In the small town of Moundville, Alabama, 37-year-old Paige Mitchell was known as a devoted mother and a pillar of her community. A licensed cosmetologist and the sole licensed special needs foster home provider in Hale County, she had dedicated her life to caring for others, opening her home and her heart to children in need. Her own daughter, Kayla, was the center of her world. Paige was a 1997 graduate of Etowah High School and was an active member of the Moundville Baptist Church.
Her compassion extended beyond people, as she was also a passionate animal rescue advocate in her area.
The tranquility of this close-knit community was shattered in late January 2017. On the morning of Thursday, January 26th, Paige Mitchell and her 14-year-old daughter, Kaci, were discovered deceased in their home. The cause of death for both mother and daughter was determined to be gunshot wounds, turning a quiet residential street into the scene of a double homicide investigation. The grim discovery was made after other children in the house alerted the police, a heartbreaking detail in an already tragic event.
The investigation quickly led law enforcement to a person of interest, Paige's 36-year-old former boyfriend, Bradley Gray. When officers arrived at his residence to question him, the situation escalated dramatically. A single gunshot was heard from within the home, and upon entry, police found Gray with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. This was not the first time Gray had been involved with law enforcement concerning Paige. In 2015, she had reported that he had threatened to kill her, which resulted in a conviction for Gray, although he received a suspended sentence.
The community mourned the loss of Paige and her daughter as the suspect clung to life in the hospital. Memorial services were held at Magnolia Chapel Funeral Home, where friends and family gathered to remember a woman who had given so much to others. In lieu of flowers, her family requested that donations be made to a domestic violence service, a poignant tribute to the circumstances of her death. The case came to a somber conclusion on Sunday, January 29, 2017, when Bradley Gray succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital. With his death, the man suspected of ending the lives of Paige and Kaci Mitchell was beyond the reach of the justice system, leaving a community to grapple with the senseless loss of two of its own.
