Terry Warren

In the quiet community of Skyline, Alabama, the evening of Friday, May 26, 2023, was shattered by violence that claimed the life of Terry Dewayne Warren. Mr. Warren was a 61-year-old White man. At approximately 11:30 p.m., deputies from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of shots fired at a residence on County Road 17. When they arrived, they discovered Mr. Warren just inside his home, suffering from what appeared to be fatal gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Scottsboro Police Department immediately began a homicide investigation. They soon identified a suspect, 29-year-old Dima Stevanovich Novikov, and obtained an arrest warrant for the charge of murder. A nationwide alert was issued, sparking an intensive, multi-agency manhunt that spanned five days and crossed state lines.

The search for Novikov came to an end on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, when deputies from the Murray County Sheriff’s Office located and arrested him in Chatsworth, Georgia. He was held in the Murray County Jail before being extradited back to Alabama to face the murder charge. The following month, in June 2023, a Jackson County grand jury formally indicted Novikov for the murder of Terry Warren.

Dima Novikov was subsequently convicted of murder. In February 2024, a judge sentenced Novikov, then 30 years old, to serve 30 years in prison. He received credit for 248 days already served and was ordered to pay $4,390 in restitution for Mr. Warren's funeral expenses. With the conviction and sentencing, the case was closed as of February 2024.