In the quiet community of Summerhill, near Columbiana, Alabama, a grim discovery was made on the evening of Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Dinah Davis Northcutt, a 77-year-old female resident, was found deceased in her home on Highway 315. The events leading to this tragic finding began around 7:20 p.m. when the Shelby County 911 dispatch received a call about a suspicious person in the vicinity of Highway 97.
Responding deputies from the Shelby County Sheriff's Office gathered information at
the initial scene that led them to Ms. Northcutt's residence. Upon their arrival, they found her deceased, and investigators from the Criminal Investigations Division were summoned to the scene to begin a homicide investigation. The focus of the investigation soon turned toward a member of her own family.
Following the initial stages of the investigation, authorities arrested Richard Alan Howell, the 31-year-old grandson of Dinah Davis Northcutt, also a resident of Columbiana. Howell was taken into custody and subsequently charged with murder in connection with his grandmother's death. He was being held at the Shelby County Jail with a bond set at $150,000.
