On a late summer afternoon in 2023, the quiet of a Northeast Jefferson County community was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene on Dewey Heights Road around 3:00 PM on September 10th, they discovered the body of 51-year-old Anthony Dewain Word. The man had been shot to death by an assailant who had already fled the scene, leaving behind a mystery for investigators to unravel.
The investigation into the death of the Clay,
Alabama man stretched on for months. Detectives meticulously worked the case, seeking to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. Their efforts eventually bore fruit, leading them to identify a suspect in connection with the homicide. The trail did not lead to a stranger, but rather to someone known to Word.
In a significant development, authorities arrested 35-year-old Daysha Nicole Bennett. Described as an acquaintance of the victim, Bennett was taken into custody and formally charged with intentional murder. She was subsequently booked into the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, where she is being held without bond as she awaits legal proceedings. The arrest brought a sense of resolution to the initial phase of the investigation, though the circumstances that culminated in the tragic death of Anthony Dewain Word remain to be fully illuminated through the course of the judicial process.
