Police: Ala. Murder Tied to Tenn. Rampage

(AP)  The man accused in a rampage that killed six people first beat an acquaintance to death at an Alabama business and then moved north into Tennessee, where he repeatedly stabbed his estranged wife, her family and a neighbor, authorities said Monday.

Jacob Shaffer, 30, has been charged in the deaths. His wife, Traci, and her son and his friend, both 16 were found in her house in Fayetteville. The bodies of Traci Shaffer's brother and father were found in a home nearby.

Dr. Amy McMaster of the Tennessee medical examiner's office said Monday that all the victims found in Fayetteville had multiple stab wounds. McMaster did not know what kind of weapon was used.

Authorities have said the motive was "domestic," though it was unclear why Sidney Wade Dempsey, 50, was attacked, said Sgt. Mark Roberts of the Huntsville, Ala., police department. Dempsey died of blunt-force trauma at Hall Cultured Marble Granite, where he worked and was allowed to live, Roberts said.

"I think the guy (Dempsey) was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think the guy (Shaffer) just decided to start there," Roberts said.

Roberts said Shaffer confessed to killing all six victims. A friend of the victims said the family of Traci Shaffer, 38, owned the Alabama granite business.

Jacob Shaffer was arraigned on homicide charges Monday in Fayetteville, Tenn. He faces five counts there and another in Alabama.

Shaffer appeared by video link between the Lincoln County Jail and a courtroom, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs. He answered the judge's questions by saying only "yes" and shaking his head in response.

General Sessions Judge Andy Myrick appointed two assistant public defenders to represent Shaffer.

Family friend James Wilson said he had seen fights between Jacob and Traci Shaffer. He said police told him Shaffer spared the couple's 4-year-old daughter, who was home at the time, but investigators haven't yet confirmed that.

"As far as seeing him do something like this, you just can't see it," Wilson told The Associated Press. He said he is dating Traci Shaffer's sister, Jennifer.

"She's not handling it and I can't blame her," he said. "What can you say to someone who has lost everybody?"

Traci Shaffer was found dead Saturday in her home along with her son, Devin Brooks, and neighbor Robert Berber, both 16, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm. The bodies of Traci Shaffer's brother, Chris Hall, 34, and father Billy Hall, 57, were found in a home across the road.

The Shaffers were no longer living together but had not filed for separation, said Wilson, who was gathering belongings from Traci's house in Lincoln County. Wilson said he met Jacob Shaffer when they were installing drywall, but they had stopped being friends about a year and a half ago.

Shaffer was still installing drywall around Huntsville, and Billy Hall had been driving him back and forth to work before the couple split, Wilson said.

"Her dad done everything he could for Jacob," Wilson said. "I have no idea why he walked across the street to her daddy and her brother. Her daddy never done anything wrong."

Traci Shaffer's slain son and a 9-year-old daughter who wasn't home at the time were from a previous relationship, Wilson said.

Helm said that the family died Friday night or early Saturday, and that Jacob Shaffer was sitting on the porch of one of the houses when authorities first arrived. Huntsville police said information from him led them to the body at the granite business.

Fayetteville is a town of 7,000 people about 90 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee-Alabama line.



By Associated Press Writer Travis Loller

[ABM_21]

You know, in times like these some people love to make mundane, insensitive jokes about the ethnicity of the assailant, or some other less than decent remark. It is at a time like this when the victims and the loved ones they left behind need the support of the country. Mr. Shaffer essentially wiped out a whole family, and for what? Why? They weren't getting back together? So, if he couldn't have his wife, no one could? We need to take a serious look at how this sad, sordid episode transpired so maybe we can prevent another family from enduring this tragedy. I am from TN, and I could care less about the color of the victims, or the lifestyle the assailant lived. A mother and her son are dead. So are her father and brother. There is nothing funny about this; period. Murder is no laughing matter, and if you're making jokes about the demise of this poor woman and her family, don't get mad when your turn comes around, and you receive the same type of 'sympathy'...

[aChangeOfIdeas]

Thank you for being a voice of reason in a sea of insanity (I mean the posters here...) Somehow no one has blamed the GOP or liberals for this one. yet.

I wonder if his wife had filed complaints prior and/or had a restraining order. All to often this type of violence doesn't really "come out of nowhere" the way it is reported.

[displeased]

Yes, I think it's sad when people die a violent or needless death as with this case. However, I don't think they need the sympathy from the country, rather they need sympathy from their family and friends. There are about 45 murders a day in this country. When my time comes, I don't expect sympathy from complete strangers. If I am murdered, I would rather hope something can be learned to prevent it from happening to others. Unfortunately this will happen again because part of our society is very angry and violent.

[ladypirate2]

This guy is as insane as a guy in Oklahoma a few years ago who had a breakup with his girlfriend. Instead of just accepting it as a sane man would, he got in his car and traveled to the small town where his girlfriend had moved back in with her mother.

When he arrived there he found no one at home. Therefore he hid his car and went across the street to a neighbor's house. He didn't find anyone at home there either so he decided to break in and wait until his girlfriend returned home. While he waited on her, the neighbors came home and found him in their house. They were an elderly couple and were no match for him. He shot the lady to death with a shotgun and beat her husband to death with the gun.

Soon after, his girlfriend's mother and her teenage grandson returned home but his girlfriend was not with them. It was said later that she was at work.

When he saw them drive up he proceeded across the street where he accosted them in their living room. He struck the lady on the head with the #### of the gun knocking her unconscience and shooting the grandson in the back.

However, he didn't kill the boy though but he was critically wounded. Even though the boy was bleeding badly he managed to make it out the door and to his pickup truck that was in the driveway. He started the truck and drove about three blocks to the local high school football field where he knew that they were having a game that night and the whole town would be there.

Someone saw him drive up and when he stepped out of his truck he fell to the ground. That's when they saw that he was covered in blood. They ran to him to help him. When they got to him he said "Help Grandma! Go help Grandma!".

They immediately used their cell phone and called an ambulance for the boy and, since it was a very small town and the boy and his grandmother were well known in the town, as soon as the ambulance arrived for the boy, they drove to his grandmother's house where they found her still unconscience on the floor. By then the police were there and the police found a blood trail leading to the neighbor's house across the street. They followed it and that's when they found the elderly couple.

Even though the boy was critically injured he and his grandmother were able to talk to the police and give them a complete description of their assailant.

After his rampage their assailant hid out in the woods near the town evading the police and sheriff's department for over a month. When he got hungry he would break in people's houses and steal food. Finally after hiding in the woods for over a month he broke into the local food pantry. While he was there stealing food he was discovered by a lady who worked there. He knocked her down causing her to break an ankle.

He stole her car and drove to Arkansas where her car broke down, leaving him sitting beside the road. Another couple saw him beside the road and they did something you should never do! They stopped and offered him a ride. As soon as he was in their car he pulled a gun and forced them to drive him to eastern Texas.

When they got there the kidnapped man managed to reach a handgun that he kept in a pocket in one of the car doors. He wounded the criminal and he and his wife managed to escape and run to a nearby convenience store where they called the police. They gave the police a description of their car and their kidnapper. The police caught him before he was able to get out of town.

Finally after being on the run and evading police for over a month and murdering two people, assaulting two others and trying to kill the boy, and kidnapping still two other people, he was finally caught. He is now serving a life sentence in the Oklahoma State Prison in McAlester, OK with no chance for parole.

[ladypirate2]

There is something I need to correct about my message above. This man received a 150 year sentence for killing the neighbor lady and the death sentence for killing her husband as well as being convicted of assault and kidnapping and the attempted murder of the teenage boy. He is now on death row in the Oklahoma State Prison.

[mike18881]

Nobody is blaming this to a black person or gun control?

[get_down]

This useless thug - a.k.a. Jacob Shaffer, 30, cold-bloodedly murdered 6 civilians - deserves the death penalty no doubt. Justice needs to be served swiftly and pronto. Not a minute to waste. Why a law-abiding society is willing to tolerate this kind of useless thug to live is beyond me.

[Carvin82604]

by excoachken July 20, 2009 3:28 PM EDT
Rednecks with more guns than brains. So, who needs gun controls?


Uh, he bludgeoned the 1st one, and stabbed all the rest, or can you not read.

[ToolMangler1]

Ex will have you know that a gun made him do it, The guns are controlling all of our minds, They have embarked on a mission to eradicate humans from the face of thr Earth, Guns are very smart and wise, they will force a person to bludgeon someone to death to throw suspicion away from them. Beware Ex is their leader.!!!!!! (SAVE US!!!!!)

[ttinsly]

Domestic violence, Patriarchal values, violence against women and children (both boys and girls) and anyone perceived as "weak" (read feminine), sexism, homophobia, is as American as apple pie. And unfortunately, many other societies have this problem too. This man is a product of his culture, a culture that glorifies violence, war, and machismo. Do we even keep statistics on the number of spouses (overwhelmingly women) and children that die each year? And yet we fear feminine men, more than we do men that are violent so long as this violence is perceived as "civilized". This violence becomes patriotic and even very masculine when committed in foreign soil for the good of the Fatherland, or should I say Homeland.

[displeased]

It's the NRA's fault! That's what some of you claim with previous killing sprees anyway.

[excoachken]

Rednecks with more guns than brains. So, who needs gun controls?

[displeased]

I didn't realize guns cause multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma.

[docpeter1953]

Where are all the folks who are going to condemn the NKA (National Knife Association).

We need to keep knives out of the hands of criminals.

[proud_churchgoer]

Obviously the wife drove this poor man so insane he went and did this.

[ToolMangler1]

"proud_churchgoer", Your name makes you two things, A LIAR!!!! and a despicable POS.....

[docpeter1953]

proud_churchgoer, Good to see you are still around, I was thinking about you just the other day and wondering where you were. I/we haven't heard from you in a long time. Where have you been?

For those that don't know, proud_churchgoer is our old friend ms_premise, GOP_willwin, GOP_4ever, GOP_hockeymom, and many other handles.

You gotta be able to recognize the troll by the footprints they leave in the sand.

[TheMasses2009]

Was an absolute scumbag this POS is.

RIP to the families.