On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, four people were killed in Jefferson and St. Clair counties in Alabama. On Friday, Daniel P. Watson, 28, of Pell City was arrested in connection with the killings. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Watson for capital murder due to the multiple victims.
The first pair of slayings occurred in East Lake, where Tiffany Michele Hernandez and Jason Joseph Brown, both 40 and from Birmingham, were found shot to death. Watson is believed to have committed these killings.
The second pair of slayings occurred in Ragland, where Amber L. Manning, a 37-year-old wife and mother, and Timothy R. Davidson, a 62-year-old father, were shot and killed at a home on Ivy Drive. Manning was found dead in the driveway and Davidson was flown by lifesaver to UAB hospital and later pronounced dead.
Watson knew at least some of the victims. Officer Truman Fitzgerald with Birmingham police stated, “From everything that I’ve been told, the suspect knows everybody or knows of everybody. You’re dealing with four lives lost in 24 hours and a potential fifth life lost in the end once this case goes to trial.”
The four homicides in Jefferson and St. Clair counties are a tragedy and a reminder of the fragility of life.