Two dead in Alabaster murder-suicide
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Alabaster police have ruled a Thursday morning shooting in the Cedar Meadows Subdivision a murder-suicide.
Captain Curtis Rigney said Alfred Roberts allegedly killed his wife, Marilyn, with a single gunshot to the head at their home on Cedar Meadows Drive off of First Ave., before taking his own life in the same fashion with a 9 mm handgun.
Alabaster police received a tip from local neighbors around 7:20 a.m. saying they had been contacted by family members of the couple.
&8220;Mr. Roberts apparently called the couples&8217; parents to say he had killed his wife and that he was sorry,&8221; Rigney said.
Rigney said Roberts, who had been convicted of criminal offenses such as domestic abuse and weapons charges over the past few years, also called his brother in South Carolina to tell him that he had killed his wife and that he was going to kill himself.
A Shelby County Sheriff&8217;s tactical response unit was called in to the subdivision when officer could not gain entrance to the home and could not make contact with anyone inside.
Dressed in full tactical gear and using teargas, officers broke in to the home.
Upon entering the house, Rigney said, the unit discovered the two bodies in the master bedroom.
Rigney said there were reports that Marilyn Roberts was planning on divorcing her husband prior to her death.
Rigney confirmed that the murder was the first in Alabaster in over three years.
Police cordoned off the street surrounding the home and evacuated a dozen residents to a nearby fire station until the incident could be brought under control