A Georgia mother is demanding answers after she says her son mysteriously fell five stories to his death from a hotel window in Germany while working as a contractor for the U.S. government.
Desmond Crutchfield, 31, had been working as a contractor for the U.S. Army since May installing fiber optics technology at a military base in Germany. Carolyn Gilreath, his mother, says he texted her on Mother’s Day to let her know he landed safely. He also posted a video showing off his Munich hotel room on Facebook on May 15, which was his last post.
“He said that he’d be returning estimated time of about five to six weeks stay,” said Gilreath to WSBTV.
She said days went by and she hadn’t heard from her son. This was unusual for him, but she continued to call and send text messages. Gilreath said it was still no answer or response from Crutchfield.
“It was very unusual for me to not get a response,” she explained to WSBTV.
On May 24, 11 days after he left the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, she got a knock on the door from two officers. They notified her of Crutchfield’s death.
“Two officers came with a notification, a piece of paper, indicating that they had some news for me and I needed to contact the United States Consulate,” Gilreath said to WSBTV.
The officers told her that authorities in Germany said he accidentally fell five stories out of his hotel room window.
“By the time he got here from Germany, he was already severely decomposed to the point that I had to briefly view his body to say that it was him,” she described to WSBTV.
She said his body had not been embalmed and he was unrecognizable. The only way she recognized him was by a turtle necklace that he always wore.
“They just decided to send him on a 17-hour flight to Atlanta where he decomposed even more,” she said to WSBTV. “His head had frontal lobe injury trauma, the left side jaw was three to four inches swollen.”
Gilreath attempted to get a report from German officials, but was told “it was for Germany investigations officials only.”
The U.S. Department of State said it is conducting an investigation into Crutchfield’s death. A spokesperson released a statement on Wednesday that read in part:
“When a U.S. citizen dies abroad, the department provides all appropriate consular assistance to the family and friends. Depending on the situation, this can include attempting to locate and inform next of kin of the death, providing information on local burial or the return of the remains to the United States…Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we have no further comment.”
Gilreath has set up a GoFundMe to help with the funeral costs. Victoria Weatherly, Crutchfield’s girlfriend, shared photos and videos of the couple on her Facebook page with the caption, “I’m broken.” She also shared a video of herself trying on wedding dresses.
“You don’t treat a human being that way and at the end of the day, he is my baby and I’ll never see him again,” Gilreath said to WSBTV. “I just pray that God will reveal to me what really caused his death.”
