List of homicides in 2020

This is a List of homicides in 2020, including homicide cases reported throughout the Birmingham District. To date, at least 28 homicides have been reported in the area for the year. Note that a "homicide" refers to the cause of death as determined by a medical examiner, not to the crime of murder as charged by prosecutors and adjudicated through the courts.

Jefferson County

23 total

Bessemer

1. February 9: Zykeith Peavy, 17, was shot to death during an illegal gun purchase on the 4600 block of Little Drive. A 15-year-old suspect was taken into custody and charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm. (report)

Birmingham

15 homicides. See List of Birmingham homicides in 2020 for details.

Brighton

1. February 12: Gerald Clifton Bell, 57, was found dead from an apparent homicide on the 4000 block of 4th Avenue Brighton. No arrest. (report)

Hoover

1. February 14: Shemethia Tynise Coteat, 41, was shot to death in an apparent targeted assault in the parking lot of The Park at Wakefield apartments off Tyler Road. A dark-colored four-door sedan was seen leaving the scene. No arrest. (report)

Leeds

1. January 20: James Brody Sargent, 19, died at Grandview Medical Center from gunshot wounds suffered during a dispute over a marijuana sale at a residence on Kings Forest Drive. Anthony Widner was taken into custody and charged with murder. Though the crime took place in Jefferson County, he was held at the St Clair County Jail. (report)

Vestavia Hills

1. February 8: Douglas Harold Hart, 67, was shot to death in an exchange of gunfire with a Vestavia Hills Police officer on the 4400 block of Old Overton Road, near a Cahaba River boat launch. Police had responded to a call about a man wielding a gun, possibly threatening suicide. The Alabama State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the incident. (report)

Unincorporated Jefferson County

1. February 4: Nick O'Rear, 33, a Kimberly Police Department officer was shot and killed while attempting to intercept a suspect vehicle on I-65 South. Warrior police began the chase near Exit 281 in Warrior. Preston Cheyenne Johnson and three others were captured later near Dora in Walker County. Johnson was charged with capital murder and attempted murder and booked into the Jefferson County Jail. (report)
2. February 5: Kaiden Ford, 2, was found unresponsive at a home on the 1100 block of Florentine Circle in an unincorporated area surrounded by Birmingham's Spring Lake neighborhood. He was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital. Sylvester Corderyl Taylor, Ford's mother's boyfriend, was arrested and charged with capital murder. He previously pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter in the 2014 death of Angela McCall and had been sentenced to 15 years in prison. (report)
3. February 10: The body of Sean Caribe Avant Jr, 18, who was reported missing four days earlier, was found on the shore of Bayview Lake, below Mulga Loop Road just past the bridge on Bayview Drive. No arrest. (report)

Talladega County

1. January 21: Holli Christina Durham, 36, was found stabbed to death, along with two of her children, at her home at 150 Roy Lackey Lane in Munford. Her older son, Landon Hudson Durham, was arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)
2. January 21: Branson Durham, 13, was found at the same house.
3. January 21: Baron Durham, 13, was found at the same house.

Tuscaloosa County

1. January 1: Carla Fluker Mack, 49, was shot to death at her home on the 21000 block of Tammie Drive in Lake View. Her ex-boyfriend, Carl Evans Boyd, was seen leaving the house. He was arrested the next day and charged with murder. (report)
2. February 18: Darrieon Dewayne Dees, 22, was shot to death near the intersection of 24th Street and Fosters Ferry Avenue in Tuscaloosa. Dees and Deramus Devalle Harris had assaulted another group of males who returned fire, killing Dees. Harris, believed to have instigated the assault, was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder. (report)