List of homicides in 2009

This is a List of homicides in 2009, including homicide cases reported throughout the Birmingham District. A total of at least 163 homicides were reported in the area during 2009. 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 determined by plea or trial.

Blount County

1. June 17: Shannon Watkins, 37, owner of Sentry Drywall and Acoustical was found dead at his home on St Andrew's Parkway in Limestone Springs. The death is being investigated as a homicide, though the cause of death has not been reported. (report)
2. November 26: Marvin Allen Dailey, 71, was found bludgeoned and burned to death in his burning home off Blount County Highway 29 north of Oneonta. Thomas Crowe Doyle and Toni Michelle Collins were both charged with capital murder. Doyle was convicted in September 2012 with Collins testimony. She pleaded to a life sentence, handed down in January 2013. Doyle was found dead in his cell at Donaldson Correctional Facility in May 2023. (report)

Calhoun County

1. October 29: Carla Cook Fuqua was reported missing. Her remains were found December 4, 2012 in a wooded area near Alabama State Highway 21 south of Piedmont. Jimmy Steed was indicted for her murder in August 2013. He was convicted in 2015 and sentenced by Judge Brian Howell to 75 years, plus another 30 years for related drug convictions. (report)
2. December 22: Lee Hobson, 62, was killed after being struck by a car on I-20 in Anniston and falling 44 feet to the roadway below. The driver of the vehicle that struck him left the scene. No arrest. (report)
3. December 26 Donald Atwater Cameron, 47, was found shot to death in his home in Ohatchee. Michael William Kiser was arrested and charged with capital murder in May 2013. (report)

Chilton County

2. March 23: Donald Kemp, 60, was stabbed to death at his home on Chilton County Road 1051. His caregiver, Kori Lee Scott Norris, with whom he shared a violent history, was arrested and charged. (report)
3. December 15: A 5-month-old child died from alleged aggravated abuse at a home on Chilton County Road 969 in Jemison. Patrick Compton was charged with murder. His first prosecution ended in mistrial. (report)
4. December 27: Steven Dorough, 18, was found shot and set afire in the yard of his Verbena home. Christopher Alan Kroeger and Joshua David Ready were arrested and charged with murder. Ready pleaded guilty to murder. (report)

Cullman County

1. April 4: Sarah Francis Smithson Wren, 63, was shot and killed by neighbor Johnny Ellis Mayo at a trailer park on Megan Lane in Good Hope. Mayo returned to his own home and killed himself soon later. (report)
2. November 6: Jimmy Hayes, 72, former owner of the Rack and Cue pool hall in Cullman, was found dead from strangulation and blunt force trauma in his home in Fairview. Christopher H. Ledbetter was indicted for murder in April 2010. (report)

Etowah County

1. February 20: Savannah Hardin, 9, of Attalla died at Children's Hospital from the effects of exhaustion after being forced to run non-stop for three hours as punishment for lying about eating a candy bar. Her grandmother Joyce Garrard and stepmother Jessica Hardin were indicted on charges of capital murder and felony murder, respectively.
2. May 5: Nita Michelle Clayborn, 22, was found dead in her car on Whorton Bend Road near Alabama Highway 77. She died of an overdose of alcohol, GHB and Klonopin given to her at a party. Shawne Rust Farrar was arrested and charged with murder and abuse of a corpse. Jeremy Gale Houghtalling was also arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse and hindering prosecution. (report)
3. October 3: CorDarryl Gary, 22, was shot and killed outside a Northside Homes apartment in Gadsden. Christian Blake Holland, brother of Gary's girlfriend, was arrested and charged with murder. (report)
4. December 2: Rocky Morgan, 55, was, along with his nephew, was murdered. Robert Wayne Kelley, his son-in-law, was arrested and charged with capital murder. Investigators believe Morgan was killed for his inheritance and the nephew was killed because he was present. The bodies were apparently butchered, burned and scattered in a field several miles from Kelley's Attalla home over several days' time. Morgan's daughter, Margie Morgan Kelley, was arrested and initially charged with hindering prosecution. In February 2013 she was charged with capital murder, as well. (report)
5. December 2: James Bachelor, nephew of Morgan, was murdered in the same incident.

Fayette County

1. July 23: Unnamed person shot to death at Studdard's Crossroads.
2. July 23: Second unnamed person shot to death at Studdard's Crossroads.

Jefferson County

116 homicides:

Bessemer

14 homicides:

1. January 6: Charles Kentrall Thompson, 26, found shot to death in a car at the CVS pharmacy at 901 9th Avenue North. He was driven there following a gunfight on the 1100 block of 6th Avenue in the Kate S. Waller Homes. No arrest. A reward of $5,000 has been offered by the Governor's office. (report)
2. February 14: Yolanda Chambers, 29, was found shot to death near the intersection of Borah Avenue and Oak Street. No arrest.
3. February 28: Madarrius "Juan" Morris, 21, was shot on the 2500 block of Carolina Terrace and died later from his injuries. No arrest. A reward of $5,000 has been offered by the Governor's office. (report)
4. May 1: Andrew Burney, 32, found shot to death following a gunfight on the 500 block of Charleston Drive. The fight apparently spread out into the street in the aftermath of a dispute over a card game in a nearby home. Victor Smoot has been arrested and charged with capital murder. [1]
5. May 1: John Onoijuanfo, 31, shot to death in the same gunfight. Smoot is also charged in his death. [2]
6. June 18: James David Porter, 43, was shot in his home in the 100 block of 7th Street South. Jackie Ti McElroy was charged with murder. He was captured by U. S. Marshals in Sandusky, Ohio in December 2009. [3]
7. July 3: Fredrick Porter, 40, was shot to death during an argument on the 1700 block of Exeter Avenue. Larry Talley was arrested and charged with murder. [4]
8. August 6: Terrory Murphy, 22, was found shot to death in his car on the 1200 block of Clarendon Avenue. Terrell French, Meoshia Daniel, Monica Sims and Joe Reid were arrested and charged. French, the shooter, and Reid, the driver, were convicted in Spring 2012. (report)
9. September 10: Devellyn Joel Wilson, 54, was found dead in a room at the America's Best Value Inn on 9th Avenue. The death is being investigated as a homicide, but there has been no arrest. Kevin Dudley, killed while attempting to rob The Bait Shop on November 10, was a suspect. A reward of $5,000 has been offered by the Governor's office. (report)
10. September 19: Rico Teon Braxton, 23, was shot during an argument at a party at the Pipe Shop Community Center. Kareem Lovell Woods was arrested and charged. [5]
11. October 5: Ledarrian Knox, 22, was shot to death in his home on the 3200 block of 6th Avenue. No arrest. A reward of $5,000 has been offered by the Governor's office. (report)
12. October 10: Kevin Dudley, a suspect in the murder of Devellyn Joel Wilson, was killed during a robbery. His death was ruled justified as self-defense.
13. November 10: Kevin Duane Dudley, 41, was shot and killed by the owner of The Bait Shop at 729 9th Street North during an attempted armed robbery. [6]

Birmingham

• 72 homicides (list)

Brighton

1. August 3: Della Mae Banks, 48, was killed in her bed by a "hail of gunfire" from a group of shooters outside her home in the 800 block of Tremont Street. Her husband and two others were in the home, but escaped injury. The shooting was believed to have been a retaliation for the earlier murder of Brandon McGuire nearby in Birmingham. Jeremy Dewayne Craig was arrested and charged with capital murder. [7]
2. September 7: LaDarrius Gaitor, 21, was shot in his car on the 1200 block of McDonald Street. He is the son of Della Banks who was killed August 3 as she slept in her bed. Eric Law was arrested and charged with capital murder. [8]
3. November 4: Brandy Richey, 28, a hostess at Logan's Roadhouse in Bessemer, was shot in a car on the 4200 block of Edwards Street. She died two days later at UAB West. Kevin Eldridge was arrested and charged with capital murder. [9]

Center Point

1. April 18: Anthony McGraw, 19, shot on the 500 block of 16th Terrace Northwest after a dispute regarding a burglary in the area. (map). A man at the wheel of a fleeing car was taken into custody for questioning. [10]
2. August 22: Camarah Fisher, 3½ weeks old, died at Children's Hospital from blunt force trauma. Her father, Cortez Fisher, was later arrested and charged with capital murder. He was found not guilty at trial in June 2010. (report)

Fairfield

1. July 2: Trieu Duong, 54, owner of Jewelry For Less on Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Drive, was shot during a robbery at his store. Two suspects, Perry Cauthen, Jr and Edward J. Edward Morsby III, were taken into custody and charged. [11]
2. September 8: Wesley Devonn Lane, 20, was shot to death while sitting in his car at Fairfield City Park. Markee Walker and Roderick King have been arrested and charged with capital murder. [12]

Graysville

1. February 16: Richard Melcher, 52, was shot by his brother, Curtis Melcher, who was using a .22 handgun to try to break up a fight between Richard and their father, Pernie Melcher at their home on the 300 block of 15th Avenue Southeast. Curtis was arrested and charged with murder. In 2008 Michael Robinson was run over by Jonathan Melcher, his half-brother, at the same address. (report)
2. March 22: Michelle Wallace, 39, was shot by her 16-year-old son, Jamie Lee Wallace. He stole a pistol from his grandmother during an argument with his mother at their home on the 30 block of 3rd Street Northeast. He shot her in the back as she fled with his 8-year-old brother to her parent's house next door, then shot her again on the porch. He followed by taking aim at his grandfather and pulling the trigger several times to no effect. Wallace fled in a stolen coal truck, but was captured a few blocks away. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, theft and resisting arrest. Despite his attorney's advice to seek acquittal for mental illness, Wallace pleaded guilty to intentional murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Michelle's mother committed suicide in the aftermath of the incident. (report)

Homewood

1. December 30: Isaias Garcia Juarez, 36, was shot to death in a unit at Knoll Crest Apartments at 250 Robert Jemison Road. No arrest. [13]

Hoover

1. September 9: Deanna Camille Kelly, 39, and a roommate were found shot to death at her apartment on Wisteria Place. Her roommate, Tulio Nava Tenario, 24, was also found dead at the scene. The deaths were ruled a murder-suicide by the medical examiner. [14]
2. October 17: Nicholas Matthew Johnson, 25, was found stabbed to death in his home at 508 Shades Crest Road in Bluff Park. A woman who lived with him was also injured. Wayne Duncan, 48, of Decatur, was arrested and charged with murder. His wife was also charged with hindering prosecution. [15]
3. December 17: Courtney Stevenson, 23, was found shot to death outside her home at 545 Russet Bend Drive in a suspected domestic incident. Her former boyfriend, Joshua John Holten, familiar to police from an earlier disturbance, was apprehended while walking along John Hawkins Parkway, and a gun was recovered nearby. He was subsequently charged with murder. [16]

Hueytown

1. January 24: Ramona Houston, 79, was found shot to death at her home on Daffodil Avenue. Her husband was also found dead in an apparent murder-suicide. [17]
2. February 19: Kimble Parker, 38, and another person were killed when the car they were riding in ran off the road in the 3500 block of 15th Street Road. The driver, Josh Douglas Cofer, had been drinking and was subsequently charged with murder. [18]
3. February 19: Scott Wright, 36, was killed along with Kimble Parker in the same incident.
4. March 7: William Chad Gilbert, 31, found stabbed to death with three others in a house at 225 Woodland Drive. Scott Lamar Abbott was convicted of murdering October 2010. (report)
5. March 7: Jeri Lynn Cole, 27, found stabbed to death at the same house.
6. March 7: Nika Sandlin, 24, found stabbed to death at the same house.
7. March 7: Joshua Gilleo, 26, found stabbed to death at the same house.

Irondale

1. May 22: Brodrick Rashad Dixon, 27, was shot to death outside the 1100 building on Sharpsburg Circle in the Enclave at Mountain Brook apartments. Brighton Police Officer Chevis Raymond Finley was convicted of murder. (report)

McCalla

1. October 15: An unnamed male was shot to death in his home on Trace Lane. His 16-year-old son is being questioned. [19]

Midfield

1. March 4: Willie Williams, 86, was killed when her pick-up truck was hit by a car being driven by Marvin Leonard Brown, who was fleeing from Midfield Police. Although the officer had ended pursuit several seconds earlier, Brown ran a stop sign and caused the fatal collision. He was charged with murder and several other offenses soon later. [20]\
2. May 25: Tyrone Burton, 56, was shot and killed by a security guard after he crashed his car into Midfield Motor Company and waved a gun at passersby. Midfield police are investigating, but have not filed any charges. [21]

Pleasant Grove

1. August 3: Dorothy Allison, 89, was beaten to death in her home on the 400 block of Altamont Drive. Her grandson, Kenneth Ray Daniels, left the scene in her car and was injured after a police chase. He was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder. [22]

Tarrant

1. August 22: D'angelo Deon Hudson, 20, died at UAB Hospital after being shot in an alley behind his home at 1397 Fulton Avenue. His death was ruled justified by reason of self-defense. [23]

Vestavia Hills

1. December 23: Michael Dewayne Fells, Jr, was found shot in the vicinity of a car abandoned on the 1400 block of Montgomery Highway, behind a service station that had been robbed on the 21st. No arrest. [24]

Unincorporated Jefferson County

1. January 16: Bernicia Tonya Murray, 38, was found dead from trauma to the head and stripped of clothing at "The Billboard", a wooded area off the 2600 block of Rocky Ridge Lane near International Park and I-459. Demitrius Alexander was identified as a suspect in 2011 after DNA taken from the scene matched his record in a national database. A gun matching the murder weapon was found on his property and he was subsequently charged with murder. Alexander was convicted in Bill Cole's court in April 2014. (report)
2. May 8: Jimmy Brandon Edwards, 27, found dead from a gunshot wound in a driveway on the 2500 block of 2nd Way Northwest near Center Point. No arrest. [25]
3. June 26: Renate Dahnke Easley, 67, was killed in her yard as the result of a two-car collision at the nearby intersection of Andrew Way and Watson Road in Grayson Valley. A 16-year-old driver who failed to yield the right-of-way after stopping was charged with criminally negligent homicide. [26]
4. December 16: Carlos Holyfield, 27, was found shot to death in the back of an SUV abandoned on the 3100 block of Erwin Dairy Road near Boyle's Gap. No arrest. [27]

Lee County

1. January 3: Asia S. Scott, 22, was shot to death at the Webster's Crossing Mobile Home Park in Auburn. David Latravis Pitts was arrested in Carrollton, Texas and convicted of murder and attempted murder in the shooting. (report)
2. July 23: Unnamed victim found at a residence in Auburn.
3. July 23: Second unnamed victim found at the same residence.

Shelby County

1. March 11: Wendy Louise Starnes, 33, was found dead outside a mobile home at 126A Oliver Street, off Pelham Parkway. Juan Rodriguez, 34, was injured at the scene of the apparent domestic dispute and charged with murder. He was convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter in 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. (report)
2. October 1: Carl Wade Pearson, 56, was found shot to death at his home on the 200 block of Pool Road just north of the Shelby community. His wife, Debra Denise Pearson, was arrested and charged with murder. [28]
3. November 23: Amy K. Elliott, 18, was killed in an auto collision on Alabama State Highway 119 that also left four others injured. Diane Harris Stephens, 52, was charged with reckless murder and leaving the scene of an accident involving injuries. [29]
4. November 30: Ken Wisham, 71, was shot by his wife Martha, 66, at their home in the Laurel Woods subdivision. Mrs Wisham shot herself after police responded. [30]
5. December 3: Philip Davis, 33, a Pelham police officer, was fatally shot during a traffic stop on I-65 at mile marker 243 in Pelham. The Hoover Police Department arrested Bart Wayne Johnson as a suspect. Johnson was in a truck with his brother, Bill Johnson, a Trussville police officer, who claims he was taking his brother to surrender. Bart Johnson was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. (report)
6. December 27: Kara Nicole Lee, 15 months, died at Children's Hospital from injuries suffered by aggravated abuse. James Wesley Howard, who lived with Lee's mother on the 200 block of Shelby County Road 405 near Lay Lake, was charged with capital murder. He pleaded guilty in April 2012 in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. (report)

St Clair County

1. February 2: Michael Clapper, 48, was found bludgeoned to death in a storage unit at Highway 174 Mini Storage on Alabama Highway 174 in Odenville. Billy Lee Spence, Jr was arrested and charged after investigators determined that he was involved during an interview. The death is believed to have resulted from a prior argument. [31]
2. February 28: Stoney Lee McDuffie, 42, was found beaten to death in a mobile home on the 200 block of Trails End Lane in Moody. No arrest. [32]
3. March 23: William Randolph Carleton, Sr, 67, was killed by a rifle shot near his home on Wolf Creek Road South in Pell City. The victim's son, Robert Allen Carleton, was arrested and charged with murder, but the case was dismissed under the Alabama Stand Your Ground Law in 2010. That ruling was upheld by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. (report)
4. April 7: Diana Danahoo Rice, 62, was found strangled to death in a wooded area off Camp Winnataska Road. She had last been seen at her home on the 16000 block of Shelby County Highway 55 in Shelby County. Randy O'Neal Davidson, a suspect apprehended for another home invasion in Jefferson County was charged with capital murder. [33]
5. May 11: Conswella McCoy, 37, was found shot to death on a sidewalk outside the Harrison Estates Apartments in Pell City. Her estranged husband, Randall McCoy, Sr, was also found dead at the scene and is believed to have carried out a murder-suicide. [34]
6. July 31: Jimmie E. Glass, 51, was found shot to death with his wife in their home at 842 James Taylor Road in Moody. His son, Adrian Edward Glass was arrested in South Dakota and charged with two counts of capital murder. He had pleaded "not guilty by reason of disease or mental defect." [35]
7. July 31: Jackie Denise Glass, 49, was found shot to death with her husband in the same incident.
8. September 14: Michael Darrell Turner, 24, was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate at the St Clair County Correctional Facility in Springville. Taurus Jermaine Carroll, already serving a life sentence without parole (reduced from a death sentence by the Alabama State Supreme Court) for the 1995 murder of Betty Long, was convicted and given a death sentence. He appealed that conviction, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it. (report)
9. October 9: Derrick Dwayne "Goate" Wilson, 36, was found in the trunk of a burned car near the 3900 block of Camp Winnataska Road. No arrest. [36]
10. November 12: Barry "Cheez" Bush, 41, was fatally shot by Pell City police officer Vincent Warrington while serving a search warrant. In April 2010 a grand jury found no criminal act was committed in the shooting. Bush's family has filed a civil suit against the officer. (report)

Talladega County

1. July 19: Magdalene Marbury, 26, was shot to death. Cedric Lamar Keith has been arrested and charged. [37]
2. August 25: Trevan Hale, 30, was shot in a gunfight and died later at Coosa Valley Medical Center. Ferlandez Lamar Cook was arrested and charged with murder after he sought treatment for a gunshot wound at the same hospital. [38]
3. December 8: Deon Long, 38, was found dead at his home at 121 Pleasant Hill Lane in the Odena community. His 2001 gray Lincoln LS is being sought. [39]

Tuscaloosa County

1. March 29: Vincent Edward Hunter, 35, was found beaten to death in an SUV parked at a McDonald's restaurant on Alabama Highway 69 in Taylorville. Tamarcus Kendrell Thomas and Tavares Antwon Horton have been arrested and charged with capital murder. [40]
2. May 1: Delvarious Yarnell Johnson, 20, was shot in his car following a dispute over a game of dice in Holt. Jonathan David Polk has been arrested and charged with capital murder. [41]
3. October 2: An unnamed male, 60, was shot inside the RV where he lived. He struggled to a neighbor's house for help and died later at DCH Regional Medical Center. No arrest. [42]
4. October 2: Catherine Ann Provo, was fatally burned on the porch of her home on Hargrove Road in Tuscaloosa. She died later at DCH Regional Medical Center. Her live-in boyfriend, Clayton Benjamin Fleming, splashed gasoline on her from a milk jug and set it alight following an argument. He was charged with capital murder, but pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to life in prison. (report)

Walker County

1. February 2: Frank Creel, 51, was killed in a shootout with Michael Norris at Norris' home on the 7000 block of Carbon Hill- Nauvoo Road in Nauvoo. Norris was injured in the gunfight. No charges have yet been filed. [43]
2. March 19: Luis Alberto Montano, 28, was shot to death on Hull Road in Empire. No arrest. [44]
3. March 28: Stephanie Allred Mitchell, 38, was found shot at her home on the premises of a boat dealership she operated on U. S. Highway 78 between Jasper and Nauvoo. Dashiki Casimuir Cherry, serving a sentence for attempted murder in Jefferson County, was charged with her murder in June 2010. (report)
4. August 1: William G. Cantrell, Jr, 43, was shot and killed by a security guard at the It's Your Lucky Day Bingo Hall at 20 Pineywoods Sipsey Road in Jasper. Cantrell drove a stolen car to the scene and fired a shotgun several times during the attempted robbery. [45]
5. October 3: Gary Lee Berry, Jr, 31, was shot and killed following an argument at a home in Townley. No arrest. [46]

References

• Gray, Jeremy (January 1, 2010) "City homicides drop third year in row." Birmingham News

External links

• Birmingham News map of area homicides in 2009