Kellie Ann Hughes was 31 when she was found shot to death in a wooded area near St. Vincent’s East hospital in the early morning of December 14, 2019. The sequence began with a 911 call from a woman who said she was being held against her will at the Woodside Condominiums in Center Point, Alabama; deputies traced the caller’s cellphone to the complex and found her bound with zip ties and injured. That woman told investigators she believed she had been kidnapped because of what she knew about a homicide, which led them to the place where Hughes’s body was recovered.

Investigators identified two people of interest, Brady Witcher and Brittany McMillan, and tied them to a related multi-state crime spree that included a Tennessee home invasion and kidnapping. Both were arrested in a hotel in Hazelwood, Missouri. Hughes is remembered by family as a vibrant mother, grandmother, sister and aunt who could light up a room.

Anyone who knew Kellie or who has information about her death is asked to come forward.