Found Deceased AL - Paighton Houston, 29, left bar with 2 men, Birmingham, 20 Dec 2019 #2

[gitana1]

Indeed. That would be the difference between, say, First Degree Murder and Manslaughter, right?

Yup.

 

[Crimechick27]

How long it would take to dig a grave is dependent on the soil type. Clay a long time. Sand a short time.

Interesting. We have clay soil here. Does anyone know what kind of soil is prominent in Hueytown?

 

[margarita25]

One thing about the case at hand, since not toooooo much time has elapsed since recovery, I am optimistic that the autopsy and tox results will not be inconclusive, as we see so often here, knock on wood.

 

[Ontario Mom]

What if the perp is in some way impaired and sending a text on the victim’s phone? The wording makes me wonder. And may explain why it’s alarming instead of reassuring.

Interesting that you suggest the perp is impaired in some way. I suppose it's possible.

 

[Colorado303]

The thing about the text NOT being from PH that doesn’t make sense to me is if you’re trying to cover something up, why send an alarming message? I get trying to shift blame to some fictional “heavyset black men” and throwing everyone off, but it would make more sense to send a text that everything is fine. Apparently PH’s dad and bro immediately went to the police once they learned of the text. They might have done so anyways at some point that morning, but it would be more likely to stall things if the text had seemed perfectly fine. There leaves open the possibility that maybe it’s just a misunderstanding and she’s at a friends house, her phone died, etc. how many times have we seen LE hesitate to start a missing person investigation because adults have the right to choose to be missing, etc. If they knew her last known text seemed fine and normal, they would probably hesitate even more and tell PH’s family to wait it out. If you’re hiding something, you want to buy time and delay delay delay...putting everyone on high alert almost immediately isn’t going to do that.

That’s a good point. IMO it was sent to make LE investigate strangers instead of people she knew.

 

[Warwick7]

I can relate. Whoooo. All my bells were going off. I have my theory on why. Guilt is guilt. Maybe not for the crime at hand but things you would do to cause you people to believe you did. That's all I can say about that.

This is how I feel as well....

 

[lindaromas]

Interesting. We have clay soil here. Does anyone know what kind of soil is prominent in Hueytown?

I would say clay according to the pictures the dirt is reddish and lots of pooling water.
Body found in shallow grave in Hueytown yard identified as Paighton Houston

 

[Jsizzle]

So there is a way to text on someone’s phone without unlocking it. If someone texts me and my son has my phone. All he has to do is hold the text bubble down until a screen pops up. And there you go. He can text to whoever just texted me. Now, he can’t read what someone sent me bc it’s only by my facial recognition. But he can text out. Or the person used her fingerprint, knew password (unlikely) or face for facial recognition. Also, some
Phone lock automatically but mine doesn’t. I have to set to stay open until I close it.

 

[Zella]

Interesting that you suggest the perp is impaired in some way. I suppose it's possible.

I do think if someone sent the text message rather than her, they were not operating with a well-thought-out plan at all.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Interesting. We have clay soil here. Does anyone know what kind of soil is prominent in Hueytown?

I don't, but the articles previously posted about the grave site location mentioned that it was muddy and messy, I believe were the words used. But, that doesn't mean it was muddy when she was put there.

 

[Jsizzle]

I wonder if PH had her phone fingerprint or password protected. My husband and son are the only people who know the password to use my cell. If PH’s phone automatically locked the way many people’s do, either she sent the message, someone forced her to (seems unlikely to me), or someone who knew her password did (seems like that would be a very short list of people). I still can’t figure this part out. ‍

Read text above. Meant to quote you!

 

[Colorado303]

I wonder if PH had her phone fingerprint or password protected. My husband and son are the only people who know the password to use my cell. If PH’s phone automatically locked the way many people’s do, either she sent the message, someone forced her to (seems unlikely to me), or someone who knew her password did (seems like that would be a very short list of people). I still can’t figure this part out. ‍

Thumbprint ID. If she had it all they’d need was her body to access the phone.

 

[ajaylee]

My main question is was this trip to the bar pre planned? Did PH tell her parents she was going there or is this something the so called friend told them happened the next day? It really has me wondering if it wasn't pre-planned did the friend invite PH over to try to persuade her into helping the friend score some dope using PH's money? A fight happened and something happened to PH during that fight that caused her death? Was this all staged to cover up? In the beginning the friend did say they had a fight. JMO

IIRC, PH's father said she planned to go out to the bar to hear music with co-workers.

Much of the discussion seems to address the issue of her past substance abuse issues and the current state of her recovery that night. I haven't seen anything yet to indicate that she did (or didn't) go to bars regularly or occasionally. I haven't seen anything to indicate whether or not she drank (alcohol) on such occasions. I agree, generally folks in recovery are advised to avoid such situations, but I have a dear friend who is an alcoholic who hasn't touched a drop in years, attends AA regularly, and can still go to bars or dinner where alcohol is served.

PH carpooled with a friend/coworker. I don't know if one or both of them planned to stay sober. If PH was going to be the designated driver, one wonders why she didn't drive them both in her car. If her friend was going to be a designated driver, that still didn't mean it was safe for PH to drink - not unless she was going to spend the night at her friend's instead of driving herself home.

Or maybe their carpool arrangements had nothing to do with someone being a designated driver.

It does seem odd to me that there doesn't seem to be any camera footage of PH anywhere in or around the bar. I can't help but wonder if there is footage but LE hasn't released it yet for some reason.

 

[margarita25]

I just can’t get SA out of my head as a motive, only because we see this so commonly. It is in fact a main reason why so many women end up dead. We DO know, however, that there are plenty of other motives for murder which do not include males or SA.

As for “overdose”, we will certainly see. As @Herat mentioned, recovery can be “fragile”, especially if there is alcohol involved. Alcohol may intensify this craving and weaken one’s will power.

Imo, the recovery location reeks of a place that druggies would know about. That is my first instinct about the house. However, we know that there are a number of ways a person could be familiar with such a property.

 

[Warwick7]

I'm pretty sure there will have been other phones in close proximity to hers when she sent that text considering she explicitly said she was with people. I really don't know why people have such difficulty believing she sent the text. I can't imagine a reason why anyone ELSE would have sent a text like that.

Building an alibi. Patrick Frazer did it extensively.

 

[gitana1]

You’re right.

ETA: I still basically accused an innocent man of murder and this scares the CRAP out of me.

True. That’s why I almost never form a conclusion prior to an arrest. Because we don’t have a lot of the info before that so how can we be certain.

But I do judge probabilities before that and lean in various directions. And I will continue to do so based on my experience and logic because it usually pans out.

Here I’m slowly gathering info but am clearly missing what others probably have.

 

[Crimechick27]

So there is a way to text on someone’s phone without unlocking it. If someone texts me and my son has my phone. All he has to do is hold the text bubble down until a screen pops up. And there you go. He can text to whoever just texted me. Now, he can’t read what someone sent me bc it’s only by my facial recognition. But he can text out. Or the person used her fingerprint, new password (unlikely) or face for facial recognition. Also, some
Phone lock automatically but mine doesn’t. I have to set to stay open until I close it.

Interesting...thank you for sharing!

 

[bwt42]

I'm not sure people are speculating about an OD based on the text message so much as her prior history. I think the text is hinky as can be, but I don't think it indicates she was using.

IMHO people are saying an OD because they have no other motive that fits their narrative that the coworkers are involved.

 

[Jsizzle]

Interesting...thank you for sharing!

I didn’t know until he showed me lol.

 

[TXFForever]

Was PH seen talking to these two strangers before she supposedly left with them? Did the coworker PH was with meet the strangers too? Does the coworker know why PH left with them? Hmmm....