1983 Birmingham homicides

This is a List of Birmingham homicides in 1983. Media sources report 70 homicides in the city during the year. Note that not all homicides are ultimately ruled to be murder in courts of law.

Listing

1. May 26: Dana Constance Fowler, 19, was found shot to death in a wooded area near 22nd Street Southwest in Powderly. She had last been seen training as a waitress at Down the Street restaurant in Southside, where her car was found. James Lowe, a cook at the restaurant, was arrested as a suspect and freed on bond. Fowler's father was implicated in abducting Lowe from a friends house. (report)
2. June 29: Dennis M. Smartt, 67, was stabbed to death during a Wednesday-evening assault at Woodlawn United Methodist Church. Two others were injured. The attacker, Clarence Bost, was subdued by others present and later arrested. (report)
3. September 10: Gladys Burgess, 67, was found stabbed to death and mutilated on the floor of her 4th Court West apartment. Clarence Leland Simmons, already on death row for the murder of Murial Ausley in 1996, was identified as a suspect based on DNA evidence re-submitted in 2009. He died in prison in January 2013. (report)

References

• Troncale, Terri Callaway (July 29, 1983) "Lawley said he shot McRae by accident, detective testifies" The Birmingham News, via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

See also

• List of homicides in 1983
• Birmingham homicides by year