From The Tribune staff reports
COLUMBIANA — Investigators here have arrested a man and charged him with the Wednesday, June 22, murder of his grandmother.
Richard Alan Howell, 31, was taken into custody after Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies “discovered additional information that led to the arrest …” the sheriff’s office stated in a press release.
Howell is accused of murdering 77-year-old Dinah Davis Northcutt.
“At approximately 7:20 p.m., Shelby County 911 Dispatch received a call in reference to a suspicious person in the 100 block of Highway 97 in the Summerhill community near Columbiana,” the release stated. “Deputies from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office responded and received additional information, which led them to a residence in the 100 block of Highway 315 in the Summerhill community.”
At the scene, deputies discovered Northcutt’s body. From there, the SCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division responded to the scene to investigate her death as a homicide.
Howell is being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $150,000.00 bond for the charge of murder.
Sheriff John Samaniego encouraged anyone with information to please contact the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office at 205-670-6000.