One of two brothers shot outside a Dersch Road home
Frank Wesley McAlister, a 19-year-old from Redding, California, was tragically murdered on May 7, 1993, in a case that remained unsolved for 25 years before a dramatic confession reopened the investigation. McAlister was lured by friends to a remote area near Shingletown, purportedly under the pretense of a drug deal. He had recently come into a $4,500 insurance payout following a car accident, and his friends—Curtis and Shanna Culver, along with Brian Keith Hawkins—planned to rob him. Once they reached the remote location, McAlister was stabbed multiple times in the head and chest, and his body was abandoned in the woods. The trio then drove back to Redding, abandoning his bloodstained car in a Costco parking lot.
The case went cold for over two decades, with no substantial leads until 2018. Brian Hawkins, one of the accomplices, turned himself in after confessing on live television. He cited deep personal guilt and a newfound Christian faith as the reasons for coming forward. During his televised confession, Hawkins described the crime and implicated the Culver siblings as his accomplices. The confession broke the decades-long silence surrounding the murder, leading to the arrests of all three involved.
The skeletal remains of McAlister were discovered by hikers in April 1994, almost a year after the crime. Authorities initially struggled to connect anyone to the murder due to the lack of witnesses or substantial evidence beyond the abandoned car. After Hawkins' confession in 2018, both Curtis and Shanna Culver were arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to their involvement in the murder. Curtis Culver received a sentence of 35 years, while Shanna Culver was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Hawkins, who confessed voluntarily, was sentenced to 25 years to life. The belated justice brought some solace to McAlister's family, who expressed the enduring loss of Frank's potential and the impact his untimely death had on their lives.
