As Metro Homicide detective Brad Corcoran surveyed the Madison apartment where a man lay dead in an empty bathtub, he immediately began to question whether the victim had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, as had been reported to police that September afternoon. The suspect was a friend of the victim. Bryan Christopher Hester, who lives in the apartment at 600 Heritage Drive where Crabtree was found dead, turned himself in to police Wednesday and was in the Metro Jail last night.
Investigators aren t sure of the motive.
Shortly after 1 p.m. Sept. 17, police went to the Heritage Drive address after receiving a call that a teen had shot himself to death. Crabtree was found naked in the bathtub. He had been shot in the head. Hester told police that he saw his friend put a .22-caliber rifle in his mouth and pull the trigger. Crabtree, Hester told police, had been distraught after the two of them argued earlier.