Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Unsolved Murders of Jefferson County

Hundreds of murders remain unsolved in Jefferson County. The victims are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

In the city of Birmingham alone, there are more than 300 slayings dating back to 1951 in which the killer or killers have gone free am dating back to 1951. The Birmingham Police Department in 2005 launched the Cold Case Unit and has made several high-profile arrests since its inception. That department is using Facebook and other tools to try to breathe life into the old cases. Investigators from police agencies throughout the county are haunted by the mysteries.

Old-time homicide cops used to have a couple of expressions to sum up such nightmare cases: "You can't see until somebody turns the light on," and "Nobody knows what a turtle knows but a turtle."

Few lights have flickered in these notorious cases. And so far, at least, the turtle isn't talking.

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Antanisha Dawson

Antanisha Dawson, 22, was found dead Sept. 19, 2012 on the side of the road in the North Smithfield community in unincorporated Jefferson County. Her life ended with a bullet to the head. Dawson was apparently shot elsewhere and then discarded there. Known to friends and family as "Neisha," she was discovered about 4 p.m. that Wednesday by a passerby.

Dawson was last seen alive on Sept. 18 at the home of her boyfriend on Timberline Trail in the northeastern part of Jefferson County, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. Authorities are investigating the possibility that she was killed elsewhere and her body dumped in North Smithfield, an area with which she was familiar.

Christian said little is known about what transpired in the hours between when her family last saw her alive and when she was found dead the following day. She may have gotten a ride with someone from the area of Alabama 79 and Valley Crest Drive, he said.

"This victim was the mother of a small child. She was a beloved daughter and a beloved sibling,'' Christian said. "A cold-blooded murderer just discarded her on the side of the road like she was nobody."

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

David DeRoncey

David DeRoncey, 28, was found fatally shot Nov. 25, 2012 about 11 p.m. that Sunday, slumped over the wheel of his beloved 2004 blue Chevrolet Blazer on Interstate 65. The SUV was against a retaining wall of the interstate's northbound lane near the University Boulevard exit. Investigators believe he was shot from another car while driving along the interstate.

What they don't know is who fired those shots, or why. The assistant manager at the Game Stop on Green Springs Highway left the business after closing. The store closed at 6 p.m., and he stayed a little longer to finish up his work. After leaving there, he stopped at the nearby Shell service station at Green Springs Highway and Oxmoor Road, which was part of his normal routine. Ashley DeRoncey said she and her husband spoke by phone while he was there. He told her he was having trouble with two people and put her on hold. He came back on the line, and told her everything was fine. He said he would see her at home.

She never heard from him though. And she began to worry. At 9:30 p.m., she went looking for her husband, retracing what she believed to be his final steps. That's when she spotted her husband's wrecked vehicle, a two-door with chrome wheels. Inside he was bloodied and unconscious. Paramedics pronounced him dead on the scene. Investigators said they have exhausted all resources available to them. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Eloise Holcombe

On Dec. 20, 1990, 70-year-old Eloise Holcomb was found dead in her 51st Street Ensley home.

A friend arrived at her home and found the back door open. The trunk to her car was also open, and there were still groceries inside.

Once inside the home, Holcomb’s body was discovered in a bedroom. She was bound, gagged, raped and shot multiple times.

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Graylin Lewis

Graylin Lewis, 42, was gunned down while he was sleeping in his truck in Birmingham's George Ward Park on July 19, 2012. Lewis was a cable contractor. On that July evening, a friend accompanied him to a side job in Roebuck, followed up with a snack run to Rib It Up. Afterward, they parted ways for the night. Lewis went to George Ward Park off of Green Springs Highway to settle in for the night. He was between homes, and too proud to accept offers from family and friends to stay with them, police said.

He fell asleep with his truck windows rolled down. About 10:30 p.m., three men approached his truck, robbed him and then shot him in the chest. Despite the seriousness of his injury, Lewis was able to call police and tell them what happened to him: three black men, one with dreadlocks, had attacked him, he said. They took his wallet and GPS before they shot him and left him for dead.

While Lewis waited for police and rescue workers to arrive, he called his best friend. "He said he was shot and he was dying and they robbed him,'' his best friend, Milledge Moore recalled. "I was coming home from the store and my lady was running across the parking lot, still on the phone with him."

Moore went to Memorial Park in search of his wounded friend, but learned he was at George Ward. He then rushed to UAB Hospital to comfort his friend. Lewis died at 4:20 a.m.

Police recovered a spent shell casing from the ground outside the truck. That is about the only clue police have in the case. There were some people playing softball or Frisbee soccer in the park at the time, but they didn't report seeing anything, Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham pollce at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Jacky Nguyen and Nhut Phan

Jacky Nguyen, 60, and Nhut Phan, 50, were found shot in the head, their bodies left in the back of their Top Perfect Nails shop on Dec. 27, 2010. Despite substantial rewards, police remain stumped by the crime. "This case continues to haunt us and the entire Vietnamese community,'' Birmingham police Chief A.C. Roper said in 2012. " It's absolutely senseless that two people could lose their lives while working at their business and trying to live the American dream."

The couple was last seen alive at the salon at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 26 when other workers finished up for the day. The shop was set to close at 6 p.m. Their bodies were discovered at 9 a.m. the following day when a customer and worker arrived at the salon. Nguyen was found slumped against a wall in the rear of the main salon area. Phan was in a chair in the back office. Both had been shot in the head.

Crowds gathered outside the crime scene that day, and in the days that followed. A vigil was held in their memory, and Phan's daughter, Thao Phan, pleaded for information in the slaying of her mother and step-father. "I know somebody knows something,'' Thao Phan said. "I beg you to please step forward."

But no one did step forward, despite a $10,000 reward offered by Barber's Dairy for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murders. Investigators said they believed then - and now- that robbery was the motive in the killings. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Lesley Woodman

The 35-year-old Lesley Woodman was found shot to death in her bed in the home she shared with her husband in the 3600 block of Batton Road near McCalla on Nov. 10, 2014.

Woodman's 18-year-old daughter, Whitney, made the discovery when she stopped by to see if her mother wanted to go to Taco Bell with her and her boyfriend. Family members said the teen, who has a 1-year-old, found the door open and went inside. She called for Woodman, but got no answer. That's when she looked in the bedroom and found her mother dead. That same day, her next door neighbor arrived home and found the glass smashed out of his back door. An intruder had rifled through the home, but left a number of electronics and tools untouched. Investigators have never said if the two crimes were linked.

Jefferson County sheriff's Chief Deputy Randy Christian said they have exhausted all leads, and have now reached out tohe FBI to create a profile of the suspects. "This victim deserves justice, her family left behind deserves justice,'' he said. "Someone out there has the key to that."

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 305-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Nina Mansour

Nina Mansour had just found what she wanted from life when her newfound dreams were brutally stolen. The 45-year-old wife and mother, who was working on her master's degree in criminal justic, was found choked to death in a wooded area atop Red Mountain on a cold February day in 1992. She was last seen in the Sterne Library at UAB about noon on Tuesday, Feb. 4. She failed to show up for a 6 p.m. class.

Four days later, a man walking his dog found her, nude from the waist down.There was no evidence of sexual abuse. There was little physical evidence left behind, but police have said it would take much more to nail the killer. Her husband, Louis Mansour, hired a lwayer and two private investigator to help track down the killer, but it was to no avail.

Mansour had lost her hearing and learned to read lips and use sign language. She also served as a volunteer in Jefferson County Family's Court tutoring emotionally and mentally disadvantaged children. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Peggy Chappell

Six-year-old Peggy Chappell was last seen on Thanksgiving Day 1993 getting into a van or SUV with a man who witnesses said kissed her on the cheek. Her little body was found the next day, stuffed in a garbage bag and dumped on a heap of trash in the rubble of a ruined house within a block of her family's Norwood Gardens apartments home. A 12-year-old boy made the gruesome discovery.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl was wrapped in a beach towel, her clothes folded neatly beside her in the garbage bag. Her skull was smashed and her hands bound. Her throat was cut and her body bruised.

Investigators have said Peggy was hit on the head with an iron pipe. The blow was forceful enough to kill her, but investigators believed she lived for up to an hour before someone slit her throat.

A medical examiner found no evidence that Peggy was sexually assaulted, but police found a pornographic magazine next to the child's body in the garbage bag. Authorities charged Peggy's mother, Katie Chappell, in 1994 with hindering prosecution because she won't help police find her daughter's killer. Investigators insist Katie Chappell knows who coaxed Peggy into the van and why he took her.

Katie Chappell passed one polygraph test, but stumbled on the next three after investigators found more information and made the questions more specific. She pleaded guilty in 1999 and Circuit Judge James Garrett sentenced her to 10 years in prison. He reduced the term to five years of probation on the condition that she cooperate fully with police.

The judge revoked her probation when she refused to help and sent her to prison for three years. Investigators several years ago consulted with FBI profilers in Quantico, Va. Profilers there narrowed the suspects to a short list and say the killer is someone close to the family. They found it significant that Peggy's clothes were neatly folded inside the garbage bag and that her body was dumped close to her home.

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Terence West

Woodlawn High School girls basketball coach Terence West was found shot to death in his car around 3 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2006, in the 2200 block of Slayden Avenue in Wylam.

The 32-year-old coach returned from Atlanta on Wednesday night after taking a group of his players to a basketball camp at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At 3 a.m. Thursday, he was found dead in a car on the shoulder of a Wylam road. The coach known affectionately as ''T'' had called his mother at 10 p.m. to tell her he was almost home. One by one, he took his players home, making the final drop-off about midnight in the College Hills neighborhood.

Three hours later, the father of two boys, ages 9 and 13, was found in the back seat of a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu, having been shot in the chest, authorities said. The car was in the 2200 block of Slayden Avenue. All the doors were closed, and there was no sign of a weapon. West was partly disrobed, authorities said. Police believe he had been shot someone else, and dumped in that location. A total of $16,000 in reward money was offered, but no one came forward with clues. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Virginia Simpson

56-year-old society matron and civic leaders Virginia Simpson was shot to death Aug. 30, 1977 as she slept in a bedroom of her 32-room Red Mountain mansion. There was no sign of burglary. Mrs. Simpson’s son, James “Popsie” Simpson II, then 24 and a heroin addict, was indicted in 1978 for the killing. Two weeks later, a judge dismissed the case, ruling there was insufficient evidence.

The state’s case had relied heavily on testimony from three former acquaintances of Simpson who claimed he approached them about having his parents killed so he could inherit their wealth. Investigators believe several people were approached about killing Joseph W. Simpson, and one accepted. Police think the killer mistakenly killed Mrs. Simpson because she was sleeping alone in her husbands bed.

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Charlie Fuller

Charlie Fuller, 86, was attacked May 13, 2015 in the garage of his Carver Avenue home when he went outside to the feed the dogs. West Precinct officers were dispatched to the scene about 9 a.m. on a report of a robbery. When they arrived, Fuller was in the process of being transported to UAB Hospital by Birmingham Fire and Rescue.

His injuries appeared to stem from blunt force trauma to the head. He went outside to feed his dogs, but never returned back to his residence. A neighbor told police he noticed one of the dogs had run off and was returning home. Out of concern, he went to investigate and found the victim lying on the ground in the garage suffering from a head injury. He had been covered with a green black.

Despite thousands of dollars in reward money, Fuller's killer or killers remain free. I think about him all of the time,'' said Fuller's wife, 82-year-old Fannie Mae Fuller, said in 2015. "Then I have to tell myself, 'Get yourself together.'''

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205- 254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Cary Allbritton

On July 8, 1989, 25-year-old Cary Allbritton and three of his friends returned Allbritton's apartment at 2332 10th Court South. As they walked through the building's breezeway, a black male followed them. Once they got to Apartment 3, the black male followed them inside and tried to grab the purse of one of Allbritton's female friends. Allbritton confronted the man, and was shot. The suspect fled the apartment. Allbritton was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

John C. Parker

On Sept. 15, 1981, 72-year-old John C. Parker was working at a night watchman at Lynn Strickland Tire Company in Birmingham. Sometime during the night or early in the morning, police believe Parker may have opened the business for someone he knew. Parker and that person got into a physical altercation and Parker was shot several times. His body was discovered the next morning by the owner of the business. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Tyesha Daniels

On July 13, 2004, the body of 25-year-old Tyesha Daniels, a mother of three children, was found in the bedroom of her home at 805 Furth Court West home. Her body was discovered by her landlord when he went to the home to make a repair. She had been shot several times, including once in the head. Police said there were signs of forced entry. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Luvly Cooper

The body of Luvly Vonshea Cooper was discovered about 11:42 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. She was face down in the garage behind a home at 204 Tuscaloosa Ave., half undressed with obviously signs of foul play, including blunt force trauma to her head.

The garage, said Birmingham homicide Det. Talana Brown, had been set on fire. Cooper's purse, cell phone and all forms of identification were missing. She was identified several days later through her fingerprints.

Police said Cooper, originally from Pascagoula, Miss., had been living in Birmingham and working the streets as a prostitute. Her three little boys were living with her grandparents.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Birmingham police at 254-1764, or anonymously at Crimestoppers at 254-7777. Crimestoppers offers up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction, in addition to the reward now offered by Gov. Robert Bentley.

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Tavaneka Sellers

Tavaneka Sellers went to Ensley High School the morning of May 12, 1998 but never made it to classes. Her mother received a call that she was absent at school and was frustrated because she knew if her daughter missed one more class, she wouldn't graduate.

The 18-year-old high school senior, who had a 5½month-old-daughter at the time, would have received her diploma on May 22. Instead, she had seemingly vanished. A search of Tavaneka's bedroom yielded no clues. She had left $50 on top of the TV to cover the baby's daycare. All of her clothes, and other belongings, were still at her home.

Family and friends posted fliers all over town, and they searched, but it was to no avail. One of the last people to see Tavaneka alive was a friend who drove her to school shortly after 8 a.m. He said he saw her walk into the school, and never saw her again.

On May 25, 1998, a man found Tavaneka's body in the 5400 block of 30th Way North near the North Birmingham landfill. She was partially-nude and in a shallow grave.

Despite a $5,000 reward offered by the family, no one came forward with clues. Ever. "I guess my heart is hardened but I'm not begging for answers anymore," said her mother, Vera Sellers. "I know when God is ready, it's going to happen in His time and not mine."

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Christopher Handley

On May 20, 2014, Christopher George Handley was found shot to death in Birmingham's West End.

About 9:36 p.m. that Tuesday night, someone called 911 to report a person shot in the 1500 block of Pearson Avenue Southwest. When officers arrived on the scene just after 9:30 p.m., they found Handley in his 2004 Dodge Stratus in an alley. The father of a little girl, Handley was pronounced dead on the scene behind his grandmother’s house.

Police know little more about his death.

Friends and family have since held a vigil in his honor, but they still yearn for answers and justice. “We know our brother wasn’t perfect, who is?” his sister, April Miles, has said. “But he was loved, he was a really nice person, he never carried weapons, yet he was murdered.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Hugh Harris

On Feb. 7, 2004, Birmingham police were dispatched to 1632 Alemeda Avenue South on a report of someone shot. When they arrived on the scene, they found the Rev.Hugh Harris, 55, dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Harris, a pastor at St. Matthew AME Church in Oxmoor, and one of his friends, 39-year-old Adam Harvey, Harris had been out of town earlier that day for a statewide AME Founders' Day celebration where he had sung with the choir. He returned from his trip, dropped his wife off at work and was planning to go to his house in Bessemer. Harvey called his cell phone as his wife was getting out of the car and asked Harris for a ride to the home on Alemeda Avenue.

About 10 p.m., neighbors heard gunshots and a man yelling for help. They found Harvey stumbling out of a backyard and discovered he'd been shot in the stomach. He later died at UAB Hospital. They heard more shots and directed police to the Alemeda Avenue home. The door was open and police found Harris lying face down on the hallway floor. He was pronounced dead at the house. Harris' 1992 white Buick Roadmaster was taken, and was found two days later in the 3100 block of Avenue B in Ensley. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-154-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Annette Hogan

Annette Hogan, 65, was found shot inside her home at 212 65th Place North on Oct. 3, 1992. She was taken to Carraway Hospital, where she died on Oct. 15, 1992. A witness told police she heard her dogs barking in the back year and went to investigate. The witness heard three shots and, when she went into the kitchen, she found Hogan holding her stomach. Another witness said they saw a bright orange Camaro or Firebird leave the alley after the gunfire. Anyone with information on Hogan's slaying is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Rodrekus Johnson

Rodrekus Johnson, 20, was on his way to a birthday party in Powderly on Nov. 22, 2003. The last thing he said to his mother was, "Ma, I will be back."

He and a friend had just pulled up to the party on Maple Avenue in southwest Birmingham when someone in an Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra bumped their vehicle. The friend got out to confront them, and someone from the Cutlass got out as well, said Cold Case Detective Jonathon Ross. That's when someone from the Cutlass fired a shot into the vehicle, hitting Rodrekus in the head. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-245-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Ernest Lewis

On May 27, 1990, 79-year-old Earnest Lewis was at his home on 16th Street West in Birmingham when he heard someone ringing his door. He opened the door and a gunman forced his way inside, threatening to kill him if he didn't give him money. The man tied up Lewis, ransacked his house and then pistol-whipped him. Lewis was found about 15 minutes later by a neighbor. The victim was able to tell police the suspect was a black male with a dark complexion, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall and weighed about 175. He was about 35 years old and armed with a blue steel automatic pistol. Lewis died 17 days later. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

Updated at 12:37 p.m. to correct date of death.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Darrell Studmire

Darrell Studmire, a 35-year-old supervisor at the Birmingham City Jail, was found dead in his bedroom at Victoria Square condominiums on Birmingham's Southside after he failed to show up for work on April 1, 2003.

There were no signs of forced entry, but his car was missing.

Studmire, a New York native and former Marine, joined the jail staff in 1991 and was promoted to supervisor - the equivalent of a sergeant - in 1995.



Frank Studmire of Birmingham, the victim's father, said his son moved to Alabama after finishing high school in New York. He briefly attended UAB and then joined the jail as a corrections officer.

"He loved his job," Frank Studmire said in 2003. "He loved people and sharing his life with others."

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Raven White

On Jan. 8, 2016, 16-year-old Raven White was sitting outside her apartment in the 3000 block of Panorama East in Apple Valley. She was six months pregnant, and she and the the 18-year-old father of her baby were sitting in a car eating pizza. A gunman approached them about 12:30 a.m. on that Friday and demanded money. When Raven began to scream, the baby's father told police, the robber shot her. She died about an hour later at St. Vincent's East Hospital. Police said the 18-year-old in the car with Raven had cash in his shirt pocket, which was taken by the gun. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com

Keith Hilson

Four months after his older brother died in a hail of gunfire, Keith Hilson was shot to death.

Hilson, 24, of Birmingham and Rasheed Ward, 19, of Bessemer were shot and killed Thursday, June 17, 2010, in the 4600 block of Terrace S. Birmingham police responded the scene on a report of several people shot. Hilson and Ward were dead on the scene. Witnesses told police the men were stadning in the street by a vehicle listening to music when an black male approached and got into a verbal argument with the men before shots were fired.

Hilson's brother, Steve Hilson, 25, of Birmingham, died Feb. 7, 2010 after being shot more than 20 times in the 1800 block of Princeton Court Southwest. A 24-year-old man was charged in that case but those charges were dismissed.

The killer or killers in the deaths of both Hilsons and Ward remain at large. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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