Pennsylvania — In Pennsylvania, a 24-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison after kidnapping, robbing, and killing an Uber driver and mother of four.
On Monday, Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski sentenced Calvin Crew to life in prison without parole for the “brutal, senseless execution” of Christina Spicuzza, according to records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Following a four-day trial, a panel of 12 jurors convicted Crew of first-degree murder in the cold-blooded shooting on February 10.
He was also found guilty of kidnapping, robbery, carrying a firearm without a license, causing serious bodily injury, stealing a motor vehicle, and tampering with evidence.
The verdict was issued exactly three years after the fatal shooting. A first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to Law&Crime, Spicuzza’s family reported her missing after she went to work as an Uber driver on February 10, 2022. But two days later, authorities discovered her car in Pitcairn, a borough east of Pittsburgh.
Her body was later discovered by a delivery driver in a wooded area in nearby Monroeville. She had received a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
According to authorities, on the night of February 10, 2022, Crew requested that his then-girlfriend get him an Uber using her account. Spicuzza picked up Crew at approximately 9:11 p.m. that evening and never returned home.
Dashcam footage from inside Spicuzza’s vehicle showed Crew, wearing a full black ski mask, sitting in the backseat behind Spicuzza before sliding to the center of the backseat and placing a gun to the victim’s head.
Spicuzza can be seen removing her right hand from the steering wheel and feeling the gun barrel pressed against her before pleading with Crew.
“Come on, man. I have a family. “What are you doing?” She asks.
“I have a family, too. “Now drive,” Crew replies.
Crew continues to demand that Spicuzza “drive” while she begs him to stop, saying, “I’ve got four kids.”
“Do what I say, and everything will be fine,” Crew tells her at one point, before reaching up and grabbing the camera from the dashboard.
Police found the dashcam five days after the victim’s body was discovered.
Authorities said Crew’s girlfriend was having trouble sending him money via an app just before the murder. The next day, Crew texted her, “I am not going to jail if we get caught,” authorities said.
According to prosecutors, Crew’s conviction was based on a “trail of overwhelming digital and video evidence”.
“The evidence admitted at trial included 422 individual exhibits submitted to the jury along with testimony from Crew’s girlfriend, who had purchased the Uber ride for him and dashcam video from inside Spicuzza’s car depicting Crew holding a gun to the back of Spicuzza’s head telling her to ‘keep driving,'” the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release following the guilty verdict.
“Further evidence included Crew’s fingerprint, cell phone GPS records, Uber records, the bullet casing and license plate readers used to track the movements of the car.”
