In the late hours of a Monday in Alexander City, Alabama, the sense of evening quiet was shattered by a disturbance that would leave a family and community reeling. On December 1, 2020, 18-year-old Cody Lane Motes, a young man at the cusp of adulthood, was tragically killed. He was not the only victim of the violence that erupted that night; his 40-year-old mother, Stephanie Nichole Dennis Motes, was also found deceased.
Both had been fatally shot, their lives cut short in an act of violence that would soon launch a multi-day manhunt.
The immediate focus of the investigation fell upon Ashley Paul Kenney, a 24-year-old man who had been living with the Motes family. In the aftermath of the discovery of Cody and Stephanie's bodies, Kenney was nowhere to be found. He had reportedly fled the scene in a distinctive purple Chevy Geo Tracker, a detail that would become a key piece of information in the ensuing search. As law enforcement began to piece together the events of that tragic night, warrants were issued for Kenney's arrest on two counts of murder. He was officially named the prime suspect, and the public was warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
The search for Kenney intensified over the next four days, drawing in multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Alexander City Police Department, the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force, and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Office. The abandoned getaway vehicle was discovered at a trailer park in Kellyton, but Kenney himself remained elusive. The manhunt also led to the arrest of another individual, Shawn Mitchell Galloway, who was charged with hindering the prosecution, accused of not cooperating with the investigation into Kenney's whereabouts.
The extensive search finally came to an end on a Friday afternoon. Acting on a tip from a citizen, authorities were able to locate and apprehend Ashley Paul Kenney in the Our Town community of Tallapoosa County. After a tense and widespread search, the man suspected of ending the lives of a mother and her teenage son was taken into custody without further incident, bringing a close to one chapter of a tragic story that left a lasting scar on the Alexander City community. The motive for the double homicide and the details of the subsequent legal proceedings against Kenney have not been widely publicized.
