Virginia Cruttenden, 57, a White/Caucasian female, was found shot to death inside her Port Richmond home in Philadelphia on February 24, 2017. Police were called to the 3200 block of Mercer Street shortly after 4 p.m., where they found her on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene around 4:20 p.m. Neighbors described a sudden flood of police cars and crime-scene tape on a block where Cruttenden had lived for many years, and one neighbor said her son
came home from work and discovered that his mother had been killed.
Investigators quickly focused on robbery as the apparent motive. Reports said the second floor of Cruttenden’s home had been ransacked and several items were missing. Police later identified her nephew, Andrew Cruttenden, then 26, as the suspected shooter. Authorities said he had robbed and shot his aunt inside the home, and reports described him as an ex-con who had been in and out of prison since he was 18 and had been released only a few months before the killing.
Andrew Cruttenden was arrested in North Philadelphia by Philadelphia police, homicide detectives, the fugitive squad, and the U.S. Marshals Service after authorities publicly sought him in connection with the slaying. He was charged with murder, burglary, robbery, firearms offenses, criminal conspiracy, and related charges. His girlfriend, Michelle Waclawski, 36, was also taken into custody for what police described as her involvement in the crime. She was charged with burglary, criminal trespass, criminal conspiracy, theft, and related offenses.
At a preliminary hearing in April 2017, prosecutors presented evidence that tied the killing to a robbery inside Cruttenden’s home. A judge ordered Andrew Cruttenden to stand trial on murder, robbery, and burglary charges. Prosecutors played a recorded interview in which Andrew reportedly said he shot his aunt after she refused to give him money. They also showed surveillance video that allegedly captured Andrew Cruttenden and Michelle Waclawski repeatedly carrying items from the home.
The available online news accounts establish arrests, charges, and the preliminary-hearing ruling that sent Andrew Cruttenden toward trial, but they do not provide a clear public record of any final conviction, acquittal, plea, sentencing, or punishment for either Andrew Cruttenden or Michelle Waclawski in connection with Virginia Cruttenden’s death.
