PRESS RELEASE

For More Information, Call:

Claude Harris, Major

(863)773-0304 ext. 217

NEWS RELEASE

Hardee County Man Charged

With the Murder of his Missing Ex-Girlfriend

For Immediate Release

July 22, 2004

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, DeSoto County Sheriff's Office, and the Hardee County Sheriff's Office announces the arrest of Thomas Jessie Crews, Jr., 39, of Zolfo Springs, Fla. Crews is charged with second-degree murder. A Hardee County Grand Jury indicted Crews on July 21 for the murder of 20-year-old Sondra Denise Barrington. FDLE special agents, Hardee County Sheriff's Office and DeSoto County Sheriff's Office detectives arrested Crews at approximately 6:45 p.m. last night. He was arrested without incident during a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 17 in Wauchula, Florida.

On Oct. 11, 2002, the parents of Sondra Barrington notified the Hardee County Sheriff's Office that their daughter was missing. Barrington was scheduled to attend a court hearing that day in Hardee County regarding a domestic violence dispute between her and Crews. Barrington never showed up. Crews and Barrington had a previous relationship that has been described as tumultuous. They lived together on and off in Zolfo Springs and shared custody of their 3-year-old son, both of which fueled problems causing the police to be called more than a dozen times related to domestic violence. Court injunctions ordered Barrington and Crews to not have contact with one another. Both violated court injunctions. Crews was placed on county probation, which was violated several times resulting in Crews' incarceration. On the day Barrington was reported missing, Crews was scheduled to have another violation of probation hearing in which Barrington was expected to testify against Crews. Crews appeared at the court hearing and, in spite of Barrington's absence, was still convicted of violating his probation and sentenced to an additional week in jail.

The Hardee County Sheriff's Office began the investigation into Barrington's disappearance. On Oct. 10, 2002, Barrington left her place of employment at the DeSoto Memorial Hospital in Arcadia at approximately 6 p.m. She was last seen at approximately 6:30 p.m. standing outside her silver Kia, pulled off of U.S. Highway 17, just south of the Hardee County line, in a road construction site.

The following day, the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office reported finding Barrington's car abandoned along Highway 17 in DeSoto County with her purse and other belonging still inside. The Hardee County Sheriff's Office and the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sebring field office for assistance. Through interviews and recovered evidence, special agents believe Crews killed Barrington on Oct. 10, 2002, and dumped her body somewhere in Hardee County. For more than 18 months, investigators diligently gathered information and evidence and obtained testimony developing the probable cause necessary to obtain an indictment of murder for Crews by the 10th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office in Hardee County.

"This has been a very intensive investigation involving numerous agencies coordinating their efforts and working together" Hardee County Sheriff J. Loran Cogburn stated.

The investigation is on going and special agents are asking anyone who might have information regarding this case to contact FDLE at 1-800-226-2028, DeSoto County Sheriff's Office at (863) 993-4700 or the Hardee County Sheriff's Office at (863)773-0304

Crews was booked into the Hardee County Jail under no bond. He remains in Jail after his first appearance hearing under no bond.