HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A pair of killings in Huntsville, Ala., that went unsolved for more than 15 years now have a suspect attached to them. Huntsville police said Wednesday that detectives have closed both cases and blame Jeremy Powell, a man who died in Mississippi in 2013.
The first victim was Herbert Gray, 60, a businessman found dead at his Huntsville company in July 2010. Detectives say Powell attacked him inside the business. His stolen car later became a key piece of the case.
The second was Eden Lua, 41, who was attacked at her home on Boardman Street later that same year and died at the hospital. She had moved to the street only a short time before, and Powell lived close by.
Detectives had looked at Powell from the start but could not tie him to either scene. The break came after he moved to Jackson, Miss. In 2013, while being questioned there in another killing, he shot and killed a detective and then took his own life.
Crime scene investigators got his fingerprints from Mississippi and matched them to prints from the stolen car and the scene where Gray died. Remarks he made to a television crew in 2010 about what was painted on a wall inside the home of Lua also pointed investigators his way.
The findings went to the Madison County District Attorney, and probable cause was found linking Powell to both deaths. Because he is dead, no one will be prosecuted. Detectives told both families, and the department says this is the sixth case its cold case unit has solved or closed.
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