NEWS

Mississippi man charged with killing 6 in Alabama

Therese Apel
Clarion Ledger
Derrick Dearman

A Mississippi man faces six capital murder charges in the deaths of five Alabama residents, one of whom was pregnant.

Derrick Dearman, 27, turned himself in to the Greene County (Miss.) Sheriff's Department on Saturday night, officials said. He is expected to be extradited "immediately."

Authorities said 24-year-old Laneta Lester went to the Citronelle (Ala.) Police Department and told them Dearman, with whom she had been in a romantic relationship, had killed several people at a home on Jim Platt Road in Citronelle.

Police arrived at the home at 4:45 p.m. Saturday to find five people dead. Mobile County law enforcement authorities were called to assist.

A news release from the Mobile County Sheriff's Department said it was during that time that Dearman was taken by his father to surrender to authorities in Greene County.

Lester told investigators she was staying with a relative in the home on Jim Platt Road in an attempt to leave the relationship with Dearman, characterizing it as abusive. Around 1 a.m. Saturday, a 911 call came in from that residence reporting Dearman on the property. He was gone when police arrived.

According to authorities, between 1:15 and daylight, Dearman allegedly returned to the home where six adults and a 3-month-old infant were sleeping and attacked them. Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich told reporters several weapons were found inside and said authorities believe multiple weapons, including a gun, were used in the attacks.

The victims were Robert Lee Brown, 26; Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; Joseph Adam Turner, 26; and Shannon Melissa Randall, 35. Chelsea Reed was five months' pregnant, officials said.

Dearman then allegedly forced Lester and the child, who belonged to one of the victims, into a vehicle and drove to Dearman's father's home in Leakesville. When they got there, authorities said, Dearman let Lester and the child go. He and his father went to the Greene County Sheriff's Department to surrender.

Rich characterized Lester as "absolutely" cooperative.

Several officials told Alabama reporters t was the most gruesome crime they'd ever seen. Mobile County Sheriff's Department Capt. Paul Burch told WALA's Alexa Knowles that the victims "put up a fight."

"There's a bit of gruesomeness to every murder scene," Rich said Saturday night. "But when you have five people that are dead, it speaks for itself."

Rich confirmed that the FBI is assisting in the investigation. Greene County Sheriff Stanley McLeod did not return messages seeking comment.

Victims of an Alabama multiple homicide include Shannon Randall (top, from left), Robert Lee Brown, Joseph Adam Turner, Justin Caleb Reed (bottom, from left) and Chelsea Marie Reed

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Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.