Father Alex Crow has 'REFUSED to let girl, 18,' come home after heartthrob Alabama priest 'groomed her then fled to Rome'
A heartthrob Alabama priest who has ran away to Rome with an 18-year-old girl he allegedly groomed is accused of taking her phone away and blocking attempts to get her home.
Alex Crow, 30, was defrocked in July after he fled to Italy with the girl, who was 17 when the alleged grooming began after she met Crow at a school where he also worked.
A lawyer for her family has now claimed that relatives traveled to Rome and tracked down the girl - but that Crow, who once boasted of being exorcised, refused to cooperate with them and instead called police. The lawyer, Christine Hernandez, said that he has 'limited' the girl's communication to the outside world.
She also said other parents reported disturbing instances involving Crow and their children during school and church trips, including claims he paid some students to attend his confessions, where they'd share details of their sins with him. The claims come a week after the release of letters written by Crow to the teen he has left with for Rome. He told the girl they were married and added: 'I’ve never felt any of the feelings I have for you for anyone ever in my entire life.'
In another letter to an unidentified associate, he claimed Jesus told him to travel with the girl to Italy.
Hernandez told NBC15: 'There were prior reports from parents that said, there's some inappropriate behavior going on.
'When you don't stay with the group and you lag behind with one particular student, and everyone knows that you're staying behind at the cabin with this one particular student. Why? And when it's reported, why was nothing done?'
She said that around two dozen parents had shared worrying accounts of Crow's behavior. On one 2022 trip to Tennessee, other students reported that he spent a suspicious amount of time alone with one female student.
Hernandez said Crow is also accused of giving students alcohol.
Leaders in the Archdiocese of Mobile are facing questions about whether they could have acted to stop Crow from grooming the girl and fleeing with her.
Police recently released letters - which include a love note sent to the 18-year-old girl in question - that make it clear he has no intention of returning home to Alabama.
One is addressed to an unidentified man - who Crow wrote had been 'entrusted with [the] letter' by the woman - while the other is to the woman herself.
The former Father - who has said he was exorcised as a kid - explains in the first letter why he 'abandoned' his duties as a priest at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, In the second, he gushes to the girl - who he allegedly met while she was still a student - about being in love, while claiming they are 'married.'
The letters were written before the pair departed. The first letter, which is undated, shows the then-priest's belief that Jesus contacted him and told him to leave town with the girl - whom he allegedly met when she was a student - in July.
Addressed to an unidentified man named Joshua, it reads: 'Dear Joshua... [Name redacted] said that you were the one who should be entrusted with this letter.
'She said She loves you very much and that you are trustworthy. I agree with Her. What I am going to write is what She has told me to write. It will be hard for you to understand what I am doing, but do not worry. It will all make sense one day.'
Crow, who was a musician before he took his post at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, continued: 'Jesus has told me that He wants me to leave, therefore I am not going to return from this trip. I do this with a heavy heart.
'It is hard to suddenly leave everything behind, but this is what He is demanding and I cannot deny Him.'
He went on to insist that he was not abandoning his priesthood by going on the lam with the girl, whose family three weeks ago came forward to claim they located the couple in Italy, and the young woman left with Crow of her own accord.
'Let me be very clear: I am not leaving the priesthood,' wrote Crow, prior to being stripped of his duties to the Archdiocese of Mobile - which clergyman recently said he had already 'abandoned' by relocating.
'I will never forsake my sacred duties,' the disgraced church official continued. 'The priesthood is the greatest gift Jesus has ever given me, and I will treasure this gift forever.
'That said, it is His priesthood, and He can do with me as He pleases.' 'Let His Will be done.'
Crow ended the letter by claiming Christ also told the girl to 'come with [him].'
'We know how this looks, but we are doing what we are told. Do not worry about defending us. This is hard for her too, but she knows she will always be safe if she does Jesus’ Will,' the reverend wrote.
'We will always be thinking and praying for all of you, especially our families and friends. Please pray for us, too. We need it. In Christ, Rev. Alexander Crow.'
Cops from Mobile County Sheriff’s Office did not specify when exactly the correspondence was sent, but it likely came shortly before the Archdiocese of Mobile reported the priest to the DA, citing 'behavior totally unbecoming of a priest.'
The second letter, which was sent on Valentine’s Day this year, was sent when the girl was still a senior at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. She was reportedly 17 at the time.
'Dear [redacted]', it begins. 'As I write this I’m still experiencing eye dilation, so I apologize if this is hard to read. I can barely read what I’m writing as I do this. Ha!
'First things first: I love you, and I thank Jesus for you every day. You have made my life both astronomically more complicated and incredibly better at the same time. You are his gift to me.'
Crow went on to write about his relationship with the teen before they became romantically involved - referring to himself as a 'father' tasked with protecting her.
At one point, he writes: 'You are mine - no one else’s, and I will always be a father to you until I die.'
An ensuing passage suggests that the pair at some point married. It reads: 'Now, we are in love and we are married! I’ve never been in love before (and I’ve never been married, obviously!), and I’ve never felt any of the feelings I have for you for anyone ever in my entire life.
'I promise that I will love you the absolute best I can, every single day.'
The loved up statement would contradict statements by the officer who unveiled the note, Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch, just three days ago, when he claimed Crow 'groomed another couple of young girls' in addition to the 18-year-old.
Speaking on Fox Nation’s 'Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,' Burch said Crow had a previous association with a female who was 'best friends' with the woman who left with him, and that felony warrants could be filed against him as early as 'this week.'
The letter, released by Burch that same day, continued: 'I’m sorry I cannot give you a “normal” Valentines Day this year. I wanted to do nothing more than buy you flowers but for fear of scandal I couldn’t.
'I almost stole some from the Mary statue but there were too many people around,' he admits.
It concludes with a passage that makes it clear the couple had already been planning their overseas excursion at that point.
'I know you want to make out so I’ll bring this to a close. When we are together, with our family in Italy (!!!), we will have so many wonderful and normal Valentines Days, but for now: Happy Valentines Day.'
'You are the prettiest girl who has ever lived, and I will always tell you that. You are perfect, and precious and, besides Jesus, the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen or held in my two hands.
'I will always love you, [redacted].'
The update in the case comes almost a month after the Archdiocese of Mobile defrocked Crow, a former rock musician, after they say he abandoned his post at the Mobile congregation.
Crow himself is a graduate of McGill-Toolen and later attended a seminary named St. Joseph before receiving his Master of Divinity degree in Indiana.
The defrocked clergy member also attended Sant' Anselmo in Rome, Italy, where he received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and studied demons and exorcisms deeply.
In lectures posted online, Crow discussed his fascination in detail with possession and other supernatural encounters.
'I grew up in a weird home, both familially, but also a lot of weird stuff happening in the house,' he said during a podcast appearance in July 2022.
'You'd hear things moving around or banging in different rooms. I'd see things from time to time as a kid, always assuming I was kind of, hyper, or just looking too much into stuff,' Crow said at the time. The former member of the church also described a time when he experienced health issues like chest pains and migraines. The cause, he said, could not be determined.
Crow claimed he underwent a 'minor exorcism' and that he had a 'negative reaction' initially but that he 'felt immediately better when it was over.'
The young woman's parents were slated to hold a press conference on Thursday but canceled the event out of fear for their daughter's safety.
'They're afraid something is going to happen to their daughter,' attorney Christine Hernandez told NBC 15 News.
'She is with someone who the sheriff's office considers a predator,' she said.
After the couple was discovered in Italy, the young woman reportedly told a family member that 'she went with him on her own free will.'
She also allegedly insisted there was no romantic relationship between them and that they were staying in separate bedrooms.
Cops investigation is still ongoing. DailyMail.com has reached out to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office for comment. Source
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