Derrick Crawford’s mother told investigators relatives had been looking for him for about a week.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Relatives had been searching for 52-year-old Derrick Cornell Crawford for about a week before police found his body wrapped in black plastic inside a backyard recycling bin, authorities said.
The search ended May 17 at the East Side home where police say Derrick Crawford had been shot days earlier by his nephew, Aquiminee La Roy Crawford. The case now moves through Bexar County as a murder investigation shaped by one family member’s reported confession, another family member’s account of not knowing a killing had occurred and the discovery of a body outside the shared residence.
The missing-person element of the case emerged after police questioned a woman who lived at the Sterling Street home. She was identified in reports as Derrick Crawford’s mother. She told investigators she did not know her son had been killed and said the family had been trying to find him for roughly a week. Police records did not say what relatives believed had happened to him during that period. They also did not say whether family members checked the backyard before officers arrived. The statement placed the family’s search alongside a police account that the body had been outside the home for days, hidden from view in a recycling container.
Police said the man accused in the killing was also living in the home. Aquiminee Crawford, 26, later told detectives he had shot his uncle in the living room on May 9 after being angered by an insulting comment, according to records described by investigators. Police said Crawford told them Derrick Crawford called him a derogatory name and that he “blacked out.” He also said he was upset because his uncle regularly borrowed much of his money, authorities said. The records do not describe a long struggle before the shooting. They say Crawford told police he went to his bedroom, got a handgun and fired five times.
The body was discovered only after police received a 911 call on the night of May 17. Officers were dispatched to the 100 block of Sterling Street around 9:30 p.m. for a reported dead person. The caller was identified as Aquiminee Crawford. When officers arrived, police said Crawford told them his uncle was “shot up in the back.” Officers went behind the home and detected a foul odor coming from a recycling bin. One officer tipped over the bin, and the opening lid exposed a human hand wrapped in black plastic. Derrick Crawford was found inside with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The way the body was found became a central part of the criminal case. Police said Aquiminee Crawford admitted wrapping his uncle’s body in black trash bags and placing it in the backyard bin after the shooting. That account was paired with what detectives later documented inside the house. Investigators found blood spatter on the walls and ceiling and a sofa cushion soaked with apparent blood, according to the arrest affidavit descriptions. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Derrick Crawford died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the death a homicide. Police have not released a public estimate of the exact time of death beyond saying the shooting happened on or around May 9.
Investigators also said Crawford identified where key pieces of evidence could be found. He told detectives the handgun, spent shell casings and Derrick Crawford’s cellphone were in his bedroom, police said. After a judge approved a search warrant, investigators recovered a firearm, a clear plastic bag containing spent shell casings and the phone, according to records. Those items may become important as prosecutors try to connect the reported confession to physical evidence. Police have not publicly said whether forensic testing was completed on the gun, the shell casings, the cellphone or the materials used to wrap the body.
The gap between the alleged shooting and the 911 call is one of the starkest parts of the record released so far. Derrick Crawford’s family was looking for him while police say his body was concealed at the same property. Authorities have not said whether Aquiminee Crawford gave relatives any explanation for his uncle’s absence. They also have not said whether he continued living in the home after the shooting, though police records say he lived there with his uncle. A neighbor later told a local station off camera that an odor near the property had caused concern, but police records have not tied that observation to the call that brought officers to the house.
Crawford was arrested after police interviewed him at San Antonio Public Safety Headquarters. Jail and court records cited in local reports said he was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, and a judge set bond at $250,000. He was first booked on an abuse of a corpse allegation before murder charges were added, according to reports. Law enforcement accounts have described the charge as murder, while other reports said he stood accused of two murder counts in connection with Derrick Crawford’s death. The final wording and number of charges will be set by prosecutors and court filings.
The case leaves investigators with a family scene that turned into a crime scene. Police have named a suspect, a victim, a location, a reported motive and a set of recovered items. They have not released a public statement from Derrick Crawford’s relatives, and the available records do not describe the family’s search in detail. For now, the public account rests on the mother’s statement that she was unaware of the killing, the officers’ discovery in the backyard and the suspect’s reported words to detectives.
Aquiminee Crawford remained held on $250,000 bond as the case continued in Bexar County. Court filings, hearings and any grand jury action are expected to provide the next public details about the charges and evidence.
Author note: Last updated June 19, 2026.