On the evening of October 15, 1989, a 68-year-old Caucasian male named Acie Clifford Worthy and his wife, Carolyn, returned to their McCalla, Alabama, home after a Sunday church service where Mrs. Worthy was the choir director. The couple was ambushed in their driveway by one or more assailants who then shot and killed them. Following the murders, the perpetrators dragged the Worthys' bodies inside their house and intentionally set it on fire in an attempt to conceal the crime.
Firefighters responding to the blaze shortly after midnight on October 16th discovered their bodies within the burned residence.
The investigation into the brutal slayings of the prominent and wealthy couple has spanned decades without an arrest, leaving the case a tragic cold case. Investigators believe the primary motive for the attack was the murders themselves, with robbery being secondary. While some valuables were taken, including cash and jewelry, other expensive items were left behind. Acie, a World War II veteran and an officer at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, was known to carry large sums of money.
A chilling development in the case emerged when investigators discovered a link to another unsolved double homicide that occurred in Graceville, Florida, in January of the same year. An elderly couple, Robert and Katherine McRae, were also found shot to death in their home. Ballistic evidence from both crime scenes connected the two incidents, specifically the use of an uncommon 9mm Israeli T.Z.Z. cartridge. This has led authorities to believe that the same killer or killers are responsible for both double murders. Further suspicion of meticulous planning by the assailants arose from a report of an unidentified man in camouflage clothing seen observing the Worthy's home with a scope four months prior to the killings. Despite the efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, no suspects have ever been publicly identified or charged in the murders of Acie and Carolyn Worthy, and the case remains unsolved.
