In the early morning hours of Friday, February 24, 2023, the quiet of Aliceville, Alabama, was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When deputies from the Pickens County Sheriff's Office and officers from the Aliceville and Carrollton police departments arrived at a residence on County Road 87, they discovered the body of 63-year-old Willie Lindsey Jr. He had sustained fatal gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the death of the male victim would soon reveal a familial connection and a series of events that culminated in a violent end.
Investigators quickly identified a suspect in the shooting, and later that same morning, Erick Dewyane Lindsey, the 37-year-old nephew of the victim, was taken into custody without incident. The Pickens County Sheriff's Office and the 24th Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office announced that Erick Lindsey had been charged with two counts of capital murder, with the underlying offense being burglary. He was subsequently held in the Pickens County Jail without bond.
The investigation brought to light that the uncle and nephew had been together with friends at a bar in Sumter County in the hours leading up to the fatal incident. An argument reportedly erupted between the two men. Erick Lindsey initially claimed that his uncle had threatened him and shot at his vehicle as they were returning to Pickens County in separate cars. However, the investigation determined that Erick was the aggressor in the situation. It was revealed that he had followed his uncle home, shot him multiple times, and also struck him in the head with a shotgun.
In a turn of events, Erick Dewayne Lindsey, at the age of 39, pleaded guilty to the murder of his uncle in the Pickens County Circuit Court. As a result of his guilty plea, he was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison for the murder of Willie Lindsey Jr. District Attorney Andy Hamlin remarked on the violent and deliberate nature of the act that not only took a man's life but also deeply impacted an entire family.
