BATAVIA, Ohio -- A 24-year-old father charged with aggravated murder in his 4-month-old daughter's death in July pleaded no contest Friday and was found guilty in Clermont County.
Charles D. Crawford, of Cincinnati, admitted he dropped the girl in the Little Miami River. Judge Richard Ferenc sentenced Crawford to life imprisonment without parole.
On July 31, Crawford told officers from the Loveland Police Department that his daughter was abducted from the backseat of his car in the parking lot outside the Dollar General on Loveland-Madeira Road. Crawford called 911 reporting the abduction at approximately 9 p.m. Sunday evening, setting off a search that involved multiple agencies and ultimately led investigators to the Little Miami River just off of Glendale-Milford Road. During the course of the investigation law enforcement officers were able to determine that the abduction story was fabricated by Crawford.
Crawford ultimately led officers directly to where his daughter’s body was located along the Little Miami River near the Kelley Nature Reserve. Crawford then confessed to putting his daughter in the river while she was still strapped in her car seat, purposely causing her death by drowning.
