraph examination, the examiner asked Jason Crawford if he killed
his wife, Tiffiney Crawford. And it did show stress under that question. It was a very erratic response.
Jason's response to he had failed a polygraph test was that, no, he wasn't lying about anything.
Jason stormed out of the Sheriff's Office. Jason's reaction was very angry, and it looked like it was a different person than who
I'd interviewed initially. JULIA SHAW: A whole year passed before the final autopsy report
and ballistics tests came in. - It takes a while to get it because they do toxicology.
They do the firearms testing and toolmarks. And they test all the organs to determine
a definitive cause of death. The medical examiner concluded there was lack of gunpowder on Tiffiney.
So in order not to have the gunpowder present on your skin, the gun would have to be an 8 to 12 inches
away from the target area. The reason it's a problem for Jason's story immediately is because he said that the van door was closed.
There wouldn't be a lot of room to move the gun out. If the door was closed and Tiffiney shot herself,
there should have been some blood on the door. There wasn't blood blowback on the door.
All that indicated that Tiffiney couldn't have shot herself. So at that time, the chief suspect
would be Jason Crawford, Tiffiney's husband. JULIA SHAW: On May 21, 2018, Jason Crawford was arrested
but later released on bond. Due to COVID restrictions and other factors, the trial was delayed.
Five years after Tiffiney had been killed, court proceedings began in November 2022.
In court, the defense team argued that Tiffiney had taken her own life. But when the jury listened to the 911 call
and watched the body cam footage, they realized there was a major inconsistency between the two
pieces of evidence. In the 911 call, Jason said the gun was laying beside her, but the body cam footage showed otherwise.
This inconsistency was the key factor which led the jury to find Jason guilty of murder.
He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Under Alabama law, he'll be eligible for parole
in 15 years. - I do think about it often. It was a complex case. I'm sorry for the families.
Just this one incident, you know, you've had families that are broken apart because of it.
AVA GLASS: Tiffiney will always be remembered as somebody who was dedicated to her family, who loved teaching,
and who just wanted to help other people. That will be her legacy. [SOFT MUSIC]

In 2020, police respond to reports of a body in an alleyway in Enid, Oklahoma. The victim is identified as 27-year-old mother, Martika Ferguson, who was last seen on CCTV footage with a mysterious man. Only the trail of surveillance footage can identify the heartless killer responsible for taking away the young mother too soon. In 2017, Cullman, Alabama police receive a call from Jason Crawford who reports that his wife, Tiffiney Crawford, has tragically taken her own life following an argument. At first, Jason’s account holds up—until investigators revisit the 911 call and uncover contradictions that cast doubt on his story.

Killers Caught On Camera is a true-crime series with a voyeuristic twist: video footage from home security cameras, CCTV, and dashcams take center-stage, helping detectives catch perpetrators in moments of criminal intent to acts of pure evil. Family members of victims and law enforcement provide first-hand accounts of how these chilling events unfold while experts like Criminal Psychologist Dr. Julia Shaw dissect the darkest corners of the mind.

Brief Summary

Martika Ferguson and Tiffiney Crawford are murdered; investigations reveal shocking truths about their killers and family impacts.

Key points

Martika Ferguson Found Dead. A woman is discovered dead in an alley, raising questions about her murder.
Family's Heartbreak. Martika's family reacts to the shocking news of her death.
Surveillance Footage Breakthrough. Police uncover critical video evidence leading to a suspect.
Shane Perosi Arrested. The prime suspect in Martika's murder is taken into custody after a swift investigation.
Justice Served. Shane Perosi is convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Tika's Memory. The speaker reflects on the lasting impact of Tika's presence in their life.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

When she smiled, your whole heart lit up.

Effie Ferguson describes her daughter Martika.

2:24WatchMay 29, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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