Baldwin County authorities announced murder and abuse of corpse charges against a Bay Minette-area man in November 2014, closing the identification phase of a case that had unsettled the small community around Magnolia Springs for days.
Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack told reporters gathered at the Baldwin County Commission chambers in Bay Minette that 87-year-old Kenneth Hood was killed inside a home on Russet Court in the Copperwood subdivision, believed to have died from blunt force trauma to the head, neck and chest. Investigators say the killing happened late on a Thursday night or in the early hours of Friday morning, and that Hood’s body was dismembered inside the residence before the remains were scattered at nearby creeks.
William Minton, 55, Hood’s stepson, faced an arrest warrant on charges of murder, abuse of a corpse and a probation violation tied to a prior conviction. Mack said Minton was expected to be transported back to Baldwin County for booking, with a bond hearing to follow within roughly three days of his arrest.
The case first came to investigators’ attention after a severed arm and hand were discovered at a home on Lipscomb Road. That discovery led searchers to Hood’s torso in Weeks Creek and, a day later, additional remains including the head at Nolte Creek, not far from the Magnolia Springs community. Authorities said at the time that a foot had not yet been recovered.
Baldwin County District Attorney Hallie Dixon described the crime as unusually calculated for a Baldwin County case, saying the effort to dismember the body and transport the remains to water reflected planning that she called deeply disturbing. She said prosecutors were still evaluating whether the case could meet the legal threshold for a capital murder charge under Alabama law, noting that the investigation was still in its early stages.
Mack said Minton and his mother, Carolyn Hood, who was married to the victim, had left the area for Millbrook, where extended family lived, shortly before the arrest. Minton was located at a relative’s home with assistance from the Millbrook Police Department and the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. Mack said Carolyn Hood, described as a convalescent under family care, was not believed to have played a role in her husband’s death, though investigators had not fully ruled out her involvement at the time.
According to the sheriff, the Hood-Minton household kept largely to itself and was not well known within the close-knit Magnolia Springs area, a detail he said initially complicated efforts to determine where the crime had taken place before evidence led investigators back to the Russet Court home.
The case drew heavy interest across Baldwin County as residents followed each stage of the investigation, from the initial discovery of remains to the identification of both victim and suspect. Prosecutors said the investigation into a possible motive and the exact circumstances inside the home was continuing as charges moved forward.