Suspect enters plea in gruesome killing of 5 with ax, gun
MOBILE, Ala. – A Mississippi man accused of killing five people in a south Alabama home with blows from an ax and gunshots has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities say 27-year-old Derrick Dearman of Leakesville, Mississippi, attacked the three men and two women as they slept Aug. 20 and then kidnapped his estranged girlfriend, who had sought shelter in the house to get away from a violent relationship with him. He also allegedly kidnapped the infant child of two of the victims, who was found safe along with the estranged girlfriend.
Dearman is charged with six counts of murder, including one count for the unborn child of a pregnant woman who was among the dead. CBS affiliate WKRG-TV reports that he pleaded not guilty Wednesday at a court hearing in Alabama.
The slain were identified as Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Joseph Adam Turner, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; and Robert Lee Brown, 26.
Turner was the estranged girlfriend’s brother and had let her stay at the house, which all the victims shared, officials have said. Turner and Randall were married.
Lawyer Jim Vollmer, who was appointed by a judge to represent Dearman, hasn’t commented on details of the case.
Speaking to reporters as he was escorted to jail last week, Dearman said he was on methamphetamine when he went to the home.
“Drugs (were) making me think things that’s not really there,” Dearman said.