Town note
The first Europeans here were the French in the 18th century, who came because they heard the land had healing herbs and mineral springs.
about 0:05:15The story
Charlie Passarelli Jr., who knew him for years, said he used to take her into the woods in rural Mississippi and beat her where nobody could see. His ex-wife Crystal, divorced in 2010, said he had always had a temper and had once held a knife to her throat in bed.
The next day Randall told him he could not stay. She rang her brother and returned to Jim Platt Road.
On Friday August 19th the household had a cookout. Robert Lee Brown, Randall's brother, came over, and Justin and Chelsea Reed, who were 23 and 22 and expecting a baby in about four months, were there too. He went, came back three hours later, and was told by Turner that he was no longer welcome on the property; Randall called the police. By the time officers arrived he had gone, and a search of the surrounding area found nothing.
At about three in the morning on Saturday August 20th he came back and tapped Lester awake through the living-room window, asking for a drink and a cigarette. She refused and told him to go away. He took an axe from the front yard, got in through the sliding glass door, and attacked the sleeping household. He struck Brown repeatedly in the head where he lay in the recliner, walked past Lester without touching her, and in the back bedroom struck Turner and then Randall as she woke holding the baby. He then found a 12-gauge shotgun in the house and shot Randall in the back of the head and Brown in the head. Five people died. The three-month-old baby was unhurt.
He left the baby with a friend's parents and Lester at a friend's trailer, and in the morning they collected the child and drove to his father's house. While he was inside, Lester climbed into the driver's seat and drove with the baby to the Citronelle police department. He said he had been delusional on meth and believed the family were kidnapping Lester, and that if he could not have her nobody could. He also said he deserved to die.
The house was a sightseeing attraction within days, and about two weeks after the murders it burned to the ground; the sheriff's department had received a tip beforehand, and relatives said they did not know who did it but were relieved.