On the morning of October 16, 1994, a grim discovery was made at the Changing Times Lounge in Birmingham, Alabama, where five people, including Pamela Jo Hogg Dodd, were found murdered. Pamela, a female employee of the bar, and her husband, Lester Edward Dodd, were found lying facedown in the pool-table area. Three patrons, William A. Nelson, Sr., James Watkins, and Florence Adell Elliott, were also found deceased in the bar area.
All five victims had been killed 'execution-style,' with gunshot wounds to the head from two different handguns.
The subsequent investigation led authorities to two suspects, Stephen Pilley and Andrew Apicella. Witnesses placed both men at the Changing Times Lounge on the night of the murders, with some describing their behavior as nervous. Pilley was reportedly seen asking another patron if Edward Dodd owned the bar and if he was armed. Further testimony revealed that earlier in the evening, at a different bar, Pilley and Apicella were overheard discussing a way to make 'easy money' and their need to obtain firearms.
Following the killings, the lounge was found in disarray; the cash register had been emptied, and the victims' personal effects were strewn about the establishment. Investigators learned that after leaving the scene, Pilley and Apicella went to a friend's house, where they stayed until the morning. Both men were later arrested and charged with the murders. Stephen Pilley was convicted of capital murder, and the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty, a sentence the trial court imposed. Andrew Apicella was also found guilty of capital murder. Although the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, the judge overrode their recommendation and sentenced him to death by electrocution.
