Alabama authorities said five people, including a pregnant woman, were killed, according to WKRG, a sister station to WJTV.
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Later that night, police said, Dearman returned to the house and attacked the occupants while they were sleeping, using multiple weapons, including guns.
The horrific murders took place early Saturday in a small town called Citronelle in southwestern Alabama, about 30 miles northwest of Mobile and just over the border from Leakesville, after Dearman’s alleged abuse of his girlfriend Laneta Lester escalated. The youngest was five months pregnant, police said. They say at approximately 1 a.m. on August 20, someone inside the residence called 911 to report Dearman being on the property.
After the slayings, Dearman forced Lester and an infant of one of the slain victims into a vehicle where the three went to Dearman’s father’s home in nearby Greene County, Mississippi.
Derrick Ryan Dearman carries out a massacre, killing five adults and an unborn baby before surrendering himself to the police.
According to AL.com, Lester “fled to a relative’s house Friday afternoon to escape Dearman, who she said was abusive”.
The officers left the scene, police said, and sometime before dawn Dearman returned and killed the victims as they slept.
Burch did note on Sunday that Dearman, who is now awaiting extradition to Alabama, was cooperative with authorities, for whatever that’s worth.
“Given the way the scene looks, we’re going to be here a couple of days”, Capt. Paul Burch of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said on Sunday.
Dearman is still in custody in MS and will likely be extradited to Alabama this week, Burch said. 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.
Derrick Dearman, a man from across the state line in MS has turned himself in and been arrested for the crime, which the FBI is investigating due to its horrific nature.
Authorities recovered multiple weapons at the crime scene.
Dearman’s ex-wife Crystal Dearman told WALA-TV the man “always had a temper, especially when he doesn’t get his way”.
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In that case, Westley Devon Harris was given a death sentence after being convicted of slaughtering his girlfriend’s relatives. He refused to sign extradition papers Saturday night, and was taken to the George County jail due to overcrowding and the need to keep him from other inmates, McLeod said. The girlfriend, who was 16 at the time, ended up testifying against him.
