Dale County AlArchives News.....3 Members of Culverhouse family found Murdered September 14 1988 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 July 13, 2004, 2:04 pm The Southern Star In Home Near Ariton the Southern Star Sep. 14 1988. 3 Members of Culverhouse Family Found Murdered By Jim F. Martin ARITON... No one smiled at the Center Ridge Baptist Church Saturday. Family, friends and neighbors from Ariton, Ozark, Skipperville, other Dale County communities and beyond gathered at the church Saturday afternoon to pay their last respects to Tullie Robert Culverhouse, 47, his wife, Nina Jo Culverhouse, 45 and Lee Culverhouse, 19, their son. The Ihree members of this promiment Dale County family died from shotgun wounds sometime Monday or Tuesday, September 5 or 6. Dale County Sheriff Bryant Mixon said his department received a phone call at 2 p.m. Wednesday to investigate the Culverhouse home, located om McGee Rd. off Dale County Rd. 19, Ariton, Rt. 2, where someone found the three bodies. Investigators found Robert's body in the hallway of the home. They found his wife's body in her bedroom and discovered a shootgun blast blew her door open. They found the son's body in the bed in his bedroom. A fingerprint expert from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, plus Dr. Alfredo Paredes, forensic pathologist with the Department of Forensic Science in Dothan and Enterprise, plus the Ozark Police Department, and the Alabama Department of Conservation, have all combined their efforts with the Dale County Sheriffs Department to investigate the homicides, Mixon said. A specialist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation will later conduct a profile of the crime, Mixon said. "All the neighbors are very concerned," Mixon said. "All of the neighbors seemed to think highly of the Culverhouse family. Most people in the community have remained calm and rational, but many are on edge to some degree." In light of the Culverhouse tragedy and others in Ozark and Dale County in the past two years, "I think the community is pretty realistic," Mixon said. Local crimes and tragedies "have brought all of us as local law enforcement officials closer together," "These tragedies affect us- these people are friends of ours too- just as they affect everyone else," he said. "We in law enforcement have learned we have absolutely got to work together to be able to solve these tragic types of crimes." "We learn to realize how tenuous life is," he said. "When a community has a tragedy such as this, many people rearrange their priorities. They understand just how temporary life can be. If you are going to do some positive things in life and if you are going to treat people positively, you might better get started." "Any time a tragedy like this happens, I am always encouraged to see how many of the local people really try to help. They are not critical of law enforcement and do not approach us in a negative maner. They try to do something positive to help us, and we really appreciate that attitude," Mixon said. "The brutal murders we have been experiencing in Ozark and Dale County in the past few years indicate very strongly that we are not just a quiet little town," said Ozark Police Chief Alan Benefield. "If there is a bright spot among that turmoil, it is that we- the law enforcement community of Dale County" react very positively to these crimes in dealing with them in a very efficient and positive manner." "The public reacts with total support," Benefield said. "I believe- and rightfully so- that many people enunciate a lot of fear because of crimes such as the Culverhouse tragedy— it is only normal." "It concerns me when a family of , three people are killed- regardless of what the reason is," he said. Continued On Page 2 3 Members Continued Prom Page 1 "Everybody sees that it could happen to them, and we don't want that." "We in law enforcement start off behind schedule when we investigate a murder," he said. "It takes total support of the community and dedication of the law enforcement officials— people being concerned and people being satisfied that they are safe." "We all realize a tragedy such as this can happen in our community just as easily as anywhere else," said Ozark Mayor Billy Blackmon. "The Culverhouses were a fine family, and it is certainly tragic that anything like this would happen in our own community." Although mixed emotions and many rumors abound, "I do feel the people are anxious to help the law enforcement officials solve this case, and we in Ozark and the police department are going to offer complete support and assistance to the Sheriffs Department." Blackmon said he finds gratification in such tragedies that people "realize what excellent law enforcement officials we have in our com- munity. It is sometimes necessary a for a tragic event to bring that ex- cellence to our attention." Benefield and Blackmon both stressed that the Ozark Police Department will continue to work closely with the Sheriffs Department in investigating the tragedy. "I feel very competent that they will continue to work closely together to help solve this crime," Blackmon said. Hunter Culverhouse (Southern Star May 19, 1993 ) Gets Life Without Parole By Joe Adams In a plea bargaining arrangement, Jason Hunter Culverhouse, 23, has been convicted on three counts of capital murder, in the shooting death of his parents and brother in 1988 and sentenced to life in the penitentiary without parole. In a four hour trial Monday afternoon, a Dale County Circuit Court jury heard and saw evidence presented that conclusively proved that Hunter Culverhouse had commited the heinous act on Sept. 6, 1988, when he was 18 years old. Culverhouse had admitted to the shotgun slaying of his father, Tullie Robert Culverhouse, Sr., 47, his mother, Nina Jo Culverhouse, 45, and his brother, Obie Lee Culverhouse, 19, in a hand written confession on May 5, describing the circumstances of the slayings, but made no statements as to a motive. In an arranged plea bargaining between his attorney, William B. Matthews, Jr., and District Attorney David Emery, a changed plea of not guilty to guilty, backed by the confession, sought a sentence of life without parole, avoiding the possible maximum death penalty. Although the defendant had confessed to the killings, a formal trial procedure was followed, as the state was charged with the obligation to "prove without any reasonable doubt" that the crime was committed by the defendant. During a portion of the testimony, members of the jury, comprised of seven women and five men were shown pictures of the slain victims and scenes of the places where their bodies were found. The district attorney also showed videos of the same scenes, giving a more graphic version of the scene. Throughout the trial, Culverhouse sat stoically, often staring straight ahead, obviously without any eye contact with anyone. But when a deputy brought out the door to the master bedroom, and the door framing, with shattered sections from the shotgun blast evident, where he blasted the door to gain entrance into the bedroom where he killed his mother, the defendant put his head down on the table for a short time. Dr. Alfredo Paredes, state forensic pathologist, testified as to the condition of the three victims, and where they had been shot. Dr. Paredcs said Robert Culverhouse was shot three times, once in the lower back, in the right back thigh, and right side of his forehead. Nina Jo Culverhouse was shot in the upper leg, upper right arm and in the right side of the neck. Lee Culverhouse was shot once in the back of the neck. He was found dead in his bed, his mother was found in the master bedroom and his father in a hallway. Deputy Walter Ford said a total of 10 shots were fired. Investigation later found one of the spent shotgun shells in the master bedroom, while Hunter Culverhouse had attempted to pick up all of the shells and dispose of them, he missed finding this one shell. Investigation proved that it had been ejected from a 16 gauge Remington shotgun, later found in the basement of the Culverhousc home. After four and a half years of no hard evidence showing up to make a case in the death of the Culverhouse family members, a break developed in February, which led to a grand jury indictment and the subsequent arrest of Hunter Culverhouse on March 19, 1993. In February, facinf financial trouble and feeling that his uncle (Charles Culverhouse) was pushing him about some aspect of his trucking business. Hunter called his brother, Robin Culverhouse, and told him he wanted to talk to him. The brothers had not communicated in the many months since the crime was committed. Robin Culverhouse called Sheriff Bryant Mixon and told him of the communication with Hunter. Although Robin Culverhouse stated on the witness stand that he had suspected his brother, "because of some of his actions", he had never gotten him to admit to anything. But after the arranged meeting was set up, acting on advice from the Dale County Sheriffs Dept., backed up by ABI and FBI advice, the law enforcement officers wired Robin with a recording device taped to his back one time, and another time in the lining of a cap. Sheriff Bryant Mixon said they had been advised in developing an FBI profile, to have Robin make Hunter think that he (Hunter) was smarter than they (the law enforcement officers) were. Robin played along with the advice given him and told Hunter in effect that he had even thought about killing his father, because of physical abuse, (whipping) that he had handed out to the boys when they were young. At one point when Robin asked Hunter if he had killed his parents and brother, he replied, "It don't matter if I did or didn't, you'll never be able to prove it." But later Hunter told Robin that he had done it and Robin said Hunter seemed to be relieved to be able to tell him, once breaking down and crying for a short time after confessing to the shooting Hunter Culverhouse Continued From Page l death of his family. During two different meetings, an officer was in hiding in the Culverhouse residence, and cameras were planted to keep the two under surveillance, as well as their conversations being recorded. Once Hunter had Robin strip to search him for any recording devices, but this time the recorder was in his cap and it was not found. Armed with the recorded conversations and an admission by Hunter, the evidence was presented to a Dale County grand jury, and the arrest was made in Oklahoma City in March, while Hunter was enroute from California to Canada on a trucking run. In his written confession, read by Sheriff Bryant Mixon, Hunter Culverhouse related how he drove from his girl friend's home (Amy Tice) in Columbia to his parent's home, south of Artton, on the night of September 5,1988. Gaining entrance through a sliding glass door, he went into the basement and took a 16 gauge Remington shotgun from the gun cabinet. Putting on gloves he went upstairs, took a phone off the hook in the kitchen, and placed the receiver on a table. With that phone off the hook, the phone in the master bedroom was inoperative. Investigation showed blood on (he master bedroom phone, indicating Nina Jo Culverhouse had apparently tried to call out, before she was mortally wounded. He went into his brother's room first, and shot him, then went into the master bedroom and shot both parents, killing neither with the first shots. Apparently his father, Robert, chased him out into a hallway, where two more shots killed him, and by that time Nina Jo Culverhouse, wounded, locked the door, and attempted to make a call out. At that point Hunter blasted the door open and fired the fatal shot that killed his mother. Family members of both Robert Culverhouse, sitting on a front courtroom bench to the left rear of the defendant and his attorney, and relatives of Nina Jo Culverhouse, seated to the right rear, remained subdued, with moments of emotion, as the graphic details were related during the testimony. At no time was there any communication between them and the defendant. It was stated by Robin Culverhouse, that while he could not forgive his brother at the same time he did not want to see him executed, and he still loved him as a brother. During the testimony Monday afternoon, two recesses were called by Judge P.B. McLauchlin. After Judge McLauchlin charged the jury, they returned after deliberating for 20 minutes, and the foreman, Douglas "Buddy" Skelton, handed the guilty verdict to the bailiff. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/dale/newspapers/gnw813members.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 13.2 Kb