Dashcam video shows murder suspect holding gun to Uber driver’s head, PA officials say
Prosecutors played newly-released dashcam footage in court this week in the case of a slain Pennsylvania Uber driver and mother of four.
The footage shows the suspect in the back seat grabbing the driver’s ponytail, holding a gun to the base of her neck and telling her to drive.
The suspect, Calvin Crew, 22, is charged with murdering Christi Spicuzza, 38, in February and leaving her body in a wooded area near Monroeville. He also faces charges of inflicting serious bodily injury during a robbery, robbery of a motor vehicle, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with evidence and kidnapping for ransom, according to Allegheny County court records.
Crew appeared before a judge for the first time during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, March 30, according to court records.
Prosecutors played the video to a courtroom full of those who knew both Spicuzza and Crew, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
In the video, Spicuzza asks her passenger, alleged to be Crew wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a black ski mask, where he wants to be dropped off before he pulls out a gun and puts it against the back of her neck on Feb. 10.
Spicuzza reaches around to feel the gun and says, “Come on man, I’ve got a family. What are you doing?”
The passenger can be heard saying, “I’ve got a family too. Now drive.”
Spicuzza then says, “What are you doing? Please stop. Why are you doing this?” as the passenger insists that she keep driving.
“Please, I’m begging you, I have four kids. What are you doing?” she says in the video.
In the final seconds of the video, the passenger says, “do what I say and everything will be all right,” before reaching up to the dashboard and removing Spicuzza’s cellphone and dashboard camera. Then the video cuts out.
Warning: The video below may be disturbing for some viewers.
Detectives say Crew made Spicuzza drive for an hour while going through her banking apps before killing her, according to ABC6.
Spicuzza was reported missing on Feb. 11 after she failed to return home from working as an Uber driver the night before, Allegheny County police said. Her vehicle was found Feb. 12 in the neighboring town of Pitcairn.
Spicuzza’s dashcam video and testimony from Crew’s girlfriend led officers to identify him as the suspect, according to media reports. Police arrested him on Feb. 17.
Although the dashcam had been removed from the car, police said they later found it near a fence in Penn Hills close to where Crew requested to be dropped off,, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
Crew is scheduled to appear in court for a formal arraignment on April 22, according to court records. He remains jailed without bond.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Dashcam video shows murder suspect holding gun to Uber driver’s head, PA officials say."