Alabama death row inmate who slaughtered five in savage drug-fuelled ax and gun frenzy to be executed

The state of Alabama is gearing up to execute Derrick Dearman, a man who confessed to the brutal murder of five people during a drug-induced frenzy in 2016.

The 36 year old, who used an ax and gun for his killing spree, has dropped his appeals, paving the way for his execution . Scheduled for 6 p. m. Thursday at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama, Dearman will face death by lethal injection.

His victims were Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Joseph Adam Turner, 26; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and Chelsea Marie Reed, 22, all related and killed on Aug. 20, 2016, near Citronelle, about 33 miles north of Mobile.

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In an April letter to a judge, Dearman wrote, "I am guilty," adding that "it's not fair to the victims or their families to keep prolonging the justice that they so rightly deserve."

He further expressed his remorse in an audio recording sent this week, stating, "I am willingly giving all that I can possibly give to try and repay a small portion of my debt to society for all the terrible things I've done," and hoped that the focus would shift from him to the healing of those he had hurt. .

One of the victims, Chelsea Reed, who was expecting a child with her husband Justin Reed, tragically lost her life in the incident. The couple had already chosen a name for their unborn son, Aiden Kaleb, as mentioned in her obituary.

Turner, who was married to Randall, shared the residence with the Reeds, while Brown, Randall's brother, was also present on the night of the murders. According to a judge's sentencing order, Joseph Turner, the brother of Dearman's girlfriend, had brought her to the house the day before the killing after Dearman became violent towards her.

Dearman had visited the house multiple times that night, asking to see his girlfriend, but was told he couldn't stay. After 3 a.m. , he returned to the house while the victims were asleep and attacked them with an ax from the yard and a gun found in the house, as stated by prosecutors.

He forced his girlfriend, who survived, to drive with him to Mississippi. Dearman surrendered to authorities at his father's request, as mentioned in a judge's 2018 sentencing order.

While being taken to jail, Dearman attributed the rampage to his drug use, telling reporters that he was under the influence of methamphetamine when he entered the house and that the "drugs were making me think things that weren’t really there happening."

Initially, Dearman pleaded not guilty but later changed his plea to guilty after dismissing his lawyers. As it was a capital murder case, Alabama law necessitated a jury to review the evidence and decide if the state had proven its case.

The jury found Dearman guilty and unanimously recommended a death sentence. Since 2018, Dearman has been on death row.

This marks Alabama's fifth scheduled execution of the year. Two of the state's executions were carried out by nitrogen gas, while the other two were executed by lethal injection, which continues to be the state's primary method of execution.