Dispatcher Murdered, Now Mourned by Agency

A Lauderdale County (Ala.) sheriff’s dispatcher was beaten and shot to death by her estranged boyfriend last Friday night, one event in a sad, related series of murders and suicides. The body of Regina Russell, 37, was discovered in her car, parked in a rural nature preserve outside the city of Florence. Police immediately linked ex-boyfriend Christopher Robertson as the suspect, and a description of his car was broadcast. The next day his car was spotted by a state trooper, who followed the car briefly as it drove to the former home of Robertson’s brother. The home was the scene of a grisly murder-suicide last January—Robertson’s brother shot and killed his ex-wife and his nephew, then killed himself. In this incident, the state police say a trooper ordered Robertson out of car. He complied, but then put the gun to his head and fatally shot himself. Sheriff Ronnie Willis said Russell had been a part-time dispatcher at his agency for the past five years, and that she lived about three miles from where she was found. She was scheduled to work the midnight shift the night she was killed, he said, and that his department was taking her absence hard. “We’re all very close like family, and this has really affected us,” he said. “Everyone in our department is hurting.” Willis said Russell had two daughters and a young granddaughter. Deputies will serve as pallbearers at Russell’s funeral on Thursday.