AL - Five people, ages 22-35, slain at Citronelle home, 20 Aug 2016 *Arrest*

[jjenny]

SABBM

Agreed.
Surprising that no one was able to escape. Even if he shot them all--wouldn't someone have heard the noise, woken up -- and tried to get out through a window or something ?
What a horrific crime !

From what has been reported, they were sleeping when attacked.

 

[tlcya]

Derrick Dearman, 27, of Leakesville, Mississippi, was taken into custody after he walked into the sheriff's office in Greene County, Mississippi, about 20 miles west of Citronelle, Burch said. Dearman was accompanied by his father when he showed up at the sheriff's department and surrendered Saturday afternoon, the Alabama sheriff's office said in a statement.


Dearman has confessed to the crimes, Burch told the news site Al.com.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-alabama-shooting-20160821-story.html

The officers left the scene, police said, and sometime before dawn Dearman returned and killed the victims as they slept. He then forced Lester and the baby into his car and drove to Mississippi. Dearman released the pair when he arrived at his father's house, police said, and later turned himself in at the Greene County Sheriff's Office.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/21/five-killed-alabama/89081226/

The victims are Robert Lee Brown, 26; Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; Joseph Adam Turner, 27; Shannon Melissa Randall, 36.


Chelsea Reed was five months pregnant when she was killed.

http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2016/08/citronelle_slaying_victims_ide.html

 

[DatelineFan]

"A woman who fled to her sister’s home to escape an abusive boyfriend awoke to find him slaughtering her sibling and four other people, Alabama authorities said Sunday.

After killing the five innocents, including a woman who was pregnant, Derrick Dearman kidnapped his ex, Laneta Lester, and a 3-month-old baby from the blood-drenched Citronelle home and drove them across the border into Mississippi to his father’s house, the Mobile County Sheriff’s office said."

http://nypost.com/2016/08/21/pregnant-woman-among-five-found-dead-in-horrific-scene/

What a freaking nightmare! This is awful.

 

[Elise]

http://www.fox10tv.com/story/32807124/victims-all-related-in-citronelle-murder

I'm still unclear which one is Laneta's sister?

Someone said on his Facebook page that Chelsea was an only child, so I'm assuming the sister was Shannon Randall.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Someone commented on his Facebook page that Chelsea was an only child, so I'm assuming the sister was Shannon Randall.

I saw another comment saying that Joseph Turner (Shannon's husband) was Laneta's brother. I also spotted another saying that someone has lost "2 sons and their only daughter" so I'm a bit confused.
:thinking:

 

[Strangeworld]

Please let's not blame the police or question what they did. Geez! :facepalm:

 

[Elise]

I saw another comment saying that Joseph Turner (Shannon's husband) was Laneta's brother. I also spotted another saying that someone has lost "2 sons and their only daughter" so I'm a bit confused.
:thinking:

Me too. I also just read the same as you on her page, so I guess Shannon was her sister in law, not her sister.

 

[tlcya]

I can't imagine how hard it was to get the gumption to leave an abusive partner, and to have him then brutally kill her family members. The police were called when the accused was spotted on the property. Police came. Unfortunately the area was reported to be heavily wooded. Police did not find him. She did what was right. She left him. they did what was right, they called police. Police attempted to locate the intruder but were unsuccessful. Sometimes, everyone can do the right thing and still a horrible outcome can result. I hope that LL finds peace in her heart one day and knows this isn't her fault.

 

[LolaMoon08]

Please let's not blame the police or question what they did. Geez! :facepalm:

I am pretty sure this was directed at my "15 minutes" comment. While I agree that it is not their fault for what happened here and had the circumstances been different, the murderer would have found another time to commit his crime. I, however, cannot ignore the call for help by the victims and now we have SIX (including the unborn baby) dead. I never LIKE to hear calls for help (911 calls), but I would really like to hear what the victims in this case had to say when they did call for help. I would like to know if there was anything else happening there where they would ignore what was happening? Was there some kind of event? A high speed car chase? More warrants? Yes, I am not going to lie... I would like to KNOW what exactly was happening for every deputy on duty to be elsewhere to make what happened.... happen. It makes NO sense to me. Not after a call for help.

 

[JerricaBenton]

Who did the surviving baby belong to?

 

[Strangeworld]

I am pretty sure this was directed at my "15 minutes" comment. While I agree that it is not their fault for what happened here and had the circumstances been different, the murderer would have found another time to commit his crime. I, however, cannot ignore the call for help by the victims and now we have SIX (including the unborn baby) dead. I never LIKE to hear calls for help (911 calls), but I would really like to hear what the victims in this case had to say when they did call for help. I would like to know if there was anything else happening there where they would ignore what was happening? Was there some kind of event? A high speed car chase? More warrants? Yes, I am not going to lie... I would like to KNOW what exactly was happening for every deputy on duty to be elsewhere to make what happened.... happen. It makes NO sense to me. Not after a call for help.

It's reality - if he was no longer on the premises or in the immediate vicinity that they could locate him, nothing more the police could have done. Could you imagine how those police are already feeling? Just think about any other callout - the police will make sure the immediate area is safe but what else can they do? He hadn't committed a crime at that stage that we know of, so it's horrible sad makes us all angry (tlcya said it perfectly above), but at the end of the day, what more did you expect them to do?

 

[DropthePuck]

Who did the surviving baby belong to?

The surviving baby belonged to Shannon Randall and her husband, Joseph Turner. (You almost need a diagram to keep track of the family relations in this case. It reminds me of the Rhoden case.)

 

[Trident]

It's reality - if he was no longer on the premises or in the immediate vicinity that they could locate him, nothing more the police could have done. Could you imagine how those police are already feeling? Just think about any other callout - the police will make sure the immediate area is safe but what else can they do? He hadn't committed a crime at that stage that we know of, so it's horrible sad makes us all angry (tlcya said it perfectly above), but at the end of the day, what more did you expect them to do?

I would expect them to have an officer hanging around, checking the area like they do in many cases. There was a warrant out for this guy, remember that. As for how the police are already feeling, well, at least they are still ABLE to feel which is more than I can say for the victims.

Usually I try to understand what motivates LE and give them the benefit of the doubt because their job is so stressful and necessary. In this case, however, I cannot do that. I believe they could have done more and 6 lives would have been saved. I'm absolutely horrified at this crime and the way it was handled. IMO the perp should be hanged in public, after a trial of course, and if the police feel bad, maybe they should - I know I do, I feel very bad and fearful for anyone in that family's situation.

:cow:

 

[Strangeworld]

I would expect them to have an officer hanging around, checking the area like they do in many cases. There was a warrant out for this guy, remember that. As for how the police are already feeling, well, at least they are still ABLE to feel which is more than I can say for the victims.

Usually I try to understand what motivates LE and give them the benefit of the doubt because their job is so stressful and necessary. In this case, however, I cannot do that. I believe they could have done more and 6 lives would have been saved. I'm absolutely horrified at this crime and the way it was handled. IMO the perp should be hanged in public, after a trial of course, and if the police feel bad, maybe they should - I know I do, I feel very bad and fearful for anyone in that family's situation.

:cow:

If we really started analysing what they did, we would have to consider things like the following:

-did they in fact decide to conduct drive by checks throughout the night?
-there may have been another call out - what do the police do then? playing devil's advocate here, what if there was an assault occurring elsewhere and it was your family member - should they have stayed and continued looking? Let's face it, the police do not get one call out a night
-the police apparently looked for him and couldn't find him in the nearby woods - how far and how long would you expect them to look for him?

I am just really trying to understand how they can be expected to have done more?

 

[LolaMoon08]

I would expect them to have an officer hanging around, checking the area like they do in many cases. There was a warrant out for this guy, remember that. As for how the police are already feeling, well, at least they are still ABLE to feel which is more than I can say for the victims.

Usually I try to understand what motivates LE and give them the benefit of the doubt because their job is so stressful and necessary. In this case, however, I cannot do that. I believe they could have done more and 6 lives would have been saved. I'm absolutely horrified at this crime and the way it was handled. IMO the perp should be hanged in public, after a trial of course, and if the police feel bad, maybe they should - I know I do, I feel very bad and fearful for anyone in that family's situation.

:cow:

Agreed. Perfectly said.

 

[jjenny]

<modsnip>

Actually, police are not obligated to protect you from harm.

"The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/p...ve-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html?_r=0

 

[kbpirate]

Actually, police are not obligated to protect you from harm.

"The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/p...ve-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html?_r=0

Then what is the point of the police? They can pick and choose who they help?

 

[keeleydoll]

Then what is the point of the police? They can pick and choose who they help?

To enforce the law when it is broken. There was a trespass call and they didn't find the trespasser on the property, they can't just wait around for him to come back. The Citronelle, AL PD employs 8 officers and 4 auxiliary officers, they can't just sit and wait in case a criminal might show up again later. I'm positive the very vast majority of trespassing cases when someone says I'm calling the cops" the trespasser hightails it on out of there and doesn't come back anytime soon. http://www.cityofcitronelle.com/departments.asp


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[Nannerbadnanner]

I was shocked to see this because this is my tiny hometown although I haven't lived there in many years and didn't know any of the victims. Please keep in mind that is a very widespread, rural area with few police officers and not a lot of resources. I am going to give the police the benefit of the doubt and say that they probably did the best they could at the time.

 

[AmyPond]

I think it's fairly unreasonable to expect police to hang around if the person hasn't been found at the location. Even if there is a warrant for an arrest. Departments are often understaffed. If they hung around every residence in a case like this...there would be no police left to go on other calls.

It's a sad situation all around. The guy left. He came back. It sounds like he killed them while they were in bed. Had they been able to call the police again, I'm sure they would have responded since that is their job. But unfortunately, it doesn't sound like that happened.

Would it have been nice if police could have stayed? YES. But sadly that just isn't how things work.