On July 24, 2013, a grandmother, Shanta Faye Crawford, and his 18-month old son, Aiyden Lewis was found dead in a home on Williams Road near Huntsville. Crawford was beaten to death with a roofing hammer. The baby, Aiyden Benjamin Lewis, was found hanging from a doorknob, He was also deceased. It was determined he died of asphyxiation. For 48 hours detectives with Walker County, Montgomery County and the Texas Rangers combed the property for evidence.On October 9, 2013, Howard Wayne Lewis was summoned to the Walker County Grand Jury. After he was finished he was taken into custody by the Walker County Sheriff’s Office on a Capital Murder charge.According to Sheriff McRae, DNA of Lewis was found on the object used to kill his former mother-in-law.Lewis no prior criminal history and was living with his fiance in the Dallas area. Like his former mother-in-law, he too worked as a guard for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Dallas until recently.On October 29, 2018, the Walker County Jury found Lewis guilty of Capital Murder. Thursday afternoon after 4 hours of deliberation the jury handed down the sentence of death.A near five-hour gap on Lewis’ cell phone location records at the time of the deaths, testimony from witness Kristian Winfrey and partial DNA evidence on the rope linked Lewis to the crime. Winfrey testified that he saw a vehicle, which Lewis was known to have borrowed from one of his girlfriends, at the Crawford home on the day of the double-homicide. DNA evidence on the rope that hung Aiyden also provided a near-conclusive match to Lewis.Lewis who has been in the Walker County Jail for 5-years was transferred to TDC Thursday after the trial.
SCENE VIDEO
VIDEO OF ARREST
