Shooting victims dumped near Atmore
News Staff Writer
A Walnut Hill man is dead, another is clinging to life in a Mobile hospital, and three other residents of the tiny community — two men and a woman — are behind bars in connection with the shootings, after which the victims were discovered in a partially submerged pickup in Brushy Creek, outside Atmore.
Dead is Dalton Davis, 22, who was reportedly shot once in the back of the head. The other man, 50-year-old Troy Boutwell, remained near midweek in critical condition at University of South Alabama Medical Center, his body riddled with bullet holes.
Christopher Alan Stacey, 37, is charged with one count each of murder and attempted murder in the shooting. His son, 18-year-old Christopher James Logan Stacey, and his ex-wife, Alexis Ileene Shiffner Cain, 21, are each charged with one count of accessory to murder and accessory to attempted murder. The trio reportedly live together in a house off Highway 164, which connects Florida 97 and U.S. 29.
According to the Escambia County (Fla.) Jail’s website, Christopher Alan Stacey is accused of firing the shots from an unspecified weapon and is being held without bond. Christopher James Logan Stacey and Cain are being held under bonds of $150,000 each.
The grim tale came to light early Sunday morning, June 3, when a local woman who was traveling along Deere Creek Road spotted a pickup that was at rest in the creek waters.
“At approximately 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, a call came in concerning two people who had been shot,” said Atmore Police Chief Chuck Brooks. “A passerby who was on Deere Creek Road saw a truck, partially submerged, in Brushy Creek. She stopped and observed a body in the bed of the truck. Several hundred yards farther, she saw a man walking from the creek who told her he had been shot as well.”
The body in the truck, later identified as Davis, was reportedly clad only in his underwear, and a tire was lying on his head, apparently to hold the body in place. The other shooting victim, later identified as Boutwell, was apparently left for dead, also in the bed of the truck.
The local woman called an ambulance for the critically wounded man, who had several bullet holes in his body, including one that traversed his head. As Boutwell was awaiting transport to Atmore Community Hospital, he was able to inform the woman as to where the shooting took place and to provide some details of the shootings.
“He told the passerby that [he and Davis] were at a residence off Highway 164, and he was shot there and somehow arrived at that destination, on Deere Creek Road,” Brooks said. “One of our investigators and an agent with the State Bureau of Investigation talked with him at the hospital, and he shared the information he had shared with the woman.”
Brooks said investigators contacted authorities in Escambia County, Fla., and relayed the information they had gathered. The Florida lawmen “responded to the 5900 block of Highway 164 and immediately began an investigation.” The house is about nine miles from the spot where the truck was pushed into the creek.
Boutwell, who told authorities he “played dead” after the shooting, said he was shot as he sat on a couch in the residence. A couch was found burning in the backyard of the home when deputies arrived, but no information has been released on whether blood stains or other forensic evidence was found on the flaming furniture.
No motive has been given for the brutal shootings, but authorities believe that Davis was shot as the result of an argument with Christopher Alan Stacey over Stacey’s former spouse and that Boutwell was shot because he witnessed the Davis shooting.
Inside the house, in separate bedrooms, the Florida investigators located an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun. They have not yet revealed which, if either, of the weapons was used in the shootings.
Brooks said the involvement of Atmore police ended when it was confirmed that the shootings took place across the Florida line.
“It started with us, but Florida is heading it up after they found out that the man was killed over there,” he said.