Decatur woman kills two people and stabs another

Sept. 7 – A Decatur woman is accused of murdering two people. One died in a hospital Thursday after being struck with a hammer and the other was found dead in a home last Sunday. She is also charged with assault for allegedly stabbing a third person, according to Decatur police.

Mary Deanna Hughes, 32, of 1607 Ororke Lane SW, remained in the Morgan County Jail without bail Friday pending an Aniah's Law hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, court records show.

The elderly victim, who died Thursday at Huntsville Hospital, was identified by police as Mimi Marquette.

The man found dead in an East Moulton Street apartment last Sunday was identified by police in a statement Friday as James Jefferson.

The man who was allegedly stabbed by Hughes but survived has not been identified.

On Aug. 25, at approximately 11:38 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of Ororke Lane SW after a stabbing was reported there, police said.

According to a police affidavit filed in court, Hughes was at the scene and was arrested the same day on second-degree assault charges. She is accused of assaulting a person she previously had a relationship with. The alleged victim in that case told police he was helping her paint a room in her apartment at her request “when she randomly stabbed him with a knife,” according to an investigator's affidavit.

The man went into Hughes' bathroom, he told police, but she continued stabbing him. Then, he said, she began hitting him with a metal baseball bat as he lay on the bathroom floor. According to the affidavit, he managed to kick the bathroom door open and then used his cellphone to call 911 while holding the door shut.

In the affidavit, Decatur Police Detective Michael Kent said the victim had “multiple injuries to his back consistent with stab wounds (and) other injuries throughout his body and a great deal of blood around his head and face.”

Kent said in the affidavit filed the day after the incident that the victim was in stable condition at Huntsville Hospital.

According to court records, Hughes was released on $10,000 bail on August 28, three days before the alleged attack on the elderly woman.

On August 31, at approximately 7:15 a.m., Morgan County 911 received a call about a robbery at the corner of Line Street Northeast and Market Street, police said.

“A witness reportedly yelled at the woman to stop and followed her in her vehicle until police arrived,” Decatur police said in a statement.

When officers arrived at the scene, police said they found “an elderly woman with multiple injuries.” Marquette was taken to Huntsville Hospital with serious injuries to her head and eye that required surgery, according to a police affidavit.

Hughes was charged with first-degree assault and remanded to the Morgan County Jail on $50,000 bail, according to a Morgan County District Judge. After Marquette's death, the charge was upgraded to murder.

At 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Morgan County 911 received a report of a deceased man in the 1000 block of East Moulton Street. Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn, as well as investigators from the Criminal Investigation Unit and Crime Scene Investigation Unit arrived at the scene.

Jefferson's body was taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for an autopsy. The cause of death was determined to be homicide, police said. Police did not say when Jefferson was killed.

“The autopsy revealed that (Jefferson) suffered blunt force injuries to the upper torso, blunt force injuries to the head and 22 stab wounds to the neck,” a detective said in a sworn statement, which also said Hughes admitted to stabbing Jefferson.

Hughes was charged with Jefferson's murder.

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