A Jefferson County jury on Friday found Montrel Austin guilty of murder in the slaying of 23-year-old Emilio Elliot Jr. Austin was initially charged with capital murder.
Work begins on $39 million Birmingham Southtown senior housing development al.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from al.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
‘They deserve justice’: Families seek answers as Jefferson County ends 2020 with 74 unsolved murders
Updated Dec 31, 2020;
His mother, Nedra Smith, thinks about her first-born, just 15-years-old, every day and every night.
She thinks about how she was just beginning to know what it felt like to have a full-fledged teenager with his driver’s license just around the corner.
She thinks about him when his five younger siblings want to know why they can’t see him.
She thinks about how much help he was as the man of the family, and how that burden now rests on her 13-year-old.
“I don’t sleep because my mind is constantly racing, trying to put together the who and the why,’ Smith said. “I just don’t get what was so bad, so horrible for you to still have life and my child doesn’t. It’s like one of those movies where you are left hanging. I don’t have an ending.”