31-year-old Birmingham woman is 5th suspect charged in deadly Alabama killing spree

A fifth person has been charged in an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy in Alabama that led to the death of a 46-year-old man in Sylacauga.

Tahila Myicole Lomax, 31, is charged with capital murder/personal murder in the 2021 slaying of Bradford Franklin Isbell.

Previously indicted on the same charges are Montrell Towns, 30, Markkeis Antwain Towns, 31, Kiera Monthelia Turner, 28, and Allana Amani Reid, 30.

US Marshals arrested Lomax at the Lakeshore Ridge Apartments on Friday. She was booked into the Jefferson County Jail Friday morning and remains held without bond.

Isbell was killed around 10 p.m. on June 23, 2021, on Harper Springs Road in Sylacauga. Police found Isbell dead outside the home.

Officers also found Rachel Elizabeth Hayes, 32, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham and survived.

Investigators at the time said they did not believe the shooting was random, but no arrests have been made.

The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office led the investigation into the murder-for-hire case, but officials there did not elaborate on what launched the investigation or why they were involved in the case.

A motive has not been disclosed.

Markkeis Towns remains in prison pending a 2023 guilty plea in a manslaughter case.

Reid was released from the Jefferson County Jail in April on $60,000 bond, and Turner remains held without bond.

Montrell Towns is already serving a 20-year prison sentence for a conviction for shooting into an occupied vehicle — which was a Birmingham Police Department cruiser.

He was brought from jail to the Jefferson County Jail so his capital murder warrant could be served on him and he remains held there without bond.

The indictment states that Montrell Towns hired Markkeis Towns to cause Isbell’s death “under contract or for hire.”

It was not immediately clear how or if the cities of Montrell and the cities of Markkeis are related.