The Latest: Man arrested in killings blames rampage on drugs

The Latest: Man arrested in killings blames rampage on drugs


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CITRONELLE, Ala. (AP) — The Latest on the massacre of five adults at a home in south Alabama (all times local):

8:50 p.m.

A man arrested after five people were killed in rural southwest Alabama is blaming the rampage on drugs.

Derrick Dearman tells reporters he was on methamphetamine when he went to a house where the five were discovered dead Saturday. He says drugs made him believe things that weren't really happening.

Dearman's comments were recorded on video Monday as he was escorted by deputies while arriving to face charges in Mobile.

Authorities say Dearman will be charged in the killings of five people in Citronelle. He was arrested after turning himself in to sheriff's officials in Greene County, Mississippi.

Dearman says he surrendered after sobering up and realizing what he had done.

Authorities previously said Dearman admitted to killing at least one person at the house.

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2:40 p.m.

Residents of a southwest Alabama town where five people were slain are trying to raise money to help the victims' families pay funeral expenses.

Relatives of some of the victims have started an online fundraiser, and a plastic jug for donations sits on the counter of a convenience store a couple miles from the scene of the massacre near Citronelle, located in southwest Alabama.

A clerk at the store, Dawn Sullivan, says she knew all the victims and was related to one by marriage. She says the community is coming together to help survivors of the slaying.

Residents say all the victims were related by blood or marriage.

Authorities say a Mississippi man will be charged with murder in the slayings. Authorities say the man killed five people at a house where his estranged girlfriend had sought refuge from him. The bodies were found Saturday.

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11:30 a.m.

Authorities say the suspect being held in Mississippi after five adults were slain in south Alabama has signed papers allowing for his extradition to Alabama, where he will face murder charges.

Alabama authorities say the slain included a 22-year-old woman who was five months pregnant and four adults ranging in age from 23 to 35. Their bodies were found Saturday.

Stanley McLeod, the sheriff in Greene County, Mississippi, said in a statement that Derrick Dearman initially refused extradition following his arrest.

But McLeod said that by Monday morning, he had signed the necessary paperwork and was expected to be taken back to Alabama by Mobile County sheriff's officials.

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10:55 a.m.

A Mississippi sheriff says the man accused of slaughtering two women and three men at a home in south Alabama walked into his agency's office and said he had killed at least one person.

Greene County Sheriff Stanley McLeod released a statement Monday that noted that Derrick Dearman said while surrendering that he "had killed someone or more than one person" in Citronelle, Alabama.

Alabama authorities say the slain included a 22-year-old woman who was five months pregnant and four adults ranging in age from 23 to 35. Their bodies were found Saturday at the home in Citronelle.

Mobile County sheriff's Capt. Paul Burch said Dearman attacked the victims as they slept and abducted his estranged girlfriend and an infant from the home. They were found alive.

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2:40 a.m.

Authorities in south Alabama say the five people slain in a massacre at a south Alabama home included a 22-year-old woman who was five months pregnant and four other adults ranging in age from 23 to 35.

A sheriff's captain says the suspect attacked them as they slept and then abducted his estranged girlfriend and an infant from the home. Both of them were found alive.

The bodies of the two women and three men were found Saturday afternoon inside the home in Citronelle, a small town 30 miles northwest of Mobile.

Investigators say 27-year-old Derrick Dearman of Leakesville, Mississippi, faces six counts of capital murder — one count for each of the victims plus an additional murder charged since one of the victims was pregnant.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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