List of homicides in 2011

This is a List of homicides in 2011, including homicide cases reported throughout the Birmingham District. At least 139 homicides were 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 determined by plea or trial.

Bibb County

1. June 4: Amer Ahmad Kharofa, 22, of the 129th Medical Company was killed along with another guardsman in an auto collision in Centreville. Mary Catherine Pearce was charged with reckless murder, vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence. (report)
2. June 4: Logan MacKenzie Rackley, 22, of the 129th Medical Company was killed along with Kharofa. Mary Catherine Pearce was charged with reckless murder, vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence. (report)

Blount County

1. June 29: Edward Tidmore, 66, was shot to death at his home in an incident related to a dispute over a car sale. His daughter was injured in the shooting. Willard Shaw appeared soon afterward at an auto parts store and said that he had just shot someone. He was arrested and charged with murder and assault. (report)

Calhoun County

1. February 9: John A. Payne was found dead during a standoff between his nephew, Jonathan Singleton, and U. S. Marshals at a house on Gate 5 Road, about a mile off U.S. Highway 431 in Alexandria. The Marshals were attempting to serve a warrant for child abuse, burglary, theft by deception, and possession of a forged instrument. During the four-hour standoff, they were joined by a SWAT team from the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department and an Etowah County Joint Special Operations Group including Gadsden Police officers. Payne's body was found in a mobile home near the house. The trailer had been rigged with booby-traps and incendiary devices rigged to motion sensors. Singleton shot and killed himself and set off another firebomb in the home after officers launched tear gas grenades inside. (report)
2. March 17: Divelt Adamson, 31, was shot multiple times at a home in Anniston, likely a victim of an ongoing feud between two groups. No arrest. (report)
3. March 20: Marcus Marks, 28, was killed in a drive-by shooting at his apartment, apparently stemming from a domestic dispute. No arrest (report)
10. September 9: Barbara Dowling Exum was shot to death at a Papa John's Pizza on the 1200 block of Snow Street in Oxford. No arrest. Papa John's and Governor Robert Bentley's office have each put up $5,000 toward a reward for information leading to a conviction in the case. (report)
11. September 19: Ruby Meads, 74, was found stabbed to death along with her son and stepson in their burning house on Belmont Road in Anniston. The stepson, Walter Meads III, is believed to have committed the crimes. (report)
12. September 19: Richard Wilson, 51, was found stabbed to death along with his mother and step-brother in their burning house on Belmont Road in Anniston. The step brother, Walter Meads III, is believed to have committed the crimes. (report)

Chilton County

1. June 3: An 11-year-old boy died at Children's Hospital in Birmingham after being shot at a residence on the 3000 block of Chilton County Road 69 near Clanton. Another boy was also shot and wounded. His mother, Ann Campbell, was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder. (report)

Etowah County

1. July: Edward Robert Jackson, Jr, a paper carrier for the Gadsden Times, was shot multiple times following a verbal argument on the loading dock outside the newspaper plant. Ethel Lee Brewster was arrested and charged with murder. (report)

Jefferson County

110

Adamsville

1. March 1: Shellane Green, 44, was found dead inside her home on Sunset Boulevard. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. Her ex-husband, Willie H. Forrest Jr, was arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)
2. October 9: Reginald Henley, 30, was shot to death at his home at 3516 Poplar Lane. No arrest. (report)

Bessemer

1. March 3: Luman Jones, 18, was found shot to death on the 2500 block of Carolina Terrace near his home. Ronnie Black and Michael Black have been charged, but remain at large. (report)
2. March 9: David M. Cupps, 53, was found dead outside the Comfort Inn at 5051 Academy Lane in Bessemer. Cupps, of Sunbury, Ohio, was visiting Vicksburg, Mississippi on business when he was apparently abducted and killed. His disappearance was reported on March 8 when he missed his flight home. Two Louisiana prison escapees, Ricky Wedgeworth, 36, and Darian "Drake" Pierce, 33, were found driving his rented Buick Enclave on I-40 in Jackson, Tennessee that night. They escaped on foot, but were recaptured on March 14 and pleaded guilty to kidnapping in February 2013. (report)
3. March 13: Vetonio Eirby, 23, died from gunshot wounds at UAB West. He was gunned down on the 900 block of 33rd Street in mid-day. Fredrick Williams was arrested and charged with murder. (report)
4. April 5: James Leon Lewis, 45, was shot and killed outside a home at 615 6th Avenue North. David James Manning, Jr, identified by witnesses as the shooter, surrendered at Bessemer Police Department headquarters and was charged with murder. (report)
5. June 11: Willie E. Paterson, 32, was shot to death on the 2400 block of Berkley Avenue. Nicholas Wynn was arrested and charged with the murder. (report)
6. August 14: Meoshia Nicole Townsend, 18, was shot to death following a verbal altercation in the parking lot of McDonald's restaurant on the 1000 block of 9th Avenue North. A warrant for capital murder has been issued for Shaneida Hendon. (report)
7. September 19: Jeremy Jamal Williams, 23, was shot to death on the 500 block of Charleston Drive. Marcus Darnell Jemison and Justin Blake Hollon were charged with capital murder (report)
8. September 22: Robert Lee Armstrong, 67, was shot to death on the front porch of a home on the 2900 block of 12th Avenue North. Luvenia Spates was charged with the murder. (report)
9. October 12: Michael Hale, Jr, 38, was shot to death on the 900 block of 26th Street North. Reginald Dewayne Fluker and Barbara Merritt were arrested charged with murder. (report)
10. October 16: Quinterrius Baldwin-Steele, 18, was killed in a drive-by shooting on the corner of 16th Street South and Berkley Avenue. Cadarrius Lamartez Johnson was arrested and charged with capital murder, but a grand jury declined to indict. No other arrests. Governor Bentley's office has offered a $5,000 reward for information (report)
11. November 6: Marilyn Moore, 51, was killed by being struck on the head with a concrete block at a friend's home on the 2100 block of Carolina Avenue. Her boyfriend, Joe Nathan Reeves, called Birmingham police to surrender and was taken into custody at a motel on 3rd Avenue North. He was charged with murder. (report)

Birmingham

63; See List of Birmingham homicides in 2011 for details.

Center Point

1. January 20: Monzerrat Perez, 6 months, died at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. She was delivered by emergency caesarean on July 25, 2010, the day after her family was rear-ended by a speeding vehicle on Center Point Parkway. Her father died instantly and her mother died the next day following surgery. Joseph Alexander Goolsby, the driver of the speeding car, had been drinking. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder caused by operating a vehicle with extreme indifference to human life. Monzerrat survived, but has had medical complications since birth. A third murder count is expected to be filed following her death. (report)
4. May 6: Reginald Charles Davis, 20, was shot to death on the 1900 block of East Bend Circle after a confrontation. Derrick Allen was arrested and charged with murder. (report)
5. August 13: Randy Len Colburn, 46, was struck and killed by a Kia Sorento driven by Jessica Lynn Branham in a parking lot outside CiCi's Pizza on Center Point Parkway. Branham, who had been using cocaine immediately before the incident, was convicted in September 2012 of felony reckless manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years with a minimum of three served. (report)
6. August 31: Tavarus Pledger, 35, was shot during a robbery in his driveway on the 1500 block of 3rd Street Northwest . He died later at St Vincent's East. Roosevelt Migel Julien and Randolph James Gregory were arrested and charged with murder. Gregory pleaded guilty and received a 20-year split sentence, with a minimum of 5 years served in prison. (report)
7. October 23: Henry Lamar Smoot, 27, died at UAB Hospital. He was found fatally wounded by gunfire outside a vehicle at the BP service station on Center Point Parkway. Corey Lavelle Roland was charged with capital murder and surrended to U. S. Marshals on November 2. (report)
8. December 14: Edward Shane Hammett, 26, was stabbed to death by one of his employees at the Food Giant at 1675 Center Point Parkway. John Boyd, Jr was arrested and charged with murder. (report)

Fairfield

1. May 1: Darren Stephens, 34, was shot during a fight with another man at 1008 Hillandale Drive. No arrest. (report)
2. November 21: Sherri Smith, 32, was stabbed and shot to death at her home at 7401 Earlwood Road in Fair Oaks. No arrest. (report)
3. December 10: Wynell Carlisle, 71, was found dead at her home on the 300 block of 44th Street. Her husband was arrested and charged with murder. (report)
4. December 31: Ladarrius McRae Watson, 23, was shot to death on the 5900 block of Avenue C. Antonio Burns turned himself in to police and was charged with capital murder. (report)

Hoover

1. February 3: Kevin Sullivan, 23, died in a single-car collision on I-459 North between Parkwood Road and Lake Cyrus. The driver, Nicholas Phillip Andrew Hart, lost control of the vehicle while changing lanes and ran off an embankment, striking a tree. A second passenger was also injured. Because he was inebriated, Hart was charged with criminally negligent homicide in Sullivan's death. (report)

Hueytown

1. January 9: Andrea D. Tucker, 43 was shot to death at her home at 410 Clio Street. Her fiance, James Williams III, was arrested and charged with murder. (report)

Irondale

1. September 7: Uteva Monique Wilson, 23, was shot and killed by her husband, 41-year-old Birmingham Police detective Rodney Jerome WIlson, at their home in the Enclave at Mountain Brook apartments on Sharpsburg Circle. Wilson called for paramedics on his police radio and then killed himself. Mrs Wilson's two small children were left uninjured. (report)
2. October 17: Jose Antonio Hueramo, 16, was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on Crestwood Boulevard near Brown Lee Road. A 28-year-old suspect was arrested after a tip was phoned in from a collission center. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. (report)

Leeds

1. July 10: Thomas Roy Hill Hopkins, 22, was killed and two others injured in a shooting at the Cedar Grove Apartments at 8100 Douglas Avenue. Investigators determined that Hopkins was attempting to rob a resident of the complex and exchanged fire with two people who heard the commotion and came outside. No charges will be filed. (report)
2. October 29: Nickie Wayne Glenn, 28, was found shot multiple times near U. S. Highway 78 near the Shops at Grand River and the Irondale city limit. Benjamin Todd Acton, jailed for a separate incident, was charged with capital murder in December. (link)

Midfield

1. November 22: Joseph Ransey Stewart, 32, was found shot to death in his home on 7th Avenue. No arrest. (report)

Mulga

1. March 5: Jerry Crawford, 58, was one of two men found shot to death on the 300 block of 1st Avenue. Lajonas Deshane Powell and Harold Brownlee Jr are alleged to have abducted the men from Crawford's home in Fairmont to rob them. They were charged with capital murder. (report)
2. March 5: Willie James Turner, 35, was the second of two men found shot to death on the 300 block of 1st Avenue. Lajonas Deshane Powell and Harold Brownlee Jr are alleged to have abducted the men from Crawford's home in Fairmont to rob them. They were charged with capital murder. (report)
3. September 27: Ishmael Clark, 19, was shot to death during a robbery attempt near the intersection of 1st Street and 2nd Avenue. Martez Darnell McIntosh was arrested later that day on the campus of Lawson State Community College and charged with capital murder and attempted murder. (report)

Tarrant

1. November 6: Preston Ray Floyd, 25, was shot to death at a home at 1610 Brewton Street. The suspect, William Jordan Key, led Tarrant Police on a car chase that ended with his own death. (report)
2. November 6: William Jordan Key, 20, suspect in the shooting death of Preston Floyd, was found shot to death following a car chase with officers from the Tarrant Police Department. An investigation into whether he was shot by Floyd prior to the chase or by police returning fire is under way. (report)

Unincorporated Jefferson County

1. January 5: Michael Lee Terry, 23, was found shot to death on the 4300 block of Indian Valley Road in the Pawnee Heights community. His 2007 Lexus was found hours later on Cherry Avenue in Forestdale. No arrest. (report)
2. February 24: Jakesha Wills, 26, was shot to death in a murder-suicide on the 1700 block of Annendale Drive off Brewster Road just north of Birmingham, and west of Trussville. Hugh Wills, 36, was in the process of divorcing her. He shot his wife in the driveway of their home, then killed himself. The couple's 4-year-old son was playing in the yard and was not injured. (report)
3. March 13: Jennifer Whitworth, 30, was the apparent victim of a murder-suicide on the 2800 block of Arrowhead Drive Northeast in the Arrowhead subdivision north of Gardendale. Her estranged husband, Joshua Whitworth, 33, was found dead nearby. Numerous marijuana plants were removed from the house. (report)
4. June 30: Albert Neal Watson. 79, was found shot to death in his home on the 2500 block of Betty Hill Road in Adger. A suspect was taken into custody, but no charges have been filed. (report)
5. August 7: Tekaya Nahshon Clark, 27, was killed during an apparent murder-suicide on the 1800 block of Oakleaf Lane in northeastern Jefferson County. Brian Jerrell Holcombe, 28, an ex-boyfriend who is presumed to have shot her, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (report)
6. October 11: Larry Joseph Bratton, 57, died from injuries sustained during a fight with his cousin, Chance Everett Thomas Cross, on the 5200 block of Charles Hamilton Road in McCalla. Cross was charged with manslaughter. (report)
7. November 8: Ronald Wayne Thacker, 53, was shot to death with his wife at their home on the 9900 block of Taylor's Ferry Road northwest of Rock Creek. Their 17-year-old son admitted to the murders to his 20-year-old brother. He was taken into custody in Adger and charged with capital murder. (report)
8. November 8: Barbara Hill Thacker, 55, was shot to death with her husband at their home on the 9900 block of Taylor's Ferry Road northwest of Rock Creek. Their 17-year-old son admitted to the murders to his 20-year-old brother. He was taken into custody in Adger and charged with capital murder. (report)

Lee County

1. April 6: An unnamed person was killed and three others injured after a man opened fire on a minivan in a parking lot at Southern Union State Community College in Opelika. Thomas F. May III turned himself in to authorities later the same day and was charged with capital murder and attempted murder. (report)
2. October 18: Jamal Marcel Butler was shot to death on W. E. Morton Street in Opelika. Jadarius Lamar Dowdell was charged with the murder and turned himself in to police two days later. (report)

Shelby County

1. January 13: John Smith IV, 23, was accidentally shot to death at Anthony's Jewelry & Pawn at 4673 U. S. Highway 280. No charges are expected. (report)
2. May 10: Denise Harris Taylor, 33, was beaten and stabbed to death at her home in Maylene. Her estranged husband, Derrick Dewayne Taylor, was found with her, apparently unconscious. He was later charged with murder. (report)
3. June 4: Wendy Marie Thompson was found strangled to death at her home on Milstead Road in Calera. Her ex-boyfriend, Terry L. Griggs of Thompson Station, Tennessee was arrested in Orange Beach and charged with capital murder. (report)
4. July 15: Trinity Lacey Patterson, an infant, was stabbed to death in room 11 of the Shelby Motor Lodge off U. S. Highway 31. Her father, Terrance Patterson, was charged with capital murder in the deaths. (report)
5. July 15: Tryphena Lacey, 24, and her infant child were stabbed to death in room 11 of the Shelby Motor Lodge off U. S. Highway 31. Terrance Patterson, the child's father, was charged with capital murder in the deaths. (report)
6. July 23: Charlie Abdullah Shabazz, 27, was shot to death in the 100 block of Spring Street in Calera. Cory Xavier Merritte Stallworth was arrested and charged with murder. (report)
7. July 27: Attorney Blake Lazenby, 54, was shot to death at his home on Stonehill Road in Sylacauga. His car was found, set afire, in Tarrant. Suspect Ocie Lee Lynch was charged with capital murder and arrested by U. S. Marshals in January 2012. (link)
8. September 6: Johnathan Williams, 34, was shot as he got out of his car at his home on the 1100 block of 11th Avenue South in Alabaster. He died later at UAB Hospital. No arrest. (report)
9. September 21: Sonya S. Derossett, 48, was found unresponsive by paramedics responding to an emergency call at her home on Shelby County Highway 51 in Sterrett. She died the next day from ethylene glycol poisoning. Her husband, Michael Shane Derossett, was arrested and charged with murder in April 2012. (report)
10. October 28: Phyllis Castillo, 78, was shot to death in the yard of her home on the 300 block of Roubdioux Road. Her son, Melvin Jones, and another relative were found with her in what is believed to have been a murder-suicide. (report)
11. October 28: Anita Castillo, 53, was shot to death in the yard of her home on the 300 block of Roubdioux Road. A female relative and her son were found with her in what is believed to have been a murder-suicide. (report)
12. December 4: Harry Jordan, 37, was found shot to death on Shelby Street in Montevallo.

St Clair County

1. March 23: An Ashville couple was involved in an apparent murder-suicide on U. S. Highway 231 near Ashville High School. (report)

Talladega County

1. July 27: Blake Lazenby, 54, an attorney, was found shot to death at his home on Stonehill Road in Sylacauga. His car had been found, on fire, in Tarrant earlier the same night. (report)

Tuscaloosa County

1. April 5: The body of a woman found in a burning house at 611 34th Avenue East in Tuscaloosa was discovered by investigators to have been the victim of homicide before the fire was set. No arrest. (report)
2. September 11: James Harry Johnson III, 25, a graduate student at the University of Alabama, was shot to death in the parking lot of the Sterling Crimson Apartments in Tuscaloosa. A man arrested for a nearby robbery was questioned about the incident. (report)
3. November 13: Chasity Michelle Helton, 21, was found dead at the Green Village Mobile Home Park in Northport, where she was a resident. Lequicey Jamah Guyton, Jr and Lededrick Antwon Patton were arrested in August 2012 and charged with capital murder. (report)
4. November 13: Allison Wightman, 25, was shot to death in her bed on Wallace Chapel Lane in Vance. Her husband, Matthew, was preparing hunting rifles when he pointed what he thought was an unloaded gun at his sleeping wife and pulled the trigger. He was arrested and charged with manslaughter. (report)

Walker County

1. July 13: Gregory Devon Johnson, 26, died at Walker Baptist Medical Center after being shot in a gunfight outside his home in Jasper. Another man was injured. (report)