A man serving time in a Florida prison was just transferred to an Alabama jail for a 2002 double murder he allegedly just confessed to.
In September 2002, Monica Rollins, 23, and her 6-year-old son, Dalton, were found dead at their home in Heflin, Alabama. The two had been stabbed to death. Monica was eight months pregnant.
Family showed up to her house after they hadn’t heard from her. When they arrived, they found the gruesome crime scene and Monica’s other son, 3-year-old Aaron, hiding in a closet. He was unharmed.
“Investigators believed the assault caused Monica to go into early labor, which resulted in the partial delivery and death of her third son,” detectives wrote in an old press release.
The horrifying case went cold.
Monica Rollins (left), Dalton Rollins (right)
With help from the state, grant money from Seasons of Justice, and a literal “truck load of evidence,” investigators were able to make an arrest more than 20 years after the crime.
“It was definitely the hardest case, and I’ve worked several homicide cases in my career,” explained Investigator and Captain Scott Bonner. “The box of reports and everything we had to go through, that alone took several months.”
Lewis Ladon Spivey was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. Now 39, he was 18 years old when he allegedly murdered Monica and Dalton.
“They were acquaintances,” Bonner said in a press conference. “They had a relationship.”
For the last 15 years, Spivey has been sitting in a Florida prison cell for an unrelated robbery and aggravated assault case out of Bay County. He was sentenced in February 2010.
Lewis Spivey (Florida Department of Corrections)
“He was looked at early on in the investigation by other agencies before we opened up the case,” Bonner explained. “Good investigation work gave us some good leads.”
When investigators sat down with Spivey, he allegedly gave them a “complete confession,” outlined the crime, and took “sole responsibility” for the murders. DNA, fingerprints and fibers were collected at the crime scene and sent to the Alabama Department of Forensics.
This case proved to become personal to Investigator Bonner. He admitted he’s probably spent more time with Monica and Dalton’s families over the last three years than he has with his own.
“I have come real close to them,” he said. “It makes me feel great that I can give them some peace.”
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Lewis Spivey (Cleburne County Jail)
Spivey is now being held at the Cleburne County jail. A judge denied him bond.
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