In the summer of 2007, Kimberly Whitton, a 36-year-old nursing home employee, vanished along with her 11-year-old daughter, Haleigh Culwell, from their secluded home in Section, Alabama. The last known contact with Kimberly was on June 21, 2007, when she briefly spoke to a friend after leaving her job at Cloverdale Manor Nursing Home. The call was cut short due to a bad connection, with Kimberly promising to call back in five minutes—a call that was never made.
Their home, a log cabin situated on a remote 40-acre property, was accessible only by foot due to two locked gates on the driveway. It wasn't until a week later, on June 28, that Kimberly's concerned coworkers reported her and her daughter missing.
The investigation soon centered on Kimberly's husband and Haleigh's stepfather, Barry Whitton. He told authorities that Kimberly and Haleigh had left with an unidentified individual in a white Ford van or truck, taking with them $20,000 in cash that he claimed to have given them. He suggested they might have been headed to Montana. This account, however, did little to quell the suspicions of investigators, especially given Barry's criminal history. A search of the couple's property uncovered firearms, which, as a convicted felon, Barry was prohibited from owning. This led to his arrest on federal weapons charges, for which he was sentenced to ten years in prison. During his sentencing, the judge described him as the most dangerous defendant she had ever encountered, citing witness testimony that he had bragged about previous murders and discussed methods of body disposal.
The disappearance of Kimberly and Haleigh was eerily reminiscent of the fate of Barry Whitton's first wife, Michelle Townsend Whitton, who vanished in 1997. At the time, Barry had also claimed she had simply left. Michelle's body was discovered six weeks later in a shallow grave; she had been beaten and stabbed to death. For years, her murder remained unsolved. However, while serving his sentence for the weapons charges, investigators built a case against him. In 2014, he was indicted for Michelle's murder and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Although authorities found blood in one of his trucks and on a hatchet handle after Kimberly and Haleigh's disappearance, the source of the blood has not been publicly identified. Barry Whitton has been named a suspect in the disappearances of his second wife and stepdaughter, but he has never been charged in connection with their cases. The whereabouts of Kimberly Whitton and Haleigh Culwell remain unknown, and their case is considered a suspected homicide.Last Seen: Jun 21, 2007
