2016 Citronelle homicides

On August 20, 2016, a mass killing occurred in Citronelle, Alabama, United States, resulting in the deaths of five people, including a woman who was five months pregnant. They were killed in the early morning in a private residence in a rural area west of the city. It was owned by a brother of Laneta Lester, who had sought refuge there. She and her brother's infant were abducted and taken to Leakesville, Mississippi, by her estranged boyfriend, Derrick Dearman, and held for ransom. She was found alive but badly beaten that day. Lester returned with the infant to Citronelle after a ransom was paid. She notified police of the killings. Investigators described this mass killing as the worst in Mobile County's history. The house burned down a couple of weeks after the crime.

Dearman was considered a suspect. He was arrested after he turned himself in at the Greene County, Mississippi police station. He was extradited to Alabama, where he was charged with six counts of capital murder (including the fetus, under Alabama law) and two counts of abduction with intent to defile and extortion. Initially he pleaded not guilty to the charges. In September 2018 he pleaded guilty to the capital murder charges. He still had to face a jury trial, which convicted him of the murders and kidnappings and beatings, and sentenced him to death. The Alabama Supreme Court upheld the sentence and authorized the state to set a date for his execution. His execution date was set by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey for October 17, 2024. He was executed on that date.