Wearing shackles and escorted by law enforcement officers as he arrived in Mobile, Alabama, from MS, where he surrendered to authorities, Derrick Dearman said he was on methamphetamine when he went to the house the night of the killing.
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Officials said Dearman had left the home before police arrived.
Dearman signed the papers Monday morning, he said.
Mobile County authorities said, the five people slain in a massacre at a south Alabama home included a woman who was five months pregnant.
Greene County authorities have confirmed that at approximately 4:00 p.m., Dearman walked into the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, along with his father, and stated that he had killed someone or more than one person in Citronelle.
It’s believed that his ex-girlfriend, Laneta Lester, 24, took refuge with a relative in the house on August 19 because Dearman abused her.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was related to Lester or what Dearman’s relationship was to the slain.
“They were really good people”. “It’s obviously a horrific scene”, he said.
Relatives of the victims started an online fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses, and clerk Dawn Sullivan collected donations in a plastic jug on the counter at D&B Quick Stop, where the victims often stopped for snacks and drinks.
Residents say all the victims were related by blood or marriage.
Mobile County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Myles said Sunday 27 year old Dearman of Leakesville, Mississippi, will be charged with six counts of capital murder.
Stanley McLeod, the sheriff in Greene County, Mississippi, said in a statement that Derrick Dearman initially refused extradition following his arrest.
Alabama authorities say the slain included a 22-year-old woman who was five months pregnant and four adults ranging in age from 23 to 35.
Chelsea Reed, 22, and Justin Reed, 23, were both murdered at the home early Saturday, police said. Turner and Randall were married.
Brown was Randall’s brother, McDaniel said, and Chelsea Reed was Randall’s niece. Chelsea Reed was pregnant with the child of her husband, Justin Reed, said McDaniel.
The ex-wife of Derrick Dearman, 27, spoke with WALA-TV after police said Dearman slaughtered two women and three men at a home in Citronelle early Saturday.
“She was trying to be fearless and leave and it just set him off”, Crystal Dearman said.
Derrick Dearman, accused of committing multiple murders in Citronelle on Saturday, is being brought back to Mobile today, according to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.
As Dearman was turning himself in, Lester brought the infant to the police station in Citronelle, where she told authorities what had happened.
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Dearman then forced Lester and a three-month-old baby belonging to one of the victims into his auto and drove to his father’s home in Mississippi.
