Alabama community left shaken by murder
By HAL SCHEURICH
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GULF SHORES, Alabama (WALA) — A McIntosh woman has been charged with murder in Baldwin County and left one Gulf Shores community shaken.
Destiny Johnston Byrd was indicted by a grand jury this week and charged in the death of her husband in Gulf Shores in April. At the time, Gulf Shores police didn’t release the cause of death and never made an arrest.
She was booked into the Baldwin County Jail this week. The death of her husband, 41-year-old Grover Richard Byrd of Mount Vernon, shook up residents of the One Club community back in April. At the time, Gulf Shores Police said Byrd was a guest at a short-term rental there. Investigators said they initially responded to assist with a medical call on a Thursday night. It quickly turned into a death investigation which went on for weeks.
“There were a lot of people involved in this case, said Lt. Jason Woodruff of the Gulf Shores Police Department. “There were a lot of people on the scene. Probably more witnesses interviewed than, you know, your average case for sure. Those people had left the area and had to be tracked down and it took a while.”
Thirty-eight-year-old Destiny Byrd was one of those questioned. Once the investigation was finished, the department opted to turn the case over to the grand jury for review rather than charge Byrd.
“These cases, they just evolve to a point where you just really want to get like a fresh set of eyes on it and really, more often than people probably think, we like to take a case to the grand jury,” Woodruff said.
Because little information was released at the time of the investigation, it caused concern around the One Club community. But police said this was an isolated incident between family members.
“Had nothing to do with One Club you know, whatsoever and it was clear to us it was going to take some time to investigate this case. It’s unfortunate, you know, we just can’t lay the cards out on the table,” Woodruff said.
Investigators still aren’t going into much detail about Grover Byrd’s death, only saying that he was stabbed. Destiny Byrd is being held in the Baldwin County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
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