FREDERICK, Md. A Frederick County grand jury on Friday, September 18, 2026, indicted Tavon Jamar Willis, 46, of Frederick, in connection with the July 2, 2003, killing of Joshua Wayne Crawford. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said Willis was taken into custody the same day and transported to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center. Willis faces 14 counts.

The charges listed by the Sheriff’s Office are first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, first degree burglary with intent to commit theft, conspiracy to commit first degree burglary with intent to commit theft, first degree burglary with intent to commit a crime of violence, conspiracy to commit first degree burglary with intent to commit a crime of violence, third degree burglary, conspiracy to commit third degree burglary, false imprisonment, and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.

The charges are allegations. Willis has not been convicted and is presumed innocent unless a court finds him guilty. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Crawford was found dead in his Exeter Court apartment in Frederick County on July 2, 2003. That date was his 21st birthday.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as asphyxia and sharp and blunt force injuries. Investigators and contemporaneous official statements described the scene as violent and unusual. A July 2003 statement from the Sheriff’s Office said Crawford had been bound with duct tape. Later official and news accounts consistent with that finding reported that he had been beaten and stabbed and that duct tape was wrapped around portions of his body, including his lower legs and face.

Family members and earlier investigative summaries also said tape bound his wrists and ankles and covered his nose and mouth. Friends found him after he failed to appear for work. They knocked at the door, received no answer, entered through a window, and called emergency services. Authorities said personal items were missing from the apartment, which they described as in disarray.

The case remained open for 23 years. Sheriff Charles Jenkins said it was the agency’s only cold case homicide. Investigators pursued numerous leads and tips over that period and questioned people at various points, but no one was charged. A 2010 state grant allowed DNA evidence from the scene to be reanalyzed.

Those results did not produce an arrest. Officials previously described the crime as victim specific and said they had exhausted many leads without identifying a suspect who could be charged. Authorities now say a renewed review produced significant new evidence. Jenkins said a younger investigator reexamined material gathered over the years, sent evidence out for examination, and obtained information that investigators had not previously developed.

He also credited new attention to the file, repeated review of collected evidence, and advancements in forensic technology with helping investigators identify Willis as a suspect. Officials have not publicly described the new evidence in detail, citing the continuing investigation. Jenkins said Willis’s name had not appeared in court documents, witness statements, or investigative interviews during the 23 year inquiry. Officials said his name appeared once, on a funeral visitation log for Crawford.

“Never once in the 23 years has his name come up until this piece of evidence and this information came to us,” Jenkins said. The presence of multiple conspiracy counts indicates investigators believe more than one person may have been involved. The official announcement referred to suspect or suspects. Jenkins said more arrests are expected.

As of Friday evening, investigators had not yet questioned Willis, according to local reporting of the sheriff’s comments. The Sheriff’s Office emphasized that the criminal investigation remains active and that detectives continue to seek information. Crawford was born July 2, 1982, in Frederick. He was the middle son of Donald E.

Crawford and Terry Lynn Scalera Horman. He worked as a painter and, according to his family, enjoyed art, fishing, and time with friends. His mother has spent more than two decades pressing for answers. After Friday’s announcement she described mixed emotions after so many years of uncertainty about whether the case would ever move forward.

Jenkins said the arrest cannot erase the loss suffered by Crawford’s family and friends. He said the office hopes the development may offer a measure of closure after more than two decades. What happens next is the ordinary course of a Maryland indictment case. Willis is in custody at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center.

Because a grand jury has already returned an indictment, the case is expected to proceed in circuit court, beginning with an appearance on the charges and later pretrial proceedings. Prosecutors must prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. Defense counsel may challenge the evidence, including any forensic testing that officials have not yet described in public. Additional defendants, if identified and charged, would be handled as separate or related cases.

No trial date has been announced. The Sheriff’s Office continues to ask the public for information related to the 2003 killing or to Willis. Officials have not said whether Willis has entered a plea. Until a verdict or other final court action, the law treats the accusations as unproven.