Gary Crawford also received 21 additional years for trying to kill his mother inside the Gilbert home where the couple had taken him in.

GILBERT, Ariz. — An Arizona man who admitted killing his 91-year-old stepfather and trying to kill his 81-year-old mother after moving into the couple’s Gilbert home has been sentenced to natural life in prison plus 21 years, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced the sentence in September, nearly 10 months after Oscar Casdorph was found dead during a welfare check at his home. Gary Crawford, now 58, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors classified both crimes as dangerous felonies and domestic violence offenses. The natural-life sentence means the murder conviction will keep Crawford imprisoned for the rest of his life, while the additional 21-year term reflects the separate attempt to kill his mother, who survived the attack.

The case began with a missed dinner on Nov. 22, 2025. A family member called 911 after Casdorph and his wife failed to show up for plans and did not answer the door or their phones. Gilbert police said officers went to a home in the 1300 block of West Stratford Avenue at about 6 p.m. and entered because of growing concern about the elderly couple. Inside, they found Casdorph dead and his wife critically injured. Police initially described both victims as having obvious signs of trauma. Later investigative records provided a more detailed account of the violence.

According to the County Attorney’s Office, Casdorph had been beaten to death with a hammer. His wife, who is Crawford’s mother, also had been struck repeatedly but survived. Arizona’s Family, citing court records from the criminal case, reported that medical personnel determined she had also been shot, with a bullet passing through her head. Investigators said Crawford attacked Casdorph with a hammer and then attacked his mother before shooting her. Authorities have not publicly released the mother’s name in their official accounts of the case.

Crawford immediately became a focus of the investigation because he had recently moved into the couple’s home and could not be found after officers discovered the victims. One of the couple’s vehicles also was gone. Gilbert police said investigators learned of suspicious activity in Casdorph’s bank account, giving detectives another trail to follow during the hours after the welfare check. The County Attorney’s Office later said Crawford had taken the victims’ cellphones and Casdorph’s bank card and used the card to withdraw a total of $1,500.

The search ended the next morning in Glendale, roughly 12 hours after police entered the Gilbert home. Gilbert detectives used investigative tools that included license plate reader information to locate the missing vehicle, according to local reporting based on police and court records. Police said detectives found Crawford in the vehicle at about 6 a.m. Nov. 23 and arrested him without incident. He was returned to Maricopa County and booked on a series of felony allegations that initially included first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, fraudulent schemes, theft of a means of transportation and tampering with physical evidence.

After his arrest, Crawford made statements to detectives admitting that he had killed Casdorph and had tried to kill his mother, Gilbert police said in their initial announcement. Court documents later described additional statements in which Crawford spoke about “snapping” and becoming so angry that he “blacked out,” according to Arizona’s Family. Authorities did not identify an independently verified motive in the final sentencing announcement, and prosecutors did not rely on those statements to offer a broader psychological explanation for the crimes.

The guilty pleas changed Crawford’s legal status from an accused defendant to a convicted murderer. Court records cited by Law&Crime show that he entered guilty pleas in August to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. The County Attorney’s Office described the murder count as a Class 1 dangerous felony and domestic violence offense and the attempted murder count as a Class 2 dangerous felony and domestic violence offense. The sentencing that followed resolved the central criminal case without a murder trial in which prosecutors otherwise would have been required to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The attack was especially stark because Crawford had moved into the home only weeks earlier. Investigators said the elderly couple had taken him in before the killing. Mitchell focused on that family relationship when announcing the punishment. “This defendant’s family took him in, and he betrayed them in the worst way imaginable,” she said. Mitchell added that the sentence ensured Crawford would spend the remainder of his life in prison and said her thoughts were with the victims’ relatives as they continued to grieve and recover.

The initial police response also documented how quickly an ordinary family concern became a homicide investigation. The caller had expected to have dinner with her 91-year-old father and his wife. When neither responded, officers were asked only to check on their welfare. Within hours of finding Casdorph dead, detectives were examining the missing vehicle, financial activity and Crawford’s absence from the home. By the following morning, the missing vehicle had been located and Crawford was in custody. Police said at the time that there were no other outstanding suspects and described the crime as an isolated incident.

Casdorph’s wife remained hospitalized in critical condition immediately after the attack, according to Gilbert police. Later reports confirmed that she survived, but authorities have released little public information about her recovery. Neighbors interviewed by Arizona’s Family shortly after the crime described the couple as friendly residents who attended church and shared holiday cookies with people nearby. Those accounts provided a glimpse of the household that stood in contrast to the violence discovered when officers entered the home.

Local reporting also found that Crawford had prior contact with the criminal justice system. Arizona’s Family reported from court records that he had previously served prison time for armed robbery and theft and had more recently been convicted in a Gilbert domestic violence case. The station reported that he was on probation when the 2025 crimes occurred. Those details were part of the broader public record surrounding Crawford, although the County Attorney’s Office’s final sentencing announcement centered on the murder, attempted murder and the punishment imposed for those convictions.

The case ultimately moved from a late-evening welfare call to a guilty plea and a sentence that leaves no ordinary prospect of Crawford returning to the community. Casdorph’s death is now the basis of a first-degree murder conviction, while the attack on Crawford’s mother resulted in a separate attempted first-degree murder conviction. The County Attorney’s Office has described the case as resolved by the natural-life sentence and the additional 21-year term. No further trial is scheduled in the two offenses covered by Crawford’s guilty pleas.

Author note: Last updated November 8, 2026.