Jennifer Crumbley testifies that son thought house was haunted, says she wasn't worried about demon texts

Jennifer Crumbley takes the stand, says she didn't believe her son had mental issues

Crumbley testified that her son never asked her for a therapist or help for his mental health, despite text messages from the shooter to his friend saying he wanted help for his mental crisis.

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - Text messages from Jennifer Crumbley's son about demons didn't alarm her then and still do not lead her to believe he was struggling with his mental health, according to her testimony.

After Jennifer's son killed four students at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, text messages from earlier that year became evidence as prosecutors try to prove that she knew about her son's mental state. On Thursday, Jennifer took the stand at her trial and addressed these messages.

Jennifer's attorney first questioned her about messages the shooter sent to her on March 17, 2021, while she was away from home riding her horse. Within a half-hour period that evening, he texted his mother telling her the house was haunted.

In those messages, he said he took a photo of a demon and that it was throwing bowls. Jennifer did not reply.

When asked if she thought these messages were indicative of a mental health issue, she said no; she thought he was just messing with her.

Jennifer testified that her son had thought the family's home was haunted since 2015 because it was built in the 1920s.

Jennifer Crumbley didn't think son needed mental help

Jennifer Crumbley, taking the stand at her criminal trial Thursday, said she and her son were "pretty close" and she didn't see signs of him needing mental health treatment.

"It was around that time when he would mess with us things going on in the house. Silverware was flying across the room doors, slamming," she said. "He actually took a video of the door and showed me when I got home. And you can clearly see where he's standing back with this phone looking at the door that's open. You can see him lock up the door, and you can kind of see him slam it and, then try to say, ‘See, our house is haunted.’"

She said that her son received an Oujia board for Christmas in 2020 and would use that board in the basement.

She also testified that she would go along with the ghost theory and one time shut the circuit breaker while he was using the Oujia board. Jennifer also said that her son and his father, James Crumbley, had names for the ghost.

She referred to the belief that there was a ghost in the house as "a phase" for her son.

"It was just him messing around," Jennifer said, adding that this only happened when he was home alone.

The messages were not the first time the shooter had texted his mother about weird occurrences in the home. Jennifer's attorney also questioned her about text messages he sent her a few days earlier, on March 9, 2021.

In these messages, he told his mother that someone was in the house slamming doors and flushing the toilet. She was again away at the barn and said she was driving when the messages were sent.

Jennifer Crumbley trial: Jennifer describes 'normal' family

Jennifer Crumbley took the stand at her criminal trial Thursday and described the "normal" activities she, her husband James and the school shooter did together as a family.

"He was just messing with us," she said, a statement she repeated several times while testifying about messages from her son.

Other messages Jennifer testified about included her son texting her about clothes flying off a shelf on March 20, 2021. Jennifer testified that she didn't recall the messages until they were presented during case discovery. She noted that she didn't think anything of them when she saw the messages then, and does not think anything of them now.

She also testified about texts her son sent to a friend. In those messages sent in April 2021, he told a friend that he was hearing voices.

"I hear people talking to me and someone in the distance," he wrote.

In that exchange with his friend, the shooter wrote that he had asked his father to take him to a doctor, but he gave him pills and told him "to suck it up." Jennifer testified that she did not recall him asking to be taken to a doctor.

He also texted his friend saying that he was "having bad insomnia and paranoia," and considered calling 911, but it would upset his parents.

"My mom laughed when I told her," he texted his friend.

Jennifer denied this and continued to maintain that there was no indication that her son was having mental issues.

What is Jennifer Crumbley charged with?

Jennifer Crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one count for each student killed by her son at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021.

Her husband, James Crumbley, is also facing the same charges and is expected to go to trial after Jennifer's trial is complete.

What did Jennifer Crumbley do?

The prosecution argues that Jennifer and James ignored their son's mental health and even bought him a gun before the Oxford High School shooting.

Jennifer's attorney maintains that her client knew nothing about guns and was not involved in purchasing the weapon. Receipts provided in court show that James bought the gun, and the shooter admitted during his plea hearing that he gave James money to buy the firearm. Video from a gun range showed Jennifer shooting a gun with her son, but her lawyer claims she didn't know what she was doing.

Journal entries detailing the shooter's mental state have been presented in court, but Jennifer's defense argues that there is no evidence Jennifer knew about this writing.

Witnesses called by the prosecution during the trial have also described a meeting between the Crumbley parents and school officials the morning of the shooting. The parents were called after violent drawings were discovered on their son's schoolwork.

During this meeting, a school counselor told the parents to get their son mental health help as soon as possible and recommended that they take him home from school. However, the parents chose not to take him home.