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Deputy: Good deed gets man killed

By Rick Gershman
Published March 19, 2007

TAMPA - A domestic violence incident between a husband and wife Friday evening turned deadly, Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said, when the husband beat to death a neighbor providing shelter to his wife.

Authorities said Christsandra Gordon fled her home in the Harbour Walk & Sandstone Apartments on Webb Road in Town 'N Country after a fight with her husband, Patrick Jasper Crawford. She arrived at another apartment in the complex where her friend George Varian, 59, lived.

Crawford, 34, arrived at Varian's apartment sometime later, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. He argued with his wife and began hitting her.

When Varian tried to intervene, Crawford beat him severely with a large candlestick, Carter said. He then tied up his wife and placed her in a closet.

Gordon, 37, eventually freed herself, escaped the apartment and called 911 from a neighbor's apartment, Carter said.

Crawford found Gordon there and brought her back to Varian's apartment, then fled to his own. Sheriff's deputies found him there and arrested him.

Varian, who was hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital, died from his injuries about noon Sunday, Carter said.

Crawford remained at Orient Road Jail without bail Sunday evening on two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

He had not received any homicide-related charges late Sunday, but Carter said additional charges were pending:

[Last modified March 19, 2007, 06:22:08]