The remains of Jerry Crew, 38, of Cedar Hill were found in Dittmer more than a year after he was reported missing, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported today, Nov. 15.
A hunter found a human skull and bones on Nov. 11 while hunting on private property in the 8500 block of Rutledge Road. On Nov. 12, the Sheriff’s Office was notified that they were Crew’s remains, spokesman Grant Bissell said.
Bissell said because of the Veterans Day holiday and because Sheriff Dave Marshak was out of town for a training conference, the department was unable to report the discovery until today.
Evidence at the scene where the remains were found indicates Crew did not die of natural causes, and foul play is suspected, Bissell said.
However, he said it is not known how long the remains were in the field or what caused Crew’s death.
A search for Crew, who had been reported missing on April 29, 2021, led to a shootout in May 2021 at a Cedar Hill home that left one man dead, a deputy wounded and the discovery of a dead woman.
Prior to the shootout, deputies, detectives and SWAT members went to a home in the 8500 block of Lake Drive south of Cedar Hill to execute a search warrant as part of an investigation into the disappearance of Crew, who had last been seen at that home on April 21, 2021.
The law enforcement officers found Anthony Legens, 36, of Cedar Hill at the home, and he reportedly started shooting at the officers. Legens ended up being shot and killed, and Deputy Zach Faulkner, a SWAT member, was shot and wounded.
Faulkner, who had been with the Sheriff’s Office for six years, returned to duty on Sept. 20, 2021.
Tanya Gould, 31, of Cedar Hill was the woman found dead in the home, and she died from a gunshot wound. Gould was not killed during the shootout, though, and appeared to have been dead for some time before investigators found her body, the Sheriff’s Office reported in June 2021.
“Based on the decomposition of Tanya, we believe she was deceased for approximately one week,” Marshak said after the incident.
Legens was a “target” in the missing person case involving Crew, Marshak said in 2021.
Before the shootout, law enforcement officials had previous encounters with Legens, who had pleaded guilty to a variety of offenses, including assault, felonious restraint, burglary, stealing, assaulting law enforcement officers, domestic assault, driving while intoxicated, possession of an illegal weapon and felony and misdemeanor drug charges, court records show.
Bissell said the investigation into Crew’s disappearance and death is ongoing, and he asks anyone with information to call the Detective Bureau at 636-797-5515.