Text messages will show that an Alabama man accused of murdering his wife had frequently argued with her before her nearly nude body was found outside their home, AL.com reports.
Prosecutors revealed the existence of the text messages in court documents recently filed in the case against Jeff West, whose trial is scheduled to start next week.
Authorities allege that West murdered his wife, 42-year-old Kathleen Dawn “Kat” West, in 2018 and left her body outside the couple’s home in Calera, Alabama, where they lived with their daughter, who was 12 years old at the time.
On Friday, Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Daniel McBrayer filed court documents stating that the prosecution will identify an intent and motive for the killing, and will rely on text messages “evidencing frequent arguments between the two,” according to AL.com, quoting from the court filing. The documents do not detail the content of the messages.
Kat West portrayed herself as a stay-at-home mom on social media, but she also had a subscription-only adult website where she went by the name Kitty Kat West.
Investigators believe Jeff West killed Kat on Friday, January 12, 2018, by striking her head with a Lucid Absinthe bottle. Her body was found the following morning around 5 a.m. by a teen on her way to work at a restaurant. The teen saw that Kat West was wearing only a sports bra, and also observed a mobile phone with a green bottle on top of it, which some witnesses believed looked staged.
Lucid Absinthe bottles are green, and the television show “Inside Edition” obtained footage from security cameras inside a liquor store that shows the Wests purchasing Lucid Absinth. The video shows Kat West laughing and Jeff West patting his wife’s bottom.
Police arrested Jeff West on Feb. 22, 2018, and he has been detained ever since in the Shelby County Jail on $500,000 bond.
West has pleaded not guilty and asserts he did not kill his wife. His attorney has said that his client knew about his wife’s adult website and that it wasn’t a problem for him, according to WBRC-TV.
West is a former campus security officer at Birmingham Southern College and he also served in the U.S. Army.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday with opening statements on Tuesday.
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