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| Nickolas Norwood Murder: Where Are Lilie Crawford and Rashawn Graham Now? |
Nickolas Norwood’s 2022 killing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has now reached its courtroom conclusion, with Lilie Crawford serving a 20-year prison sentence and her brother Rashawn Graham serving life with the possibility of parole. The case, which began with a neighbour discovering 30-year-old Nickolas Jazz Norwood dead inside his apartment, is revisited in A&E’s The First 48: Murder Strikes at Midnight, bringing renewed attention to the investigation and the evidence that ultimately connected the siblings to the crime.
Nickolas was born on September 17, 1991, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and was remembered by those who knew him as outgoing and friendly. He had a close relationship with his older brother, Dawaan Norwood, and had built a wide circle of friends.
By the time he was 30, Nickolas was living at the Oakley Apartments near East Tecumseh Street and North Harvard Avenue in Tulsa. His ordinary routine was shattered in the early hours of January 11, 2022, when gunshots were heard in the area.
The following morning, a neighbour noticed that Nickolas’ apartment door was slightly open. After attempting to contact him without success, the neighbour entered the property at around 8:45am and found him lying on the living room floor.
Emergency services were called, but Nickolas had already died. Investigators found multiple gunshot wounds, while the apartment showed no obvious signs that someone had forced their way inside. His mobile phone was also recovered from the property, giving detectives an important starting point.
Investigators soon began looking closely at Nickolas’ activities and the people he had been communicating with. Family members and friends told authorities that he had been involved in selling drugs, and detectives considered the possibility that a planned transaction had turned into a robbery. The theory was not simply pulled from thin air: the phone contained messages between Nickolas and a woman discussing a planned purchase involving a substantial quantity of drugs, with the woman saying she would bring her brother.
That digital trail eventually led investigators towards Lilie M. Crawford. Police connected the relevant phone number to two women, including Crawford, and then began examining the movements of a Ford Escape associated with them. CCTV footage became particularly important because, frankly, when investigators are trying to reconstruct someone's final movements, a conveniently recorded trip to a petrol station can become considerably more important than it looks at first.
Surveillance footage showed Rashawn M. Graham, Lilie’s brother, refuelling the Ford Escape roughly 30 minutes before Nickolas was killed. Additional footage placed Lilie and Rashawn together in the same vehicle. Investigators also identified the Ford Escape through its registration number in another CCTV recording around the time of the killing. The vehicle was captured arriving at Nickolas’ apartment, providing detectives with another link between the suspects and the scene.
On January 14, 2022, authorities issued arrest warrants for Lilie and Rashawn. The siblings were subsequently arrested in Little Elm, Texas, on separate gun and marijuana-related charges before being extradited to Oklahoma in connection with Nickolas’ death. Investigators later examined the Ford Escape and found Nickolas’ identification card and wallet inside the vehicle, adding another significant piece to the prosecution's case.
Lilie’s own statements also became part of the investigation. According to police records, she acknowledged being at Nickolas’ apartment but gave investigators a different account of who else was there. She maintained that her boyfriend and Rashawn were not present when Nickolas was killed. The defence challenged aspects of the prosecution’s version of events, but Lilie ultimately accepted responsibility for her involvement in the case.
On August 17, 2023, Lilie Crawford pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and is currently serving that sentence at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, Oklahoma. Her case therefore ended without the uncertainty surrounding a lengthy jury trial, although the sentence means she will remain behind bars for years to come.
Rashawn Graham’s case followed a different route. His jury trial began in 2025, with prosecutors presenting evidence including CCTV footage that placed him near the area shortly before Nickolas’ death. Publicly available information does not offer a detailed account of his defence strategy, and it remains unclear whether he ultimately represented himself after initially seeking to do so. The trial nevertheless ended with a conviction.
On January 13, 2025, Rashawn Graham was convicted of first-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He is currently incarcerated at Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton, Oklahoma. That leaves the siblings serving separate sentences at separate Oklahoma facilities, with both cases now having reached a formal conclusion.
My take on the case is that what makes the Nickolas Norwood story particularly frustrating is how quickly a seemingly straightforward meeting appears to have spiralled into something irreversible.
The investigation also shows why seemingly mundane evidence can matter so much: a text conversation, a vehicle, a petrol station camera and a registration number might sound painfully ordinary, but together they helped detectives build a timeline. The case is also a reminder that digital messages rarely feel important when people send them, until someone with a warrant and a very patient investigative team starts putting the pieces together.
Lilie and Rashawn ultimately faced very different outcomes in court, with one accepting a 20-year sentence and the other receiving life with parole eligibility. There are still details the public record does not fully explain, particularly around Rashawn’s defence, so it is worth separating confirmed court outcomes from unanswered questions rather than filling the gaps with speculation.
Today, the central question of where Lilie Crawford and Rashawn Graham are now has a fairly clear answer: both remain incarcerated in Oklahoma, serving the sentences handed down after their respective cases. The story is also featured in The First 48: Murder Strikes at Midnight, giving viewers another look at how investigators traced Nickolas’ final hours. What do you make of the evidence and the different sentences handed down to the siblings? If you have watched the episode, share your thoughts on which part of the investigation stood out to you most.