An Alabama grand jury this week indicted a 50-year-old man for the death of a 37-year-old woman shot to death in front of her children a year and a half ago.

Emell Odell Peavy was arrested and charged with the death of April Marie Britton in 2023, but the case had not moved forward until this week, when the Jefferson County grand jury handed up a capitol murder indictment, AL.com reported. Police said Britton’s murder was domestic related.

Peavy had previously spent 16 years in prison for the 1991 death of a man he beat to death with a chain.

Jefferson County deputies and Birmingham police responded to a 911 call on October 23, 2023, made by a witness who was flagged down by two teenagers, who said that their mother had been shot in the head.

A short time later, the witness said, Peavy pulled up to the house in a car, and one of the teen girls said, “That’s who shot my mama.”

The witness’s husband held Peavy at gunpoint until police arrived.

Britton’s children were 20, 17, and 13 at the time. She home-schooled the younger two, who were at home when their mother was gunned down.

Peavy has been held without bond since he was arrested.

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[Featured image: Emell Odell Peavy/Jefferson County Jail and April Marie Britton/handout]