Gloucester, Va. - A Gloucester man is trying to make sense of his daughter's senseless murder. 38-year-old Amanda Crews was one of five people killed inside a home in California.
Two of the other victims were her young daughters.
“I'm still in a fog,” says Howard Crews, Amanda’s father. “I'm just in a fog.”
Howard Crews says his daughter was brilliant. He says she was a doctor and loving mother.
“I'm really proud of her, I'm really proud of her,” he says. “She was a wonderful person.”
Amanda was one of five murdered inside her home in Modesto, California. Her two daughters, 6-year-old Elizabeth and 6-month-old Racheal were also killed.
Martin Martinez, 30, was arrested the next day. Howard says Martinez was Rachael’s father.
“They were stabbed,” he says. “It was all stabbed and left to bleed out and die. I was hoping they had been shot and didn't have to drag it out but they did. It was terrible.”
Howard says the other two victims were Martinez’s mother and a 5-year-old girl she was babysitting.
Modesto police found the five bodies inside of the house after a concerned friend asked to check on them.
Howard says Amanda graduated from Gloucester High School in 1994 then moved on to Boston University where she pursued her dream of becoming a doctor.
“She just aced everything,” he says. “She was just a driven woman. She wanted to be a doctor. That's all she ever wanted to be.”
Martinez is also accused of killing Amanda’s 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley, last year. Howard says Martinez dropped the boy on the floor and he died of a head injury.
“It's all unbelievable,” Howard says. “Everybody can't believe it happened.”
He says the funerals are scheduled for next weekend in Modesto.
