By Dean Vaglia
Leader Staff Writer
The preliminary hearing in the criminal case against Jennifer and James Crumbley began on Tuesday, Feb. 8.
A preliminary hearing allows a judge, in this case Julie Nicholson, to determine whether a case has merit before moving it into official proceedings. If a case shows merit, it is bound over to circuit court for criminal proceedings.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Marc Keast are tasked with providing sufficient merit that the Crumbleys are possibly guilty of involuntary manslaughter due to their actions leading up to their son Ethan perpetrating the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School (OHS). Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman are defending Jennifer and James.
Five witnesses testified over the nearly eight-hour long court day, which ended after the defense raised concerns about the prosecution withholding evidence. The hearing will resume on Thursday, Feb. 24.

Witness One
Kira Pennock is the owner of a horse farm in Metamora. She took care of two horses for Jennifer, gave her lessons about riding horses and considered her a friend.
Pennock said she met Jennifer through “the horse world” and chatted with her over Facebook Messenger about horse-related matters. Jennifer visited the farm about three to four times a week for three hours after work. Though Ethan was not a regular topic of discussion, Jennifer referred to him as “weird” and said he “did not have any friends.”
After visiting OHS on Nov. 30, Jennifer messaged Pennock to change plans by bringing Ethan along and sent her a copy of his math worksheet. Pennock was “alarmed” by the “violence all over the page.”
Jennifer canceled her plans with Pennock around 2:30 p.m., and around 4:45 p.m. Jennifer asked Pennock to help sell the horses. They remained in contact for a while, though conversation between the two has grown scarce. Pennock is still trying to sell the horses.

Witness Two
Andrew Smith is the chief operating officer and Jennifer’s last supervisor at the real estate company she worked for.
Andrew described the company as “family friendly” and allows employees to work from home as needed. Children are allowed in the workplace and time off for family matters is regularly granted.
Andrew had occasional small talk with Jennifer, rarely hearing about Ethan compared to other subjects like horse ownership. Andrew followed Jennifer on social media and remembers “seeing a post about a shooting range” though could not recall if he saw it before Nov. 30.
On Nov. 30, Andrew received a text message from Jennifer around 10 a.m. stating she was going to OHS to meet with counselors and included the image of Ethan’s math worksheet. He spoke with her at the office around noon where she said Ethan had issues and said “she felt like she was failing him or a failure.”
After leaving work due to the shooting, Jennifer texted Andrew about a missing gun and her fear Ethan would kill himself. She spoke with Andrew and the company’s human resources director several times over the phone, asking for lawyer recommendations on their second post-shooting call. Jennifer texted Andrew around 3:15 p.m. asking to keep her job despite Ethan’s actions.

Witness Three
Kathy Poliquin is the HR director for the real estate company.
Poliquin had “minimal” interaction with Jennifer at work and did not interact with her off the clock outside of a few Facebook messages. Poliquin learned from Jennifer she liked horses, worked for the Pine Knob ski patrol and was told when James lost his job. Jennifer did not talk about Ethan much and never about getting him medical attention; she spoke “a few times” about horses being sick.
The company offers health insurance with mental healthcare coverage to employees and their families; Jennifer covered herself but not Ethan or James.
In additions to the post-shooting calls she took with Andrew, Poliquin spoke two more times with Jennifer about remaining employed. Poliquin first instructed Jennifer to focus on her family and then informed Jennifer she was put on administrative leave.
Poliquin testified he cleared out Jennifer’s desk and found three photos; a picture of James turned upside down in a drawer and two pictures on a bulletin board, one of a horse and one of Ethan.

Witness Four
Amanda Holland is Andrew’s administrative assistant at the real estate company.
Holland’s cubicle was close to Jennifer’s office and the two coworkers occasionally talked. Holland does not consider herself a friend of Jennifer’s but maintained friendly relations with her at work. Jennifer often shared details about her personal life and informed Holland of her marital issues; Holland said Jennifer would occasionally leave during the day to meet with someone at a nearby store.
Jennifer did not talk about Ethan often, but frequently brought up the horses and her trips to the horse farm. Holland’s impression of Ethan was of a “quiet” kid and that Jennifer expressed concern he would be lonely after being separated from a friend.
On Nov. 29, Jennifer mentioned she received a message from OHS but did not go to the school. Holland described Jennifer’s behavior as “normal [and] calm.”
On Nov. 30, Holland overheard Jennifer’s phone call with OHS personnel regarding Ethan’s worksheet. She then called James and left work. She returned later that day and spoke with Holland, showing her a copy of the worksheet and sarcastically stated she was failing as a parent.
Holland expressed to Jennifer she should take Ethan out of school for the day and “do something with him.”

Witness Five
Edward Wagrowski is a computer crimes detective with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO). He has been with the OCSO for 25 years and in computer crimes for seven. A certified expert on forensic computer investigations, Wagrowski handled searches into each of the Crumbleys’ phones and social media accounts, James’ DoorDash records, ACME Shooting Goods’ security footage and Oxford Community Schools’ servers as part of the investigation into the shooting.
The following is an approximation of events based on evidence Wagrowski verified at the hearing.
On the evening of March 9, 2021 Ethan texted Jennifer asking her to “get home now” due to believing someone was in their house. Jennifer responded the next morning, “Where is your dad?”
On the evening of March 17, Ethan texted Jennifer the house was haunted by a “demon” and that it was throwing stuff. He asked Jennifer to “at least text back;” Jennifer’s next message was on the afternoon of March 19 asking “Where is your dad?” Jennifer asked him to text her when he was done with something, which he apparently finished on the afternoon of March 20. Ethan claimed he cleaned until clothes “started flying off the shelf” and that such things only occurred when he was alone.
Jennifer was horseback riding on March 9, 17 and 20.
On the morning of March 19, Jennifer messaged James asking if he and Ethan were awake. James said Ethan woke up “looking like he had WAY too much to drink last night complaining about a headache,” to which Jennifer responded he was “really worked up” and that he needs to work and stop complaining. James says he “totally thought [Jennifer gave] him a Xanax last night.”
On the evening of Aug. 19, Ethan filmed a video of himself handling a pistol and texted it to a friend. Around 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 20, Ethan sent the friend a video of himself loading a pistol. After a few replies, Ethan wrote, “My dad left it out so I thought ‘Why not?’ lol” and “Now it’s time to shoot up the school.” The two stopped texting around Oct. 31. Other topics they discussed include kidnaping and torturing classmates and killing birds.
Over November 2021, Ethan visited an unnamed website 421 times to look up videos of school shootings – “particularly ones in Florida” – and other videos of people being killed. James and Jennifer followed an Instagram account Ethan used to post photos of him handling the gun they bought him as a gift; a gun lock and ATF youth firearms pamphlet can be seen in the gun’s case.
On Nov. 29, OHS counselor Pamela Fine left a voicemail message on Jennifer’s phone informing her Ethan was caught looking at bullets. Jennifer and Ethan spoke via text message after this wherein Jennifer expressed displeasure at him, asked if he showed “a pic of your new gun” and told him “you have to learn not to get caught.”
On Nov. 30, Jennifer is contacted about Ethan drawing concerning messages on a worksheet and sent pictures of it, which she messages James about. They then have a phone call before going to OHS for a 13-minute meeting with counselors. After the meeting, Jennifer messages Pennock while James takes on four DoorDash deliveries. James goes home to search for the pistol after hearing about the shooting and calls 911 after not finding it. At 1:22 p.m. Jennifer texts Ethan to not “do it.”