Ozark, AL: Ozark pair dead in murder suicide

By MATT ELOFSON
Published: January 14, 2010

An Ozark woman died Thursday after police say her former boyfriend shot her during a kidnapping and shooting in which he also turned the gun on himself.
Ozark Police Chief Tony Spivey said both 51-year-old Debra Sharon Floyd and 60-year-old Thomas McClain died from fatal gunshot wounds. Spivey said state and federal authorities found the pair in a vehicle on the side of Pike County Road 2287, several miles outside Troy. He said McClain was found in the driver’s seat, and Floyd was found in the front passenger seat of her 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor.
One of Floyd’s relatives called police after one of her co-worker’s reported she had not arrived to work at Fort Rucker on Thursday morning. Spivey said the investigation’s preliminary results show McClain abducted Floyd at her Debra Lane home, and they later traveled to the county road in Pike County.
Spivey said it’s unclear when either Floyd or McClain died, but he said McClain shot his former girlfriend to death and then killed himself. A handgun Spivey said police believed to be the murder weapon was found inside the vehicle.
Helicopters from the Dale County and Coffee County Sheriff’s offices, along with Alabama State Troopers, searched several hours for Floyd and McClain, who were first only reported as missing. Spivey said multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in the investigation, including the Wiregrass Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force, Dale County Sheriff’s Office, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service, Coffee County and Pike County Sheriff’s offices and the Troy Police Department.
Spivey said it’s unclear whether police had responded to any reported domestic incidents between the former couple. Spivey said he hoped to release more details of the murder-suicide Friday at a 10 a.m. press conference at the Ozark Police Department.
Gary McAliley, district attorney for Pike and Coffee counties, said he had ordered an autopsy to be completed in the deaths.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen something like this,” Spivey said. “This is absolutely something that you do not want to ever see happen anywhere. This is just sickening.”