Man accused of stabbing mom to death with wood carving knife indicted

HEADLAND, Ala (WDHN) — A Henry County Grand Jury has indicted a man charged with stabbing his elderly mother to death in her Headland home almost one year ago.

The indictment, filed on January 25, claims Alex McKay stabbed his mother, Annie McKay, to death in her home on Monday, February 20, 2023.

The 70-year-old wife and mother had been stabbed multiple times in the neck, wrist, and hand with a wood carving knife and was found by her husband in their kitchen not long after the crime occurred.

According to Headland police, multiple witnesses saw Alex McKay running from the scene. He was later arrested at his home on Martin Luther Drive, just three minutes away from the crime scene on Rocky Creek Road.

McKay is charged with one count of murder in the first degree. He pled not guilty to the charge in May 2023.

During Henry County’s first Aniahs Law Hearing for McKay, Dothan Police Investigator Terry Nelson described the murder as one of the most brutal he had ever seen and said the victim’s spine was exposed. After that hearing, McKay’s initial $1 million bond was stripped away.

At the time of the murder, Headland Police Chief Mark Jones told WDHN that Alex McKay had a history of mental illness, and a search warrant of his home on the night of the murder revealed he had not been taking prescribed mental health medication, such as antipsychotics.

McKay has a preliminary hearing set for March 26.

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