UPDATE: Family of homicide suspect speaks on ‘tumultuous’ relationship between woman and her ex

Editor’s Note: News 5 has clarified prosecutors’ statements about this case and corrected the suspect’s professional title.

UPDATE (1:46 p.m.) — For the first time, family members of a woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death in Mobile offer a glimpse into the “tumultuous” relationship that led to the stabbing.

Jennifer Heathcoe’s father, Donald Cain, was in the courtroom as his 31-year-old daughter stood before Circuit Court Judge George Zoghby, crying through most of her arraignment.

Cain said Heathcoe had been dating Taylor Rawlins, 33, for about a year before prosecutors allege she stabbed Rawlins in the upper left side of his chest on Aug. 22 at the Charleston Apartment Homes on Sollie Road. Cain said Heathcoe’s name was on the lease at the apartments.

Cain said he only met Rawlins twice.

‘It was self-defense,’ suspect’s father says

“I just hope she gets out because I don’t feel like she deserves this. It was self-defense,” Cain said. “Every time I saw her for the last couple of times she was with him for about a year, it’s just gone bad for her.”

Both the defense and prosecutors agreed that Rawlins’s children, who Cain said are ages 9 and 10, were in the apartment at the time of the stabbing.

Heathcoe’s attorney, Leslie McElderry, testified that the children came into the room after they heard a ruckus.

“Whether the (children) were in the room or not in the room at the time — from moment to moment, her awareness of the location of the children is limited,” McElderry said.

McElderry put up a self-defense claim, saying that Heathcoe had no other option but to defend herself from Rawlins.

When asked what led to the stabbing, McElderry couldn’t say.

“You know, I haven’t even asked that question yet,” McElderry said. “I’ve been focusing on everything else.”

DA Keith Blackwood shares his thoughts

Rawlins’s 9-year-old child was on the phone with a 911 operator, according to District Attorney Keith Blackwood.

In the background of that call, Blackwood said Heathcoe could be heard telling the child to tell police that someone else committed the crime. It’s a detail Blackwood said would shake up Heathcoe’s self-defense claim.

“You know, from the state’s perspective, that would go to consciousness of guilt,” Blackwood said. “Directing a child to minimize the defendant’s own involvement in this murder case.”

McElderry said the neighbor who shares a kitchen wall with Heathcoe heard the 911 call.

When she went to check on the situation, McElderry said the neighbor saw Heathcoe, a Registered Nurse, performing CPR on Rawlins.

Domestic violence at a Daphne bar

Since her arrest, Heathcoe has been held on no bond due to a failure to appear for a Daphne domestic violence charge after she and Rawlins got into a fight at a bar. McElderry said the couple fought over the car keys, and she said Heathcoe thought Rawlins was too drunk to drive.

McElderry said bar staff called 911 when the couple started fighting in the parking lot. She said security camera footage showed Heathcoe swing at Rawlins, which led to her catching a 3rd degree of domestic violence charge. McElderry said Rawlins made contact with Heathcoe, causing her to fall on the ground between two cars.

“When the police went and investigated between the two cars, they saw a smear of her makeup across the window of one car and (a) strand of her hair on the car next door,” McElderry said.

Both Heathcoe and Rawlins were charged that night for their roles in the fight, and McElderry said they both agreed to skip their court dates.

“That’s not how coming to court works,” Judge Zoghby said.

Heathcoe is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 1, where the judge will determine whether there is probable cause to send the case to a Mobile County Grand Jury.

McElderry has requested that the court reconsider Heathcoe’s bond at the preliminary hearing.

WKRG reached out to family of Rawlins; they declined to comment on this case.

PREVIOUS REPORTING:

MOBILE, Ala. ( WKRG ) — A woman accused of killing her boyfriend at Charleston Apartment Homes on Aug. 22 has pleaded not guilty.

31-year-old Jennifer Heathcoe is accused of killing 33-year-old Taylor Rawlins.

Court documents said Heathcoe stabbed Rawlins in the upper left part of his chest.

Mobile police said the homicide was domestic-related.

Heathcoe was denied bond, and her arraignment was originally scheduled for Aug. 28, but it had to be moved after she got COVID, News 5 has learned.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed that Rawlins’s children were in the apartment at the time of the stabbing.

Prosecutors claimed that a 9-year-old child was on the phone with a 911 operator; they said Heathcoe could be heard telling the child to tell police that someone else stabbed Rawlins.

Heathcoe had a hold from Daphne Municipal Court for failure to appear after both she and Rawlins were accused of third-degree domestic violence for an incident at a bar.

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