Jimmy O’Neal Spencer
GUNTERSVILLE-A homeless man, formerly a resident of Franklin County was charged with four counts of capital murder on Tuesday, July 17 by the Guntersville Police Department .
Guntersville police began an investigation on Friday after two bodies were reported in a home on Mulberry Street in the Mill Village area. During the investigation, two more bodies were discovered in the immediate area.
Guntersville Police Chief Jim Peterson and Marshall County District Attorney’s Office Chief Investigator John Young held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to announce an arrest had been made. Police arrested Jimmy O’Neal Spencer, 53 who has been charged with four counts of capital murder involving three victims. Spencer was described as a homeless man who’d spent most of his adult life in prison.
Peterson said on Friday officers found Marie Kitchens Martin, 74, of Guntersville and her great-grandson, Colton Ryan Lee, 7, of Huntsville, dead in Martin’s home on Mulberry Street in Guntersville.
After further investigation police also discovered 65-year-old Martha Dale Reliford dead after neighbors told authorities Reliford had not been seen in 10 days. Reliford lived across the street from Martin.
Authorities are aware of the motive for the three murders, but could not disclose this information because it might compromise the ongoing investigation. Cause of death for any of the victims has not been released pending the official autopsy report from the Alabama Department of Forensic Science.
Around the same time a man’s body was reported in a ditch nearby.
The body was identified as James Michael Baker, of Albertville. Albertville Police Chief Jamie Smith said Baker’s family members were looking for him and the Albertville Police Department issued a BOLO alert for him.
Police Chief Peterson said police currently had no reason to suspect Baker’s death was anything other than natural causes, but investigators were waiting on the autopsy report.
“42 hours and 16 minutes after we arrived at the scene for the first time, Spencer was taken into custody,” Peterson said.
