Jefferson County sheriff's detectives crack cold case

Dimitrius Alexander

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Alabama
A Bessemer man is charged with murder in the 2009 slaying of a woman found nude, beaten and shot in an isolated pocket of south Jefferson County known to teenagers as "The Billboard."
Sheriff's officials today announced the arrest in the nearly 3-year-old cold case killing of 38-year-old Bernicia Tonya Murray. A teen riding his four-wheeler at dusk saw what he thought was a body just off the roadway in the 2600 block of Rocky Ridge Lane near Hoover, but he didn't call authorities until the following day. Several other teens went in and out of the area before police were notified.
On Jan. 16, deputies found Murray's body about 50 yards off the road. Clothes were near her body. Forensic evidence was collected at the scene. One of the witnesses left a biological sample at the scene but was eliminated early on as a suspect. There was also evidence from an unknown male, but authorities could not link it to anyone known to be on the scene, or already listed in law enforcement databases.
The case grew cold, until April 2011 when sheriff's detectives learned that the nationwide DNA database had recorded a hit on the case: a hair collected from Murray's body matched the genetic profile of someone in the database who was not associated with other biological samples taken from the scene.
That hair belonged to 28-year-old Demitrius Alexander of Bessemer.
Sheriff's Det. Sgt. Andrea Knight then began the painstaking work of tracking Alexander's movements of the past two-plus years, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. She interviewed people who may have known him, and went to places he had been.
Christian said her determination paid off when a handgun that was of the same caliber as that used to murder Murray was found in property that belonged to Alexander. Ballistic evidence confirmed it was the same gun that killed Murray.
Alexander lived near Murray at the time, and it is believed that they knew each other.
A warrant was issued this week against Alexander, with a bond set at $75,000. He is currently in the Shelby County Jail on unrelated charges of obstruction of justice.
"We are elated to finally bring closure and justice for this family," Christian said. "Two things allowed that to happen : the wonder of DNA and great determination from a detective that just wouldn't let it go. We are awfully thankful for both."