On January 20, 1998 in the Powell area of Dekalb County Alabama, the body of 28 year-old Michelle Townson Whitton was found buried in a shallow grave. She had been reported missing 6 weeks earlier by her husband, Barry Whitton. At the time of her disappearance Whitton told police and local media that Michelle, who he shared an 11 year-old son with, left on December 7, 1997 to get breakfast at a Hardee’s restaurant in the nearby town of Scottsboro, Alabama and had simply never returned home. Her car, a 1990 Toyota Camry was found a week after she disappeared. It had been abandoned at the edge of a wooded area in the same county as her body would later be found in. At the time her car was found Barry told a local news station that, “They say there wasn’t any sign of foul play in the car so that gives me hope that she’s still alive.” 1 https://www.waff.com/story/6809224/a-look-into-barry-whittons-background/
An autopsy determined that Michelle had been beaten to death, most likely with the blunt end of a shotgun. Her throat had also been cut. After a short initial investigation, the case went cold. Michelle’s family had to wait seventeen long years for any kind of movement on the case. That wouldn’t come until after another woman and her young daughter went missing.
Barry Remarries
A few months after Michelle’s murder, Barry who owned a saw mill on his property met a Licensed Practical Nurse named Kimberly Compton through an ad he placed in a magazine. They were married within six months of dating.
Kimberly, an Alabama native, had an 11 year-old daughter named Haleigh from a previous marriage. Haleigh was on the honor roll at Macedonia School. She was a rising 6th grader at the time of her disappearance. Her favorite color was purple. Kimberly’s father, Jerry Compton told the Huntsville Times that he was unaware that Barry’s first wife was murdered. “He told me his first wife died from an overdose.”
Mother and Daughter Vanish
On Thursday, June 21, 2007, 36 year-old Kimberly went to her job at Cloverdale Manor Nursing Home in Scottsboro, Alabama to pick up some papers. While driving home to Section, Alabama she spoke on the phone with a friend. After that, she was never heard from again. The last time Haleigh was seen has not been released to the public. Kimberly was reported missing by her co-workers at the nursing home on June 25th after she failed to report for work.
Barry told investigators that he had last seen his wife of eight years on Friday June 22nd. He had given her $20,000 in cash and had last seen the mother and daughter walking down the driveway to meet someone in a white van with Alabama license plates. He didn’t see who the driver was. Whitton suggested that his wife and stepdaughter may have traveled to Montana. Kimberly’s own vehicle, a truck was left at the home. Kimberly’s stepmother Pat Compton told the reporters in 2007, “We feel like something bad has happened. She wouldn’t have just left like this. She would not have left her job.” 2 Poovey, 2008
After the disappearances, the small town of Section started to talk. “Everybody in Macedonia and Section, I would say 99-percent to my knowledge is aware of Barry and circumstances that happened in his past with his first wife. And they are all literally terrified of him and what he could do them,” a Section woman told WAFF 48 News. Kimberly’s mother, Mildred Compton echoed these sentiments when she spoke with The Montgomery Advertiser in 2007, “A lot of people are afraid of him.”
The Search on the Mountain:
Nearly three weeks after the disappearances, police searched the secluded 40-acre property that Barry lived on with Kimberly and his stepdaughter Haleigh. A pond on the property was drained. Police found blood on the handle of a hatchet at the property and inside one of Whitton’s trucks. It’s unclear if this blood was ever tested. Police also found five weapons, including a loaded rifle and shotgun. [3] Barry was a convicted felon because of theft by receiving charges in 1988 and 1991. He was charged with and pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges. During the sentencing proceedings for this charge, Whitton was depicted as a frightening menace; Witnesses testified that in secret jailhouse recordings Whitton talked about mutilating people and animals and how to dispose of body parts. He also spoke about killing three people and made threats against several other people including the judge who placed his son in state custody. U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn said of Whitton that she had never seen anyone who was “more of a potential danger to the community.”3 Poovey, 2008. Whitton was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 2009, then Alabama Governor Bob Riley offered a $10,000 reward for any information on the whereabouts of Kimberly and Haleigh. Unfortunately no one came forward. 4 Czura, 2009.
Barry Whitton Goes on Trial for Murder
While he was in jail, investigators worked hard to build a case against Whitton. In December 2014, a little less than a year before he was set to be released on the weapons charges, Barry was indicted for the 1997 murder of his first wife, Michelle. He plead not guilty.
A year later he was also charged with intimidating two witnesses in this case, who just so happened to be his own parents. According to the court records, Barry was charged with trying to influence the testimony of Dennis and Louvarene Whitton. Prosecutors said that Barry sent his parents a letter threatening them if they released any details about his childhood to investigators. While police were searching his son’s property in 2007, Dennis Whitton was reported as saying, “They’re wasting their time. I’m not commenting about anything.”5 Johnson, 2007.
At the murder trial, a forensic chemist took the stand and said fourteen fibers were found along a trail leading to Michelle’s body. The chemist said two fibers were recovered from the grave site before a forensic examination was carried out at Whitton’s home. Forensic analysis determined the presence of blood in the master bedroom, in an area where the carpet had been cut out. Blood was also found on the floor and door frame of the master bathroom.
One of Whitton’s former cellmates that served with him in 2007, a man named Jeff Young testified that:
Whitton told him over several conversations about Michelle, saying Whitton described a night he got into an argument with her in their bedroom. Young said Whitton told him Michelle threw something at him. Whitton told Young at the time he came around the bed and beat her, dragged her to the bathroom and beat her, and after she had died, Whitton told Young he cleaned up.
Young said Whitton told him this was when they were getting ready for bed, around 9 p.m. He said the argument was about Michelle leaving Whitton, and that Michelle threw a lamp or a phone at him. Young told the court Whitton didn’t say what kind of weapon he used.
Young said Whitton told him after he killed her he cleaned up, wrapped her in a towel, cleaned up the bedroom and bathroom and took her to a wooded area on a hillside and disposed of her body there. Young told the court Whitton said he knew the property owner, and knew the property well.” 6 https://whnt.com/news/northeast-alabama/he-told-me-he-was-a-genius-inmate-says-barry-whitton-described-how-he-murdered-wife-in-prison
The Defense Puts on it’s Case
The defense called two different witnesses with the same story to the stand. They both testified that they had seen Michelle driving her own car on the morning she disappeared. Clara Townson, who is related to Michelle through her husband, testified that she was “sure it was Michelle”, although she can’t be 100 percent sure because “her hair was different and she hadn’t seen her in a while.” 7 https://whnt.com/news/northeast-alabama/he-told-me-he-was-a-genius-inmate-says-barry-whitton-described-how-he-murdered-wife-in-prison Assistant District Attorney Leigh Gwathney said the two witnesses were confused about the day, and most likely saw Michelle on Saturday, not Sunday. The clothes they describe her as wearing were the same ones she had on when her body was found in 1998.
Justice for One Family
On September 24, 2015, after two hours of deliberation the jury found Whitton guilty of the murder of Michelle. At the sentencing hearing, a letter from Michelle’s mother, Joyce Smart was read into the court record.
“I never imagined Michelle would grow up to be murdered. Michelle was a decent person. She loved her family very much. I give God the glory that her body was found.”
ADA Gwathney also addressed the court, saying “There is no greater crime than to take the life of another. There will be no closure, there is no closure, but there is justice.”
Whitton was sentenced to life in prison and must pay a total of $30,000 in fines and victim compensation. Subsequent appeals by his attorneys have all been denied. He was finally named a suspect in the disappearance off Kimberly and Haleigh.
What Does Barry Whitton Know?
After the sentencing, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange told reporters, “”I hope that this conviction will potentially lead to more evidence that may lead us to solve other crimes that Mr. Whitton may have been involved in, “And I am hoping now that he has been put away that others may come forward with information that they know.”
Kimberly and Haleigh are still missing today. If you or someone you know has any information, you can contact the Alabama Attorney General’s cold case hotline at 866-419-1236 or e-mail them at coldcasetips@AlabamaAG.gov. Their families need answers and they deserve justice.
Sources:
Poovey, Bill. (2008, September 22). Suspect in Missing Person Case Jailed on Weapon Conviction. The Montgomery Advertiser.
Johnson, Bob. (2007, July 15). Police end search for mother, girl on rural land. The Montgomery Advertiser.
Associated Press. (2007, September 14). Man says he gave missing wife, stepdaughter money. The Anniston Star.
WHNT: Haleigh B. Culwell Missing
WAFF: Jackson Co. Murder Suspect Accused of Intimidating Parents
WAFF: Jury Finds Murder Suspect Intimidated Witnesses
WAFF: Forensic Expert Takes Stand
WAFF: Reward Offered in Missing Mother Daughter Case
AL.com: Alabama Man Conviction Upheld
WHNT: Suspect in Disappearances Remains in Prison
WHNT: He told me He was a Genius
Times Free Press: Alabama Man Sentenced
JCS Sentinel: Whitton Charged with Murder
Footnotes:
- 1https://www.waff.com/story/6809224/a-look-into-barry-whittons-background/
- 2Poovey, 2008
- 3Poovey, 2008.
- 4Czura, 2009.
- 5Johnson, 2007.
- 6
- 7
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