Missing woman found dead underneath an overpass after visiting mechanic
A missing Alabama mother’s body has been found underneath on overpass five days after she was last seen going into a local auto shop.
Michelle Hough was last seen at an automotive shop when she was searching for a car to buy for her son on November 5. Five days later, after Russell County Sheriff’s department had spent days searching for her, Michelle was found under an overpass near Hatchechubbee, Alabama - which is around 23 miles southwest of the Georgia border.
The mechanic who worked in the auto shop which Michelle visited has now been arrested by the Russell County Sheriff’s department in connection with the death. Hough, 54, had been seen entering the Phenix City auto shop in her 2016 Chevrolet Equinox - but she wasn’t seen leaving.
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Kenneth Eugene Lawhorn, the 58-year-old arrested mechanic who is now charged with capital murder, had previously worked on Hough’s car and they had become embroiled in talks about which car to buy for her son, according to Sheriff Heath Taylor. But when Michelle failed to return home after visiting the shop on the 5th, her husband, Steven Hough reported her missing on November 6.
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Michelle went to the shop to discuss buying a car for her son (Russell County Sheriff's Office)
Lawhorn made false claims about the incident to the police (Russell County Sheriff's Office)Surveillance footage has showed Lawhorn loading up Michelle Hough’s Equinox on a lift and driving away - before he returns to the auto shop without the vehicle. Sheriff Taylor said Hough took the vehicle into the country and burned it - and that the mechanic falsely claimed it wasn’t Michelle’s car at all.
"We were able to determine that he actually took the vehicle and went out into the county," Sheriff Taylor said according to the Sun. "Within an hour, the vehicle was found burned. He told us that it wasn’t her car he towed off, and we verified 100% it was her car. He told us different things like that, that she drove off, we know she didn’t drive off."
After his arrest on Tuesday, Lawhorn has now been charged with capital murder - meaning he could be punished with the death penalty. The sheriff’s office are now looking into Lawhorn and Hough’s relationship - to understand if there was anything beyond a client-business relationship which could provide a hint towards any potential motive behind the killing. "We know that she arrived at his job and never left," he concluded. Lawhorn is being held in the Russell County jail with no bond.
If tried and convicted, Lawhorn may be subject to using a new form of execution - nitrogen gas - which the Alabama Supreme Court this month permitted to be used against convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith. As far as the Mirror are aware, there is no connection between Kenneth Eugene Lawhorn and Kenneth Eugene Smith.
The method of nitrogen hypoxia - the inhalation of pure nitrogen to starve the body of oxygen and cause death - can now be used in a state with currently 164 inmates on death row. Alabama has become the third state to approve its use behind Oklahoma and Mississippi, but it has not yet been used.
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