Preliminary hearings were held Tuesday morning in the courtroom of Cherokee County District Judge Wes Mobley for murder suspect Donnie Lee Abernathy who stands accused of killing three women and wounding a man back in November of 2015 at a residence in the Round Mountain Community of Cherokee County.
The only witness called to testify was Cherokee County Investigator Shawn Rogers who is the lead investigator over the case.
Rogers told the court that on that day he received a call from Cherokee County 911 reporting a shooting at the residence and upon his arrival he observed one body laying in the living room floor another laying in an adjacent bedroom and another laying in a back bedroom, another male victim was also found to be suffering from a gunshot wound and was airlifted from the scene to UAB Hospital in Birmingham.
The victims were later identified as Sylvia Duffe, Clara Edwards and Pamela O’Shel. Investigator Rogers said in his testimony that after Abernathy shot and killed the victims, he forcefully took his ex girlfriend Jerrica Hamilton from the residence and that’s when he attempted to elude officers before crashing his Ford Mustang a short time later.
Hamilton, according to testimony told investigators that Abernathy came into the house shot and killed all three victims and then kidnapped her, just prior to eluding police, Abernathy then told Hamilton to place a 911 call and tell them that everything was ok and that if she did not do so he would kill her and she would never see her child again.
Following over an hour of testimony and cross examination, District Court Judge Wes Mobley denied a motion by the defendants attorney requesting bond and ruled probable cause existed in the case.
The case will now be bound to a Cherokee County Grand Jury for Indictment. Abernathy will remain in the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond on charges of Criminal Mischief 1st Degree, Kidnapping 1st Degree, Attempted Murder and Capital Murder.
