Taffi Crawford, you are on my mind

Taffi T. Crawford

I haven't been getting much else done while I read between all the lines of your wrongful death.

..."How can someone keep jumping and abusing women? Just because he's a firefighter, he gonna do that? I don't understand"...

NEW DETAILS ABOUT MEDICAL CENTER SHOOTING EMERGE
myfoxmemphis.com
Monday, 15 Feb 2010
[Excerpts] New details are emerging about Memphis firefighter Frank Graham's relationship with his ex-fiance, Taffi Crawford. Graham is accused of shooting and killing Crawford outside Delta Medical Center. Frank Graham made his first court appearance Monday. A judge denied bond. Friends say 35-year old Taffi Crawford was fun, energetic and religious. Crawford's best friend, Regina Curtis says, "everytime you saw her she had something biblical to say to you"... Crawford's ex-fiancé and Memphis Firefighter, 34-year old Frank Graham III, is charged with her murder. Court documents show Graham shot Crawford 3 times... "I knew she was trying to get away from him, didn't want to have anything to do with him. He just wouldn't accept no"... Graham's ex-wife accused him of being abusive too. She said she "feared for her safety"... The papers say domestic assault charges were pending in Shelby County but there is no record of those charges now. And, as we reported Friday, Graham's ex-wife and former father-in-law tried to get restraining orders against Graham 3 times. All were dismissed or denied... "How can someone keep jumping and abusing women? Just because he's a firefighter, he gonna do that? I don't understand." Curtis says Crawford broke off an engagement with Graham... In turn, he allegedly broke her finger trying to get the ring off. She says, in the days before her death, Crawford stopped taking Graham's calls and he had accused her of dating another firefighter... Curtis says Graham gave Crawford a final warning, "He said, ‘just let me catch you in Memphis, I'm not gonna do anything in Southaven but just let me catch you in Memphis.’"... [Full article here]

The love of Taffi's life

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WEB PAGE:

Taffi T. Crawford Domestic Violence Foundation

ON FACEBOOK:

Taffi T. Crawford Domestic Violence Foundation

The Taffi T. Crawford Domestic Violence Foundation (TTCDVF) was organized by friends, family, and colleagues of late Taffi T. Crawford.  TTCDVF is a catalyst for social change – empowering people to take action at the local, state and national level to ensure safety, justice, accountability and healing for people whose lives are affected by violent relationships...

Blessings to all of Taffi's people who are using her tragic death as a reason and opportunity to help others.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN NAMED FOR VICTIM
Memphis Commercial Appeal
By Beth Warren
[Excerpts] Saturday, February 12, 2011 Nurse Taffi Crawford was finished with her boyfriend. The Memphis firefighter had a mean temper, breaking her home windows during one fight, breaking her finger during another, her friends said. After stalking her for weeks, Frank Graham, 34, followed her to her job at the Delta Medical Center on Getwell Road and fired three bullets into her, police said. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of her death. Her best friend, Evette Porter, is joining with nurses, doctors and victims' advocates to launch an educational campaign to reach other battered women before it's too late... Porter now heads the Taffi T. Crawford Domestic Violence Foundation. "I just want to help somebody else," she said... Also, there will be monthly 2K walks in honor of Taffi Crawford on the first Saturday of every month, rotating among area malls... http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/feb/12/campaign-puts-face-on-violence/?print=1

FORMER FIREMAN TRIED FOR EX-GIRLFRIEND'S MURDER
WMC-TV
Posted: Jan 10, 2012
[Excerpts] Frank Graham pleaded not guilty to the first-degree, premeditated, murder of his former fiance in a case that has become a symbol of the fight against domestic violence in the Mid-South. "It's going to be hard for all of us to get through it," said Ruby Tinnon, Taffi Crawford's aunt... Memphis firefighter Frank Graham allegedly gunned down her niece, nurse Taffi Crawford, in the Delta Medical Center parking lot... "It's like reliving this every single day," said Tinnon. "This is just like the first day we lost her." The prosecution says Graham planned Crawford's death after she left him. The defense says Graham was jealous when he heard Crawford was out to lunch with a fellow firefighter, but that he did not set out to kill her... http://www.wmctv.com/story/16490285/former-fireman-tried-for-murdering-ex-girlfriend

PASTOR SAYS DEFENDANT IN MEMPHIS TRIAL THREATENED VICTIM DURING CHURCH SERVICES
Memphis Commercial Appeal
By Lawrence Buser
Posted January 11, 2012
[Excerpts] A Memphis nurse who was shot to death on a hospital parking lot in 2010 told her pastor two months earlier that her ex-boyfriend had threatened to kill her, a jury was told Wednesday. The ex-boyfriend, Frank Graham, made the threat to Taffi Crawford during a Sunday service at the New Fellowship Christian Church in Olive Branch where both were members, pastor Rev. Dwight Saulsberry recounted. "She told me Frank (Graham) had threatened her that day at church," said Saulsberry, who also is the chaplain for the Olive Branch Police Department. "She was pretty hysterical. She told me Frank told her he was going to 'blow her (expletive) head off.' She said she was terrified of him"... Graham, 36, a former Memphis firefighter, told police he was only trying to scare her... Crawford, 35, whose son by an earlier marriage was 7 at the time, died the next day... The couple had dated for several years and were engaged at one point, but Crawford told friends she had broken off the engagement in late 2009 and that she wanted to get away from Graham... "She was wanting to get out of the relationship," the pastor told jurors, adding that he encouraged her to file a police report. "She was afraid of what he would do if she went to police"... The trial before Judge Chris Craft resumes today... http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jan/11/pastor-says-defendant-memphis-trial-threatened-vic/

FORMER MEMPHIS FIREFIGHTER CONVICTED OF 1ST-DEGREE MURDER
Memphis Commercial Appeal
By Jody Callahan
Posted January 16, 2012
[Excerpts] Former Memphis firefighter Frank Graham told police he accidentally shot his ex-girlfriend, who was hit three times. A Criminal Court jury, however, found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 2010 death of nurse Taffi Crawford, who was killed in the parking lot of the Delta Medical Center as she arrived for work. The jury returned the verdict against Graham, 36, after deliberating for just an hour Monday. He was automatically sentenced to life in prison. "The family has been waiting almost two years for this," said state prosecutor Missy Branham, who was joined on the case by Jennifer Nichols. "They are very pleased with it"... Although she had broken off an engagement with Graham, he had been stalking her, friends and family said, and she had obtained an order of protection... Olive Branch preacher Dwight Saulsberry testified in the trial that Crawford told him Graham threatened to kill her two months before she was shot. Fellow firefighter Keon Pickford said Graham also began threatening him after Pickford became friends with Crawford... http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jan/16/former-memphis-firefighter-convicted-1st-degree-mu/

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