List of homicides in 2017

This is a List of homicides in 2017, including homicide cases reported throughout the Birmingham District. To date, at least 99 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.

Blount County

1. February 25: Bethany Brooke Evans, 23, was shot to death at the home of Patrick Dorsett off of Tuscaloosa Pike in Cleveland. Dorsett was arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)

Calhoun County

1. May 18: Debra Higginbotham, 36, was one of two persons shot to death in a home on the 3500 block of Truman Avenue in Anniston. Another person was wounded in the shootout. No arrest. (report)
2. May 18: Justin Copeland, 23, was the second person shot to death in the same incident.
3. July 13: Anthony Marquarius Fluker, 30, was wounded in a shooting on the 400 block of West 29th Street in Anniston. He was taken to a local hospital and then flown to UAB Hospital by helicopter, but was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrest. (report)

Cullman County

1. April 4: An unnamed male was shot at a home on Cullman County Road 1759 during what appeared to be a targeted home invasion. He was found dead in a pickup truck that had left the scene. The driver of the truck, believed to have been Robert L. Kimbrough, also called "Mater or "Budder," fled on foot. The owner of the home suffered minor injuries. Kimbrough is sought as a "person of interest." No arrests or charges have been made. (report)
2. May 14: Helen Virginia Duke, 75, was killed while walking along Schwaiger Road in Good Hope. She was struck by an SUV which left the scene. Larry Surrett, 58, was arrested and charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident, tampering with evidence and driving with a revoked license. (report)

Etowah County

1. May 17: Anibal Cristobal Francisco, 23, was shot to death during an apparent robbery in a house on the 500 block of Taylor Street in Gadsden. A suspect seen fleeing from the home was captured after a foot chase, but has not yet been charged. (report)
2. June 30: Dillon Presley Wilemon, 22, was stabbed to death during an argument at a home on the 5600 block of Little Cove Road in Boaz. Brandon Lee Blevins was arrested at the scene and charged with murder. (report)

Jefferson County

83 total

Bessemer

1. January 9: Julian Garcia, 21, was found shot to death in a wrecked car on the 3400 block of 9th Avenue North. Several shell casings were found in the parking lot of a nearby nightclub. Rogelio Vasquez is sought by a police as a person of interest. (report)
2. January 22: Stacie Carroll Williams, 36, was one of two female passengers killed when a Ford SUV struck the car they were riding in at the intersection of 9th Avenue and 19th Street North. The driver of the car, Courtland Dion Griffin, had fled from a traffic stop because he mistakenly believed he was sought on outstanding warrants. He was being pursued by Bessemer police when the collision occurred. Griffin, who was briefly hospitalized with minor injuries, was charged with two counts of felony murder. (report)
3. January 22: Amanda Lynn Hill Pigg, 37, was killed in the same incident.
4. February 9: Deandre Briggs, 19, was shot to death in an apparent drive-by near the Citgo gas station on 4th Avenue. Rakeen Ahmir Rembert, K'hari Nasyr Rembert and Danterrious Young Hill were arrested and charged with capital murder and attempted murder. (report)
5. March 28: Cadarrius Lamartez Johnson, 24, was shot to death on the 200 block of Ash Avenue. Ahmad Thompson was arrested and charged with murder. (report)

Birmingham

55 homicides. See List of Birmingham homicides in 2017 for details.

Brighton

1. March 19: Tyshun Tyree Miller, 18, was shot on the 1400 block of Clay Street and died from his wounds at UAB Hospital. An initial suspect turned himself in, but charges were dropped after witnesses implicated two others. Deandre Moore and Hendarius Jamal Jones were subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)
2. May 21: Misty Sheffield Martinez, 41, was shot to death during an attempted carjacking on the 1200 block of Kelly Street. The driver of the car she was riding in was also shot. He identified Madarius Warren as the shooter. Warren was arrested and charged with capital murder and attempted murder. (report)
3. June 14: Ullesis Keanu Howard, 19, was found dead on Crawford Avenue in Birmingham's East Brownville neighborhood. Investigators believe he was killed in Brighton and the body dumped on the street from a car. No arrest. (report)
4. June 15: Eric Dewayne Dalton, 39, was shot to death outside his home on the 4000 block of Council Avenue. No arrest. (report)

Center Point

1. February 25: Jonas Maldonado, 31, was found shot to death in his pick-up truck which had crashed into a utility pole at Center Point High School. Investigators believe he was shot elsewhere and drove to that location. No arrest. (report)
2. February 27: Janet Renae Shaw, 36, was found strangled to death in her home in the Parkway Mirage Apartments on the 1800 block of Center Brook Lane. Willie Bell Jr was taken into custody at the scene and charged with capital murder. (report)

Fairfield

1. January 18: Tyron Bennet, 17, was shot to death on the 800 block of Valley Road while on his way to school. No arrest. (report)
3. February 15: Eric Dial, 18, was shot to death outside his house on 43rd Street. Marquis Bell and Phillip Moore have been charged with his murder. Moore remains at large. (report)
4. March 2: Ronald Ross, 35, was found shot to death outside a vacant house at 4117 Lloyd Noland Parkway. No arrest. (report)
5. July 9: Carlos Manuel Flores, 27, was found shot to death in the driver's seat of a vehicle parked on the 700 block of 39th Place. No arrest. (report)

Gardendale

1. July 12: Dana Reeves Lever, 50, was one of three family members murdered methodically by her ex-husband, Kenneth Dion Lever, outside her home at 4172 Willow Bend Drive in the Peachtree Crossings subdivision. He used a .40-caliber handgun, firing off fifteen rounds. His daughter, Kristen, was in the house at the time, but fled to a neighbor's house and was not killed. Lever, who lived in Pensacola, Florida, was free on bail from charges relating to two incidents of sexual assault with a minor in York County, Pennsylvania. Dana had been granted a protection from abuse order on Kristen's behalf in December 2016. After the murders, Lever fled to Escambia County, Florida and, after meeting with a minister, shot himself in the head in the parking lot of a Pensacola area credit union. He died at the scene. (report)
2. July 12: Bonnie Reeves Foshee, 65, the older sister of Dana Lever, was killed in the same incident.
3. July 12: Don Foshee, 69, the husband of Bonnie Foshee, was killed in the same incident.

Hoover

1. June 5: Shunoah Seantel Turner, 26, was found beaten to death in his home in the Renaissance at Galleria apartments on Crowne Chase Parkway off Galleria Woods Drive. His roommate, Ledarius Jaquad Peterson, fled the scene in Turner's car. He was arrested in Bessemer and charged with murder. (report)

Hueytown

1. July 10: Maria Jocelyn Angula Goodwin, 55, was found stabbed to death in her home on the 1300 block of 25th Avenue. Investigators believe she may have been killed two days earlier. Her son, Carl "Brandon" Goodwin, 30, also lived at the house and was found unconscious at the scene. When he was resuscitated he claimed that demons had told him to kill his mother. He was taken into custody for psychiatric evaluation and later charged with murder. (report)

Irondale

1. May 26: Drakkar Fontez Avery Christian, 26, was shot to death in the back yard of a house on the 1500 block of Monticello Road in a dispute over a woman who lives there. Broderick Lewayne Morgan turned himself in to police and was charged with murder. (report)

Midfield

1. April 15: Brandon Morquese Hudson, 33, was found shot to death in the parking lot of the Bargain Butcher on the 1400 block of Woodward Road. Investigators determined that he was killed elsewhere and his body was dumped at that location. Two other victims from the same shooting survived. Andrew Haweis Goldsmith IV was charged with two counts of capital murder and two counts of attempted murder. (report)
2. April 22: Brandon Durrell Conwell, 31, was one of two men shot to death during an argument over a mobile phone outside his house at 321 Woodward Road. A suspect, identified as Corey Marcell McGhee, fled the scene in a rented champagne-colored Chevrolet Equinox. He has been charged with two counts of capital murder, and later taken into custody from an apartment on U.S. Highway 280 by U.S. Marshals. (report)
3. April 22: Larry Vincent Price Jr, 42, was the second person killed in the same altercation.

Tarrant

1. January 31: Marcus Jermaine Felder, 30, died at UAB Hospital a day after being shot while leaving a house near the intersection of Prosh Avenue and Cambron Street where he had gone with his brother to try to retrieve a stolen vehicle. Joshawn Darnell McCall is alleged to have fired at their car as they left after an argument. He was arrested and charged with capital murder. The case was placed before a grand jury in April. (report)

Unincorporated Jefferson County

1. March 15: Christy Lynn Kelly Cook, 39. was found dead on the bedroom floor of a home on the 2000 block of Rock Mountain Drive in Rock Mountian Lakes. She had been shot twice. The body was discovered by the homeowner, who often works out of town and had last been in the house on March 5. Cook and her boyfriend had apparently broken into the vacant home shortly after she was last seen on March 7. Her truck was found in Keener, Etowah County. The boyfriend, Anthony Gene McClellan, was treated for disorientation when he was picked up wandering around the vicinity of a liquor store in Attalla. When questioned about Cook, he claimed to have shot her (twice) accidentally. He was charged with capital murder during a burglary. (report)
2. July 3: An unnamed male was shot to death in shootout at Black Diamond Paving on Old Jasper Highway in Bagley. An employee of the company came in to work on the holiday and went to investigate a car parked in some tall grass. One of two occupants of the car fire shots at him and he returned fire, killing one and injuring the other, who was found nearby by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies. The investigation is continuing and charges have not yet been filed. (report)
3. July 8: Gary Williams, 62, died from stab wounds suffered on June 10 during an assault at his residence, a camper on the 9400 block of Old Tennessee Pike Road. No arrest. (report)

Shelby County

1. June 21: Corey Walker, 25, was killed in a shooting on Shelby County Highway 203 in Montevallo's Aldrich neighborhood. Another person was injured. No arrest. (report)

St Clair County

1. July 5: Joe Montgomery, 89, was shot to death at his home on Montgomery Drive in Ashville. His grandson, Claude Henry Williams Jr, was arrested and charged with murder. (report)

Talladega County

1. July 12: Ladarius Dontrell Jackson, 25, died after an altercation with a Sylacauga Police Department officer who was investigating a probable drug crime during a traffic stop in the Fairmont community. Jackson attempted to flee on foot and was overtaken with the help of a Taser. He was transported by ambulance to the Coosa Valley Medical Center and later pronounced dead. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation is examining the case and the officer's conduct. (report)

Tuscaloosa County

1. February 5: Alex Dewayne Bedwell, 38, was shot to death in the parking lot near his home in the Emory Woods Condominiums on Veteran's Memorial Parkway in Tuscaloosa. The shooting apparently followed an argument over a woman. Dillon Michael Lee was arrested at the scene and charged with murder. (report)
2. February 13: Richard Lee Rawlins, 34, was shot to death during an argument in the yard of a house at 14835 South Rosser Road. David Demond Hinton, resident at that address, was arrested and charged with murder. (report)
3. May 7: Branden Moss, 23, was shot to death after attempting to break up a fight in a parking lot across from the 3000 Bar on the 600 block of Paul W. Bryant Drive in Tuscaloosa. Markis Russell was arrested the same day and charged with murder. (report)
4. May 21: Christopher Deon Rhone, 29, was killed by gunfire during an argument on the 1700 block of 41st Avenue Northeast in Holt. Dominique Maurice Ball was taken into custody at the scene and charged with murder. (report)

Walker County

1. June 2: Deborah West, 49, was shot to death by her husband, Steven West, at their home on Pineywoods Sipsey Road. West then killed himself. The couple's two children, 10 and 19, were at home. (report)
2. June 20: Dustin Michael Alexander, 25, died at Grandview Medical Center from blunt force trauma to the head. He was found in his grandmother's driveway at 6181 Walker County Highway 195 north of Manchester. (report)

References

• Robinson, Carol (July 14, 2017) "At least 33 Jefferson County homicides remain unsolved this year." The Birmingham News