MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that they are closing the case on a disgraced priest who ran off to Italy with a recent high school graduate.

Alex Crow and a former McGill Toolen Catholic High School student are back in town after a four-month trip to Italy.

According to a news release from Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, there is no evidence to charge Crow with any criminal charges. Sheriff Paul Burch said the decision to close the case was equally centered on the teen’s lack of cooperation with law enforcement.

“It is her right to talk to us or not talk to us, and as of right now, we’ve not been able to talk to her,” Burch said.

Despite the case being closed, Burch stood on the ground that he believes Crow groomed the teen at a young age leading up to the couple’s departure.

“Once a predator, always a predator,” Burch said about Crow. “Why else would you start something if you didn’t intend there would be a physical relationship in the end?”

Monday, the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office announced they had closed their investigation into the “unusual circumstance.” DA Kieth Blackwood said his office interviewed 30 witnesses and reviewed ‘thousands’ of pages of documents.

“She brought an attorney with her to the meeting, and together they declined to answer any questions about the circumstances surrounding her July disappearance, or indeed any other questions,” Blackwood said in a statement.

The archdiocese also responded and said that Crow had been removed from ministry and that all his “priestly faculties” had been suspended.

Initially, Crow was accused of grooming the 2023 McGill-Toolen graduate. Before leaving the country, Crow wrote a letter and left it with the archdiocese, saying he would never return to America.

On Aug. 14, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office provided a note to WKRG News 5 that offered insight into Crow’s thoughts before leaving the country.

MCSO also released a Valentine’s Day letter from Crow to the former McGill student; in it, he said the two were “married.” Burch confirmed that while he hasn’t seen official documents proving the couple was married, a source with knowledge of the case told him the two had been married.

The Archdiocese of Mobile said that if anyone sees Crow on school grounds, practicing priesthood or presenting himself as a priest, they are encouraged to contact the Archdiocese immediately.

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