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Alday family murders

Also known as: Alday murders

Active

1973–1973

Region

Seminole County, Georgia, USA

States

GA, WV

Kind

Mass

Status

Executed

Victims

6

On May 14, 1973, four men who had escaped from a Maryland prison camp, Carl Isaacs, his brother Billy Isaacs, his half-brother Wayne Coleman, and George Dungee, broke into Jerry and Mary Alday's mobile home on the family farm outside Donalsonville, Georgia. They killed Jerry, his father Ned, his brothers Jimmy and Chester, and his uncle Aubrey one after another, then took Mary to a wooded area, assaulted her and killed her. The men were arrested in West Virginia days later. Carl Isaacs, Coleman and Dungee were sentenced to death in 1974; the convictions were overturned for pretrial publicity, and at retrials in 1988 Isaacs was again sentenced to death, Coleman got six life terms and Dungee pleaded guilty. Billy Isaacs testified for the State. Carl Isaacs was executed in 2003.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Ned Alday, 62 · May 14, 1973

  The family patriarch, remembered as blunt and honest.

• Jerry Alday, 35 · May 14, 1973

  Ned's oldest son; the killings happened in his trailer.

• Mary Alday, 26 · May 14, 1973

  Jerry's wife, remembered as quiet, gentle and kind.

• Jimmy Alday, 25 · May 14, 1973

  Ned's son, remembered as the family's adventurer.

• Chester "Sugie" Alday, 32 · May 14, 1973

  Ned's son.

• Aubrey Alday, 57 · May 14, 1973

  The boys' uncle, remembered as loving, playful and fond of children.

Timeline of locations

1. May 1973
   Arrest in Bluefield, West Virginia (Arrest, approximate area)

   After robbing a grocery store and fleeing a police chase, the four men were arrested in Bluefield. They had the murder weapons and property taken from the Aldays.

2. May 14, 1973
   Alday family farm, outside Donalsonville (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Five of the Alday men were killed in Jerry and Mary Alday's trailer, about nine miles outside Donalsonville and half a mile from the farmhouse. Mary was taken from here and killed in a nearby wooded area. A stone memorial now marks where the trailer stood. Mapped at city precision.

3. January 1974
   Seminole County Courthouse, Donalsonville (Court / trial)

   Carl Isaacs, Coleman and Dungee were tried in Seminole County and sentenced to death; Isaacs was convicted on January 5, 1974. In 1985 and 1986 a federal appeals court overturned the convictions because the trials should have been moved away from the publicity.

4. January 1988
   Houston County retrial, Perry (Court / trial, approximate area)

   With venue moved to Houston County, Carl Isaacs was retried in January 1988 and again convicted and sentenced to death for each of the six murders. Coleman was retried in DeKalb County and Dungee pleaded guilty in Columbus the same year.

5. May 6, 2003
   Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, Jackson (Prison)

   Carl Isaacs was executed by lethal injection here on May 6, 2003, after 30 years on death row.

Watch, listen, read

Sources

• Alday family murders (Wikipedia)
• Carl Isaacs executed, May 6, 2003 (Georgia Attorney General)
• 50 years after gruesome murders, Alday family focusing on the lives those killed led (WALB)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.