CITRONELLE, Ala.—The south Alabama house where five people were slain with an ax and gunshots has mysteriously burned, authorities said.
Investigators had gotten a tip that the home in Citronelle, Alabama, would be burned—and then it went up in flames Sunday morning, Mobile County sheriff’s officials said.
Derrick Dearman, 27, of Leakesville, Mississippi, is accused by authorities of killing five people, including a pregnant woman, in the home on Aug. 20.
He then kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Laneta Lester, and a 3-month-old infant Lester grabbed from the house, authorities have said.
An email sent to the sheriff’s department had tipped off detectives that the house would be burned, Mobile County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Myles said. Investigators had already finished collecting evidence of the killings at the home before it burned, she said.
