Kortney Alexander Nichols was 21 when he was shot and killed at his new Aspen Run apartment in Birmingham on December 23, 2009. He had moved into the unit four days earlier. According to investigators, people using a fake name knocked on his door and, after he said no one by that name lived there, tried to force their way inside. A shot was fired through the door as he struggled to keep it closed, killing him. Authorities treated the incident as an attempted robbery and believed it was carried out by someone who knew Nichols.

Birmingham police arrested and charged multiple people in connection with Nichols’s death. Those named in charging documents include Kourtney Collins, Joshua Deloach, Derrick Young, Michael Johnson, and later Carlos Heard; all were booked at the Jefferson County Jail. Nichols’s mother, Shelisa Nichols, said the family was devastated; he left behind a young daughter and a younger brother who had been very close to him. Funeral services were held January 2, 2010, at St. Joseph Baptist Church, and he was buried in Oakland Cemetery.

If anyone knew Kortney, his movements in the days before December 23, 2009, or has information about the people involved, please share what can help the case.