Hector Jan Stamps Broadnax, known to her friends and family as Jan, was a 42-year-old woman from Sylacauga, Alabama, whose life was tragically cut short on April 25, 1996. A compassionate and trusting person, Jan had married Donald Broadnax in 1994 while he was incarcerated, participating in a work-release program. Her hope for a future with him was shattered by an act of brutal violence that would also claim the life of her beloved grandson.
Donald Broadnax was a man with a violent
past. In 1978, he was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting a friend, Gregory Manson, in Birmingham and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Despite the lengthy sentence, he was paroled in 1986, but returned to prison after a parole violation. By 1992, he had been approved for a work-release program in Alexander City, which allowed him to work as a painter for Wellborn Forest Products. It was during this period that he met and married Jan. Friends and family would later learn that the relationship was troubled, and Broadnax reportedly believed Jan was partially to blame for a recent denial of his parole.
On the evening of April 25, 1996, Jan, accompanied by her 4-year-old grandson, DeAngelo Marquez Stamps, drove to her husband's job site at Welborn Forest Products to bring him some food. It was a visit from which neither would return. At his workplace, Broadnax brutally beat Jan to death with a plank. He then placed her body in the trunk of her own car. With his wife's body concealed, Broadnax drove away from the factory with little DeAngelo still in the backseat.
The horror of that night continued as Broadnax drove to a secluded area near the Elyton Village public housing community in Birmingham, a place where he had grown up. There, he murdered DeAngelo, subjecting the small child to the same fate as his grandmother. He placed the boy’s body in the trunk alongside Jan's. Broadnax then attempted to cover his tracks, returning to the work-release center and trying to hide his blood-stained uniform and boots. However, fellow inmates discovered the bloody clothes and reported them, leading to his arrest.
The investigation quickly unraveled Broadnax's horrific actions. He was charged with two counts of capital murder. During his trial in 1997, the prosecution presented damning evidence, including the testimony of other inmates and the physical evidence linking him to the crime. The State argued that Broadnax was angry with his wife over his parole status. On June 6, 1997, a jury found Donald Broadnax guilty on all counts.
The jury unanimously recommended the death penalty, a sentence the judge formally imposed in September 1997. The legal proceedings defined the case as capital murder for several reasons: two or more people were killed in one course of conduct, Broadnax had a prior murder conviction within the last 20 years, the murders occurred during a kidnapping, and one of the victims, DeAngelo, was under the age of 14. Over the subsequent years, Broadnax filed numerous appeals, arguing issues such as ineffective counsel, but his convictions and death sentence were repeatedly upheld by higher courts. As of early 2025, Donald Broadnax remains on death row at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
