Not only did he have an extensive porn collection, most of it was homemade. Crane had a huge appetite for sex and Carpenter showed him how to make videos with one of the first video recorders available to the public. They would cruise bars, especially strip clubs, to pick up women and take them home for sex and porn parties.
Carpenter was strongly suspected of the murder, but as you suggest, the kind of lifestyle Crane was living would produce a lot of potential suspects.