Apple Valley, MN- Police have released limited details regarding the deaths of filmmaker David Crowley, his wife Komel, and their 5-year-old daughter, but have acknowledged that the deaths are being treated as “suspicious” while an investigation is underway.

The bodies of David, Komel and their daughter were discovered on Saturday by the Crowley’s next-door neighbor, Collin Prochnow. It was reported that the bodies had been inside the home for several weeks. Prochnow said that he had not seen any activity in the Crowley’s home since around Christmas, and he had initially assumed the family was traveling during the holidays. Prochnow said that packages were accumulating on the home’s doorstep and noticed that the lights inside the house were on day and night, so he decided to check on the family’s wellbeing over the past weekend.
Prochnow looked through a window of the house and discovered three bodies, along with a handgun, laying on the floor. A dog, which was alive, was also present. Audio from police radio obtained by MnPoliceClips.com revealed that police had found “several obviously deceased bodies in the front” of the home and there was a “very angry dog inside.” Police stated that the situation appears to have been a murder-suicide.
David Crowley was a filmmaker credited with writing and directing a film called “Gray State” that has yet to be completed. The movie is about police militarization and martial law imposed in the United States and was described on its Facebook page as a film about a wounded veteran who “leads the insurgency against a corrupt Government after nationwide martial law has been declared.”
Charlie Hubbell, an actor who appeared in the “Gray State” trailer, told Twincities.com that David Crowley “seemed more grounded and focused than would lend itself to anything chaotic.”
“The entire time I worked with him there was nothing aggressive or chaotic or strange or abnormal. He was one of the ones I was hanging my hat on, one who was going to succeed,” Hubbell said.
An investigation into the deaths is ongoing.
Editor’s note, January 22nd, 10:23 a.m. EST: It has been brought to our attention that the MnPoliceClips.com audio includes a significant detail from police who noted that a rear slider door of the Crowley’s home was “unlocked and slightly ajar.” Benswann.com will continue to investigate this incident, including interviews and follow-up reporting when possible.
Disclosure: The “Gray State” team supported Ben Swann’s Kickstarter effort in 2013.