Double Murder-Suicide Claims Lives of Veteran Family

Apple Valley Couple, Child Found in Apparent Murder-Suicide were Dead for Weeks
KSTP.com
By: Ellen Galles
Created: 01/19/2015

David Crowley, his wife Komel Crowley, and their 5-year-old daughter were found dead inside their Apple Valley home over the weekend. Apple Valley police say the case appears to be a murder-suicide.

David Crowley was a veteran of the U.S. Army, he served five years and left in 2009 to become a filmmaker. Komel Crowley was a registered dietician who ran her own business. One friend says they doted on their five-year-old daughter.

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Before death of family, Apple Valley filmmaker voiced struggles over project
Twin Cities.com
By Nick Ferraro
POSTED: 01/20/2015

A photo from David Crowley's Instagram account shows Crowley with his wife, Komel.

In the days leading up to his death, David Crowley still had hope that his independent film would pan out.

But Crowley, an Apple Valley filmmaker and screenwriter, also showed concern over the project -- "Gray State," a movie that the Army veteran scripted but had yet to film.

In an email to a prospective producer, Crowley wrote that the project was "now almost completely abandoned" by its original backers and that he was "exhausted from carrying and managing this burden for so many years."

"Maybe the work load got too crazy; I don't know the personal reasons, but at the end of it all here I am at the end of the tunnel all alone," he wrote to a Los Angeles first assistant director in an email obtained by the Pioneer Press. "The fans continue to gather, but they're frustrated and despondent. No one believes anymore."

Crowley reached out to Jason Allen in the Dec. 17 email, asking if he wanted to be an executive producer and help out with the logistics of the film project, which he started about four years ago and revolves around a plot of government conspiracy.

"Jason, you know exactly what to do with this," Crowley wrote.

Allen didn't get the opportunity to take Crowley up on his offer.

On Saturday, Apple Valley police found Crowley, 29; his wife, Komel, a 28-year-old dietitian; and their 5-year-old daughter, Rani, dead of gunshot wounds in what investigators are saying was a murder-suicide at the family's home in the 1000 block of Ramsdell Drive.
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