Pod Insights Criminology The Citronelle Murders About this episode In the early morning hours of Sat August 20th, 2016, Twenty-seven-year-old Derrick Dearman, entered the home where his twenty-four-year-old estranged girlfriend, Laneta Lester, was staying. It was Laneta's brother's home, situated approximately 30 miles outside Mobile, Alabama. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the Citronelle murders. Laneta had fled from Derrick because he was abusive. Her family turned Derrick away from the home when he showed up earlier. But Derrick was determined to get inside, and once he did, he committed multiple brutal murders against Laneta's family and then took her hostage. You can help support the show through Patreon. We'd love to connect with listeners on social media. We are available on the following platforms: Facebook - Facebook Discussion group - Instagram - Threads - X Formerly Twitter - Blue Sky - Twitch - Tik Tok Criminology is an Emash Digital production hosted by Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford.
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.
0:37 Speaker 01 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 365 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson.
0:44 Speaker 02 And this is Mike Morford.
0:45 Speaker 01 Mr. Morford, how you doing this week, buddy?
0:48 Speaker 02 I'm doing good now, but I had a little rough week. I had some problems with the refrigerators breaking down. Replacement came, that broke down. So I've been scrambling to keep food cold. And that's what that's been my battle last week, other than that I'm doing great.
1:02 Speaker 01 Yeah, that that can be tough. I've had that happen. I had it once with a freezer, like a deep freeze that was in my basement. That was a mess because you don't get in there all the time. So by the, the time you figure out that the thing is no longer working. Oh, that, that was a real mess, but you know, you kind of take for granted the refrigerator. And then once it goes out, like you said, it's a mad scramble to try to figure out, okay, how do we keep all this stuff cold? There's a, there's a lot of money these days sitting in those refrigerators.
1:36 Speaker 02 Yeah, it made me think back to the time before they had refrigerators, what they did and how, how we take that technology for granted, because it's such a, a, a life hack to, to make things easier and, and better for your family.
1:49 Speaker 01 Well, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had chocolate, int and Taylor Holmes. So some great new support. We really appreciate it.
1:57 Speaker 02 Yeah, thank you so much for that support. It really helps us out. And for anyone else that would like to support the show, head over to patreon.com/criminology to get started.
2:06 Speaker 01 All right, let's jump into this week's case and we're heading down to the southern United States, to the state of Alabama, specifically the small town of Citronell. Citronell is located about 30 miles northwest of Mobile. And though the population has increased over the years, there's still fewer than 4,000 people living there. We say it a lot in episodes when we talk about small towns, but Citronell really is one of those communities where a lot of people really know each other. It's not the kind of place where shocking crimes happen.
2:44 Speaker 01 But that all changed in 2016 with the murders of six victims, one of them an unborn child. And the crime shocked this small, tight-knit community.
2:56 Speaker 02 Just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, August 20th, 2016, someone inside of the home at 17610 Jim Platt Road called 911 about an unwelcome visitor. 27-year-old Derek Dierman, the estranged boyfriend of 24-year-old Laneta Lester, was at the home she was staying at in order to get away from him. Laneta had arrived at this home, which was her brother's house, the day before after fleeing the home she shared with Derek in Lusdale due to his abuse. Two days before, on Thursday, the 18th, Laneta and Derek had gone to her brother's house on Jim Platt Road. Derek was helping Laneta's brother, Joseph Turner, dismantle an old car so they could sell the scrap metal from it.
3:39 Speaker 02 And it got late, so Laneta and Derek spent the night there.
3:43 Speaker 01 The next day on Friday, Laneta and Derek had argued, and Laneta did not want to stay at her brother's house while the two were going at it. So Joseph offered to take them back to their Lusdale home. Once Laneta and Derek were dropped off, the argument escalated and turned physical with Derek beating on Laneta. She called her brother for help, and he came back to their house and picked her up and took her back to his place. Later that Friday night, Derek had come back to the house on his own. Trying to talk to Laneta, but he was told he wasn't welcome. After this happened multiple times, that's when 911 was called.
4:24 Speaker 01 So there's a lot going on more of already this fight that escalated. Sounds like, you know, it escalated to a very high degree. It turned physical and I can only imagine what Joseph was thinking. He must have witnessed the, the beginnings of the fight. But hey, couples fight, right? When, and when I say fight, I mean argue. So these two leave Joseph's home, they, they go back to their house. But he gets a call from Laneta and you know, being the brother, the protector. He wants to go help her. He wants to, to pick her up.
5:09 Speaker 01 He must've been fuming after finding out that, you know, this incident turned physical.
5:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, Laneta definitely recognized that she needed to get out of that situation. And Joseph was there to help her do that and then bring her back to his house. But then things seemed escalated. They didn't cool down. He, he's coming to the house now multiple times. And this is turning into like a really ugly situation at this point.
5:40 Speaker 01 And it doesn't surprise me at all, right? That Derek is turned away. He's trying to talk to Laneta. I'm sure Joseph was, was a big part of that in telling Derek that, hey, man, you're not welcome here. Just, you know, leave, go cool off. But the repeated attempts, you know, Derek, it sounds like Derek wasn't giving up and they ultimately had to call 911.
6:06 Speaker 02 And officers responded immediately to the 911 call. But when they arrived at the residence, Derek Derriman was already gone. The two bedroom home was in an isolated location and it took a bit of time for police to get to the home. There are no neighbors nearby and the house is at the end of a long dirt road. Other than a lake or small pond near the home, it's pretty much all woods, fields and dirt roads. Despite Derek being nowhere in sight, officers drove by the property multiple times in the overnight hours, just to make sure everything was okay and there was no sign of him. But at three that morning, it was time for a shift change and the patrols ended.
6:45 Speaker 01 After the police shift change with the lack of police near the home, Derek Dearman made his move and returned to the home once again with deadly intentions. It was now around 4:00 AM, about three hours after the 911 call. But this time, everyone inside the home was asleep. And he was careful not to make any noise because he knew he wasn't welcome there. He grabbed an axe that was in the front yard on his way up to the house. At the time, 24-year-old Laneta was asleep on an inflatable mattress in the living room that was set up near a window. Derek crept up to the house and reached inside. He tapped Laneta on the shoulder and woke her up.
7:30 Speaker 01 He asked her to get him something to drink and to give him a cigarette. She said no and told him to leave. He asked her to come outside to talk to him, but again, she refused. This obviously made Derek angry, but Laneta didn't care. If he wanted to talk to her, he shouldn't have hit her and driven her out of their home. She went back to sleep and he left.
7:52 Speaker 02 After Laneta had fallen back to sleep, Derek broke into the home through the sliding glass doors, even though they had been locked up tight. Derek first encountered 26-year-old Robert Lee Brown, who was sleeping in a recliner in the living room. He used the axe to hit Robert in the head multiple times before making his way through the rest of the house. He then crept past Laneta, who had slept through the attack, to her brother Joseph's room. Inside, 26-year-old Joseph, his wife, 35-year-old Shannon, and their three-month-old son were asleep in their bed. The infant was sleeping soundly between his parents.
8:28 Speaker 01 Without warning, Derek used the axe to bludgeon Joseph. He hit him in the head over and over again. The commotion woke Shannon up. She was also hit in the head with the axe. Derek then went to another bedroom in the home, where 23-year-old Justin Calebree and his 22-year-old wife Chelsea, who was five months pregnant, were asleep. He started with Chelsea, hitting her in the head. With the axe, this woke Justin, who tried to fight Derek Dearman off. Justin reached for his gun, a 45 caliber pistol, and the two struggled for it, but Derek overpowered him.
9:08 Speaker 01 Dearman hit him in the head with the axe multiple times before using Justin's own 45 caliber gun to shoot him and Chelsea. Then he went back into Joseph and Shannon's room and shot them too. This used up all the bullets in the pistol, but he found a 12 gauge shotgun in the home. Back in the living room, he shot Robert, who was still in the recliner, suffering from the axe wounds he had received moments before. And more very quickly, this has turned into a horrific series of killings. I mean, you think about being asleep in your home, right? And we've talked about it before, that's your safe space.
9:53 Speaker 01 I mean, to most people, right? Your home is your, is your castle. It's where you feel safe. And to me, when you're asleep, how can you be much more vulnerable than that? I don't know about you, but I'm a very heavy sleeper.
10:11 Speaker 02 Yeah, there's really no way to defend yourself in that situation. If you're zonked out and all of a sudden you're getting hit with blows from an axe. You know, you're probably not going to be able to, to survive that or defend, defend yourself very well.
10:25 Speaker 01 But there was one thing that jumped out at me here, and that's the Derek bypassed Laneta. It seems to me as though he intentionally either thought in his mind to target the males in the house first, or his intent was to kill everyone in the home and save Laneta for last. That really jumped out at me.
10:57 Speaker 02 Yeah, it definitely seemed like he had other plans for Laneta because he had encountered her first when he came to the house, trying to get a cigarette and something to drink. He could have attacked her right then and there probably, and she wouldn't have been ready for it. So if he wanted to hurt her primarily, you'd think he could have done it then.
11:19 Speaker 01 Well, and, and his, his major beef was with Laneta, but then my other thought was, I'm sure he had some animosity that had built, especially against Joseph, right? It's Joseph's home. Joseph had come and picked Laneta up, had probably also maybe along with some of the other males, turned Derek away, telling him that, you know, he's not wanted. He can't come in the home. I'm just trying to think about how this would have built up over the course of the, the night into the early morning inside of Derek, in his head.
12:04 Speaker 02 And I'm just picturing that crime scene. It had to be, you know, just a brutal one with multiple axe attacks and multiple shootings, you know, the, a, a house of horrors, it sounds like from everything that we've read.
12:18 Speaker 01 Yeah. I mean, you know, a 45 caliber, that's a big caliber bullet, does a lot of damage. And then obviously you and I have talked about shotgun wounds previously, the damage that a shotgun can do, especially up close. I mean, it'll, it'll make you shudder to think about what this scene must have looked like.
12:42 Speaker 02 At some point during the attack, Laneta woke up due to the loud sound of the gunfire. Derek threatened to kill her if she tried to run from the house. All she could do was scoop up her baby nephew and try to protect him from Derek. After making sure everyone was dead, Derek stole the keys to Shannon's car. He forced Laneta and her three-month-old nephew into the car and took them away from the scene. He planned to hold them for ransom. He made at least two stops, one at a truck stop to buy a pack of cigarettes and another at someone's house to try and buy some drugs with a terrified Laneta and her baby nephew in the car. He threatened Laneta, telling her he would harm the baby if she didn't just wait for him in the car. Finally, Derek drove them to his father's house in Leeksville, about 10 miles
13:26 Speaker 02 away from Citronell, just over the Mississippi border.
13:30 Speaker 01 So we just talked about the horrific scene inside the home, but now we have an entirely different scene. We have a kidnapping. And this idea that, you know, Laneta is probably not only worried for her safety, but I'm sure she was extremely worried about her three-month-old nephew. And the fact that Derek threatened this baby if she, you know, tried to escape or did anything. But more of the one thing that really jumped out at me was that Derek drives to his father's house. And I'm sure he wasn't thinking clearly at this point.
14:13 Speaker 01 Obviously, he's already killed a number of people. I have no idea what was going on in this guy's head. It just seems strange to me that, you know, in the middle of this spree, as I'll call it, his thought is to drive to his father's house. Oh, and along the way, he's, he's gonna stop and buy some drugs and a pack of cigarettes.
14:37 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think that just showed where his mind was and how disturbed he was during this horrible night. He's not thinking clearly. The things he's doing are questionable and he's, you know, buying a pack of smokes like nothing big is happening. And poor Laneta had to be terrified because she probably had no idea what he planned to do with her and she already had seen what he was capable of. So you can only imagine what she's thinking while she's trapped in this car with him.
15:06 Speaker 01 Yeah, I don't know if Laneta knew everything that had happened, but no doubt she heard the gunshots, right? A 45 pistol is extremely loud. A shotgun inside the home is extremely loud. She would have heard all of that. On top of that, she may have heard screams from some of the, the ax blows. I can't even put myself in her.
15:36 Speaker 01 Position. Now, many reports about this case state that Derek freed Laneta and her nephew once they got to Leeksville, but that isn't true. Laneta took off in the car, fling for her life. We don't know what he would have ultimately done if she hadn't. While Derek was talking to his father, Laneta took the baby and made a break for it. She was able to escape and drive Shannon's car back to Citronell. Derek's father tried to calm him down and eventually was able to convince Derek to let him drive to the police station so he could turn himself in.
16:14 Speaker 02 As soon as Laneta made it back to Citronell that afternoon, she walked her three-month-old nephew into the police station and told officers what had happened. By that time, Derek Derriman's father had already taken him to the Greene County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi so that he could turn himself in, but not for the murders at first. He had an outstanding warrant for burglary in the state. He didn't get around to mentioning the murders until Laneta had already alerted local authorities in Alabama. Officers in Citronell rushed to the home at the end of Jim Platt Road. Inside, they found the bodies of the five adults. Some reports indicated that a four-month-old child was still alive inside the home, but it seems like some wires got crossed somewhere. The only infant involved
16:57 Speaker 02 was the three-month-old son of Shannon Randall and Joseph Turner, who Laneta had saved.
17:02 Speaker 01 So there's two things that I want to touch on here. One is the incredible bravery of Laneta. I mean, we mentioned it, right? She was in such a terrible situation, not only fearing for her own safety, but also the life of her three-month-old nephew. And she makes the decision that she's going to take action, taking off in the car incredibly brave, probably more ultimately saving not only her life, but her nephew's life. And
17:41 Speaker 01 then the second thing is Derek's father being able to convince Derek to let him take him to the police station and turn himself in.
17:53 Speaker 01 I mean, it's a tough situation for a father, but it's the right thing to do. And that's exactly what Derek's father did.
18:01 Speaker 02 Yeah, and that may have in the end saved his son's life. Because who knows, maybe he would have chosen to try and attack someone else or harm himself. So he was able to help, you know, end that potential risk. But going back to Laneta for a second, you know, I think you're absolutely right. It was very brave on her part, especially being the victim of domestic violence. I don't know how long that violence went on, if she was used to it, if it went on on a regular basis. But it's clearly a case of domestic violence. And a lot of times victims in that situation are really afraid to fight back against their abuser.
18:46 Speaker 02 And in this case, she, she sprang into action. She didn't sit there petrified and, and wait for Derek to come after her or finish what he was gonna do. She decided to make a move and, and took off in the car and kudos to her for being so brave.
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20:21 Speaker 01 News about the murder spread through the town quickly and people were horrified and heartbroken to hear the details. Justin and Chelsea Reed had been together since high school and got married not long after their graduation. After living in Fresno, California for a year, they had recently moved back to Citronell to be closer to family. Since they were expecting their first child together, this couple could not have been more thrilled about becoming parents. They had already picked out a name, Aiden. Everyone inside the home that night was basically part of one big family. Chelsea was possibly Shannon
21:02 Speaker 01 Randall's niece. The reports are a little mixed on that with some stating it as fact and one article noting that it was an unconfirmed relation. Robert was Shannon's brother. Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich told USA Today, "Nothing like this has ever happened in Citronell, especially to this magnitude," adding, "It's the most brutal case I've ever seen." And Mobile County Sheriff Captain Paul Birch told the paper, "It's unprecedented here." And more if we talk about small towns a lot, this is a small town, you know, there's
21:43 Speaker 01 no way around it. I think anytime you're talking about a place with less than 4,000 residents, that's a pretty small town. It doesn't surprise me at all that, you know, a murder spree of this magnitude is not what they were used to. It never happened to this degree.
22:04 Speaker 02 And this kind of shocking, heinous, brutal murder of several people, I think would be
22:13 Speaker 02 Shocking in any town of any size, any city. But you know, I think it's just magnified when it's a town of this small size and a lot of the people know the victims. I think that probably just adds a whole nother level of, you know, anger, people being upset and, and wanting to have some justice here.
22:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, you know, if you live in a town or let's say a city, right? That has 50, 100,000 people and you see this on the news, you're going to be shocked. But chances are you're not probably going to know any of the people involved. In a town with less than 4,000 people, there's a good chance you are going to know one or more of these individuals. So I agree with you, even more shocking.
23:08 Speaker 02 Derek Derriman was extradited from Mississippi back to Mobile County, Alabama. As he walked into the Mobile County Metro Jail, a swarm of media followed him. According to the website, AL.com, his only statement to reporters as he walked in was, "Don't do drugs." According to that same site, Mobile County Sheriff's Office Captain Paul Birch said that while drugs may have been involved in the case, the murders were another example of the cycle of domestic violence. Derek Derriman was charged with six counts of capital murder, five for the adult victims, and one for Chelsea's unborn baby due to Alabama's fetal homicide laws and two counts of kidnapping. He faced the death penalty because he committed the murders during the commission of his
23:53 Speaker 02 other crimes, breaking into the home and theft of a car. He was held in custody without bond.
23:59 Speaker 01 And it struck me that his only statement was, "Don't do drugs." Basically as if that was the entire reason for what had happened. That's the way I took it more of like he was blaming this whole thing on drugs. But I, I thought it was important. What Captain Birch said, yeah, drugs may have been, been involved, but this, this was an example of domestic violence.
24:33 Speaker 01 So it's almost like Derek was trying to, you know, skirt around that issue and blame all of his problems or what he had done simply on drugs.
24:45 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think that was an easy out for him to try and make that claim. And, you know, I think don't do drugs is a good statement. I think drugs can cloud people's judgment and make them do things that they might not normally do. And yet I don't know his history and his mental state without the drugs, but they couldn't have helped. So, you know, I think it's a good message overall, but I think it's a cop out in his case.
25:16 Speaker 01 In September of 2016, the month after the murders, the home on Jim Platt Road burned down. Details about the fire and its origin are vague, but it's a suspicious situation. One article from AL.com notes that the Mobile County Sheriff's Office received a tip about the fire before it happened. According to Lori Miles, the Public Affairs Director for the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, all evidence had already been removed from the home. Miles also revealed that the tip about the fire had been received via email through the contact form on their website. The Citronell Volunteer Fire Department responded to 17610 Jim Platt
26:01 Speaker 01 Road around 8 a.m. on September 5th to put out the blaze.
26:07 Speaker 02 The house being gone was a relief for some people. An unnamed relative of the home's owner told AL.com, "This is a blessing that it went up, and I don't know who did it or why they did it, but it's gone." In the short time since the murders, the home had become a morbid must see, with one neighbor telling AL.com, "There were 10 to 15 people a day trying to come in just for sightseeing. They were treating it like the Manson House or something." We'll call the owner's unnamed relative, adding, "People need to stop and think about the fact that this whole neighborhood has just been rocked. It's not hard to imagine that the fire was carefully set by someone looking to get rid of the new and unwanted
26:48 Speaker 02 tourist attraction in their secluded neighborhood. Possibly it was set to rid them of a painful reminder about what had happened there."
26:56 Speaker 01 Derek Dearman initially pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. It's not clear what Derek was planning to use as a defense at his trial. In many states that do have an insanity defense of some kind, being under the influence of drugs is specifically excluded. Because even if you truly didn't know right from wrong, while you were committing whatever crime you're charged with, you knew losing control was a possibility. When you decided to take a mind altering substance. It didn't matter in the end because Derek Dearman ended up pleading guilty to five counts of murder on August 31st, 2018, avoiding a full trial. In exchange for the guilty plea,
27:41 Speaker 01 the sixth count of murder for the death of Chelsea's unborn child was dropped, as were the kidnapping charges. Despite the guilty plea, there were still a few days of evidence presentation and testimony during a punishment phase because a jury still had to agree on his sentence. They basically had two options, death or life in prison with no possibility of parole.
28:08 Speaker 02 The jurors all agreed in their decision to send Derek to death row after just over an hour of deliberation. Steve Marshall, Attorney General of Alabama, told USA Today, as a jury of his peers unanimously agreed, the gruesome facts of this case merited the ultimate punishment. On October 12th, this recommendation by the jury was upheld and he was formally sentenced to death. Instead of endlessly appealing his sentence or conviction by 2024, Derek Dearman had asked the authorities to stop wasting time, insisting that he should be put to death. He actually fired attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative, who were fighting on his behalf, and wrote letters to Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall,
28:52 Speaker 02 asking for his execution to be scheduled. According to USA Today, Derek Dearman wrote, "I am willingly giving all that I can possibly give to try and repay a small portion of my debt to society for the terrible things that I have done. From this point forward, I hope that the focus will not be on me, but rather on the healing of all the people that I have hurt."
29:15 Speaker 01 Now, I know there is a lot of debate on the death penalty. Some people believe in it. Some people are adamantly opposed to it. I understand that. But my thought more of is if it exists in the state where the crime occurs, I can't think of a better example of where it would be warranted. I mean, this was an extremely brutal and heinous crime.
29:48 Speaker 02 Yeah, there's no doubt about it. To go into the home while all these people were asleep and unable to defend themselves, or you'll call 911 or anything like that and take all their lives, one of them being, you know, a pregnant woman. To me, this meets all of the things that would merit a death penalty if that's on the table.
30:10 Speaker 01 And the one thought I had was it wasn't like Derek didn't know that Chelsea was pregnant. He knew all of these people. He had been there. He was part of the family. Somehow that even makes it worse. You know, this wasn't a stranger who didn't know the family situation. He knew it all, but he didn't care. And the other thing is we don't see it all that often where someone says, you know what? Go ahead and schedule my execution. Now, some people in the very beginning, they talk like that. But as the execution gets closer, they change their mind.
30:55 Speaker 01 And then they start, you know, fighting tooth and nail to do whatever they can to try to not make that happen. But he went the other way.
31:05 Speaker 02 And he also seemed to, from what I could see, to have some regret about what he had done and say that he was only interested in, you know, creating some kind of peace for everybody that was involved at this point. And that the best thing that should happen is he should die. So whether that was some kind of guilt or remorse or whatever, it seems like there was something there in what he was saying and his actions of writing those letters.
31:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, and I kind of take this one at face value because. He wasn't in a position where he had any chance of his words ultimately freeing him. So I feel like the things that he was saying probably were true at that point. It wasn't a show that he was trying to put on.
32:00 Speaker 02 Yeah, I agree. And I wonder if maybe the clarity of not being on drugs while he was in jail had time to think about what he had done. And maybe that was part of it. He had a clear conscience and he regretted what he did and knew how bad it was.
32:16 Speaker 01 Derek Dearman got his wish and his execution date was set for October 17th, 2024. According to USA Today, his last meal consisted of two pieces of fried catfish, three fried shrimp, three boiled shrimp, three fried oysters, three onion rings, a deviled crab and two sides. And I'm always fascinated by people's last meals. I don't know why, but it does fascinate me. It seems very strange to me that he ordered a lot of these things in threes. I don't know why. That really jumped out at me.
32:58 Speaker 01 Two pieces of catfish, but three of a bunch of other things.
33:02 Speaker 02 It's certainly interesting and you know, sometimes you hear about these guys that get a very late meal with nothing and then other ones get all kinds of ice cream and everything else under the sun, all kinds of dessert. So interesting to see how each person selects that last meal.
33:22 Speaker 01 His last statement to the audience waiting to watch his execution was, "To the victim's family, forgive me, this is not for me. It is for you. I have taken so much. To my family, you already know, I love y'all." Apparently Derek's family was the only reason. He didn't immediately request to be executed. He only presented any testimony or evidence during the punishment phase because
33:51 Speaker 01 They were so heartbroken. He was just going to let the jury consider the state's case alone without putting forth any reason why he shouldn't be put to death. After his conviction, they wanted him to fight and asked him to wait just a few years for them to try to appeal things on his behalf. According to the independent, they told him, we deserve that. It's our right as your family to fight for your life. But in 2024, he was tired of waiting. As he told the independent, that was almost six years ago, and I feel like I've given them the fair chance.
34:29 Speaker 02 Derek Dearman was executed by lethal injection in the death chamber of the William C. Holman Correctional Facility at Atmore, Alabama, almost exactly six years after he was sentenced. The viewing room curtains closed at 6:08 PM. Dearman was pronounced dead six minutes later at 6:14. He was one of at least five prisoners executed in the state of Alabama last year and one of two in just three weeks. The execution didn't make anything easier for those who still had to live with the weight of what happened. Robert Brown's father told APNews.com, "This don't bring nothing back," adding, "I can't get my son back or any of them back." Despite the killer being dead, Brown and the rest
35:12 Speaker 02 of the grieving loved ones will suffer for the rest of their lives.
35:16 Speaker 01 And I think that's a very powerful statement, and it's a very true statement, right? Putting Derek Dearman to death, it's not going to bring any of the victims back. You know, we know that. And I think in most cases, it's not going to end the suffering of the victim's loved ones. Now, for some people, they might find some satisfaction, if that's the right word. I don't want to use the word closure because I don't think it's fitting, but they might find something in the fact that this person is no longer
35:57 Speaker 01 alive. But I think that comes down to the individuals involved. Everybody has a different take on that.
36:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's always interesting in each case to see if the families of the victims support the person being put to death or they're against it. You know, a lot of times they'll give impact statements. The prosecution will consult with them before they decide if they want the death penalty. And a lot of times they'll put weight in what the family says and, and try and seek what their, what their overall desires are if they can. And it's interesting when you hear from the family members and what they have to say and what their views on the, the outcome are.
36:45 Speaker 01 In a very cruel twist of fate, it turns out that 25 year old Robert Lee Brown's paternal grandmother had also been murdered four decades earlier. His father, Robert F. Brown, trailing off due to pain, told AL.com, I was with her in the ambulance when she died. To have to go through this again. Bryant Randall, Chelsea Reed's father, told the paper, I kind of wish he would have to live a miserable life in prison, thinking of what all he sacrificed by making poor decisions. He added, knowing that he wants this now, kind of feels like he's getting the easy way out. The Equal Justice Initiative wrote a piece on their website that paints Derek Dearman's
37:30 Speaker 01 execution as unconstitutional, stating that the court failed to consider his history of mental illness as a reason to impose a life without parole sentence rather than death. They also noted that he had suffered from suicidal ideation for most of his life, explaining that dropping his appeals to speed up his execution was basically a form of self harm.
37:56 Speaker 02 We talk so much about domestic violence in many of our episodes, and it's because it takes so many lives. The domestic violence victim in this case, Laneta, had left her abuser's home. We know that this is the most dangerous time for someone in an abusive relationship when they try to leave. So what can be done? One thing is to make sure the person trying to leave has Plan and doesn't have to be alone to get their things. And in many cases, the person trying to leave will stay with friends or family. So that they aren't alone and more vulnerable. All of that didn't do any good in this case. Laneta was in a home full of people. The fact there are three men inside the home didn't scare Derek Dearman off. He was angry and he wanted to talk to Laneta.
38:39 Speaker 02 For whatever reason, he took his anger out on the people helping her. Maybe he didn't think he would be able to take her away from the house without waking everyone else up. Maybe he was only trying to eliminate their help in the future. Delusional and believing that they would still be together. But now she wouldn't have anywhere else to go.
38:57 Speaker 01 It's possible Derek Dearman killed everyone inside that home. Simply because they were on good terms with Laneta Lester. Her brother, Joseph, was just being a good big brother. And giving her a place to stay when she needed some space from Dearman. Whether she was ready to finally leave him for good or not. Joseph's wife Shannon was just sleeping in their bed next to their infant child. Just as Laneta was staying with her sibling, Shannon's brother, Robert, was staying with his. And Chelsea and Justin, they were just sleeping in the same house as Laneta. All of these victims were targeted while they slept.
39:38 Speaker 01 Once again, reminding us of the callousness of the murders. It's very hard to predict exactly when domestic violence is going to escalate into a fatality. It turns out that Derek Dearman had an ex-wife who he also abused. But she was a lot and he hadn't killed her family and abducted her. How was anyone supposed to know that Dearman wasn't just his usual angry abrasive self that night? That he was actually so angry, he was willing to kill multiple people, including a pregnant woman.
40:15 Speaker 02 As terrible as these murders were for Citronell, this kind of thing had happened before and not that far away. A different town in Alabama, about 150 miles from Citronell, had seen a strikingly similar crime almost exactly 14 years earlier. On August 26, 2002, 21-year-old Wesley Devon Harris used a shotgun to kill his 16-year-old girlfriend's grandmother, three brothers, mother, and father. He then kidnapped his girlfriend Janice and their young daughter, and held them for three days as he drove around the county. Like Derek Derriman, when he kidnapped Laneta Lester, Harris made several stops with his girlfriend Janice and their young baby in the car. Janice never tried to escape because she was
41:00 Speaker 02 holding her baby and knew that she wouldn't make it very far. Like Derriman's dad did, Harris's aunt eventually convinced him to turn himself in. He was also sentenced to death. Wesley Devon Harris is still alive, serving time on death row, and still appealing his case, even though he committed murder over a decade before Derek Derriman did.
41:20 Speaker 01 Well, there's no doubt. The fact Derek Derriman didn't fight or appeal his sentence sped up the entire process. Death penalty cases are notoriously long and drawn out due to the extensive appeals process. You really can't be too careful when someone's life is at stake. Derriman giving up all of his appeals and asking to be executed significantly moved up the clock on his death. If he had wanted to fight the conviction, he would likely still be alive, and the case would still be moving through the system in some capacity. Some people say that accepting his fate and not fighting it, and repeatedly
42:03 Speaker 01 pointing out his wrongdoing, proved that Derek was truly remorseful and had accepted responsibility for his actions. And I think you talked about it earlier, Morf, you know, maybe this had something to do with him finally being clean, finally being away from drugs after being incarcerated, and that allowed him to reflect clearly on what he had done. Some people, though, believe he took the easy way out, and that a quick death was his way of not having to suffer in prison, and that he hadn't fought his appeals to make it easier on himself.
42:42 Speaker 02 Derek Dierman was very clear from the beginning that he thought drugs caused his horrendous actions at night. He told AL.com, "Drugs were making me think things that's not really there." He also noted that the reason he didn't kill Laneta and the three-month-old at the scene was because his drugs were wearing off. He explained, "I came down and realized what was really going on." Shannon Randall's daughter, Brooklyn, told AL.com that Dierman is a good-for-nothing dopehead.
43:10 Speaker 01 We're definitely not saying that drugs were an excuse for Derek Dierman's actions, but if he was regularly using meth or other drugs, it's not hard to see how he got into such a bad state of mind. He admitted that he hadn't slept in six days before the murders. According to many online sources, sleep deprivation on its own can cause perceptual distortions, anxiety, and hallucinations, even without any drug use involved. But drugs are only a part of this case. There was still the entire issue of domestic violence here.
43:49 Speaker 01 And sadly, like so many cases of domestic violence, this case ended up fatal. The difference this time is that the abuser killed five people who were not in the relationship. Laneta wasn't unharmed in the entire ordeal. It's possible that he would have ended up killing her at a different point in the night if she hadn't escaped. That's something that we really don't know.
44:17 Speaker 02 Friends and neighbors recall that both the drug use and the physical abuse were frequent. One friend, Charlie Passavelli Jr., referring to regular walks in the woods that turned into physical attacks, told AL.com, "He was taking her out there and beating the crap out of her." Derek Dierman's ex-wife, Crystal, told AL.com that Derek always had a temper, especially when he doesn't get his way. Their relationship was also marked by violence. She recounted one incident, saying, "I woke up to him holding a knife to my throat in bed with my baby in the crib." It didn't end when they got divorced either. She told AL.com, "He's made threats the entire time we were together and after we separated."
45:00 Speaker 01 This is another case where the victims did what they were supposed to do. Laneta left the abusive situation and stayed with family. They called 911 when they spotted him on the property. Even law enforcement took it seriously right away, continuing to patrol the area in the overnight hours, trying to ensure that Derek didn't return to the property. Laneta refused to entertain the idea of leaving with Derek or even talking to him that night. The doors were locked. The residents had firearms for self-protection. Still, here we are discussing six murders.
45:42 Speaker 01 And this coming August will be the ninth anniversary of the murders. And I think more of all of this highlights the fact that it's not possible in every situation, even when you potentially do all of the right things to ensure your safety. And that's a very scary thought.
46:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, everyone helping Laneta in this situation and Laneta herself did the things that you would want them to do and that, you know, taking precautions would often help the situation and the outcome. And in this time, despite all of those, you know, steps that they took, it didn't stop Derek from committing this carnage. And it's frightening that, you know, despite all of their steps that they took, he was still able to get in there and do what he did.
46:37 Speaker 01 Yeah, I gotta be honest with you, man. This is a very scary story. I mean, obviously, we know how many lives were lost, how many were taken by Derek Dearman. But the fact that, you know, everybody was inside the home, they were sleeping, the doors were locked, they obviously had some firepower for protection. None of it mattered. You know, he was determined to get inside of that home. And once he was inside, he set about systematically killing people.
47:15 Speaker 02 All hell broke loose that night in that house. And, you know, you can go back and sort of Monday morning quarterback it and say, well, could this have been done differently? What if this hadn't happened? From everything we see, they took all the right steps and you know, this is all on Derek, you know, despite being on drugs, he was still with it enough to get in there and do what he did. And so, you know, some people might say, well, that's a defense and he was on drugs and he wasn't thinking clearly. Well, he obviously was thinking clearly enough to counter all these measures they took for their safety. So you wonder how well that argument really holds up.
48:00 Speaker 01 Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt the guy was on drugs, but again, I don't know what type of defense that is. It was interesting to hear, you know, his attorneys talk about a history of mental illness. The problem is we couldn't really find a lot of that documentation in the research to talk about it. But it's very possible, you know, that could have played a part as well. But to me, at the end of the day, this is was a guy who was an abuser. He had a clear pattern of domestic violence, not just with Laneta, but in other relationships
48:45 Speaker 01 as well. And I think that is, you know, in some part at the root of what happened.
48:53 Speaker 02 Yeah, you have a domestic abuser with a history of mental illness and he's on drugs. This is just, it sounds like a recipe for disaster. And unfortunately, you know, all of that combined and it came to a head on that night in 2016 and all these people paid with their lives. We give out this hotline number a lot and say it's available if you or anyone you know is experiencing domestic violence. But in this episode, it feels important to stress the or anyone you know part, because as we've seen, even the people who aren't in the abusive relationship can fall victim to domestic violence. And the impact of that
49:31 Speaker 02 domestic violence can be far reaching. You can call 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and there's an online chat option.
49:48 Speaker 01 So more of that's it for our episode on the Citronell killings. Just a devastating event. It ended the lives of, you know, a number of people. And obviously it affected the lives of many more people. You have the, the victims' families, but you also have the citizens of Citronell and surrounding areas. We've said it before, but this kind of case undoubtedly changed that small community forever. I don't think there's any way around that.
50:31 Speaker 01 It happens time and time again, especially in, in some of these smaller communities. How can it not change the fabric of the community in some way?
50:42 Speaker 02 That's very frightening. It could happen in anybody's town, anyone listening, our towns, you know, something like this could happen under the right circumstances.
50:51 Speaker 01 But as always, if you love the show and haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a rating, give us a review. Also, keep telling your friends. Word of mouth about the podcast really helps us out.
51:04 Speaker 02 If you want to find us on social media, we're available on all major social media platforms. Just search for Criminology Podcast. You can also visit our site, criminologypodcast.com. And you can join the discussion about our episodes and the show on Facebook in our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcast, discussing and fans.
51:25 Speaker 01 So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike.
51:34 Speaker 02 And Morph.
51:35 Speaker 01 We'll talk to you next week.
51:37 Speaker 02 Take care, everyone.
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