2016 Citronelle Murders

On the early morning of August 20, 2016, five people were killed in a private residence in the 1700 block of Jim Platt Road, a rural area west of Citronelle, Alabama. The victims, who were asleep at the time of the attack, included two married couples and a woman who was five months pregnant. Investigators said the assailant used both firearms and an axe; all five victims were shot and also struck with the axe, and all were found dead at the scene. The killings were described by investigators as the worst mass killing in the history of Mobile County.

The home was owned by Joseph Adam Turner, whose sister, Laneta Lester, had gone there seeking refuge from her estranged boyfriend, Derrick Dearman, amid what was described as an abusive relationship. During the attack, Lester and an infant belonging to her brother and his wife were abducted and taken to Leakesville, Mississippi, roughly 30 miles away, where Dearman reportedly held them for ransom. Lester was later found alive but badly beaten; she and the infant were released after a ransom was paid, and she returned to Citronelle to notify police of the killings. Investigators noted that residents at the house had called 911 about three hours before the killings to report Dearman on the property, but responding officers found no evidence of him and left.

The five victims were identified as Joseph Adam Turner, 26; his wife Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and his wife Chelsea Marie Reed, 22, who was five months pregnant. The house where the murders occurred burned down a couple of weeks after the crime.

Dearman surrendered to police in his hometown of Leakesville, Mississippi, reportedly after his father urged him to do so, and was extradited to Mobile, Alabama. He was charged with six counts of capital murder — including one count for Chelsea Reed's fetus under Alabama's fetal homicide law — along with counts of abduction with intent to defile and extortion. He initially pleaded not guilty. Following a mental evaluation ordered by the court to assess his competency, mental state at the time of the crimes, and IQ, Dearman pleaded guilty to the capital murder and kidnapping charges in September 2018, after dismissing his court-appointed attorneys. Because Alabama law required a jury trial for capital murder charges, he still faced trial before a jury, which found him guilty on all counts and recommended a death sentence; the court affirmed the sentence on October 12, 2018.

The Alabama Supreme Court later authorized setting an execution date, and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey set the date for October 17, 2024. Reports indicated Dearman had given up efforts to overturn his sentence. He was executed by the state of Alabama on October 17, 2024, at 6:14 p.m.