Chattanooga Times Free Press

Document: Exhibition­ist killed with liquor bottle

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Police believe a man used a liquor bottle as a weapon to kill his exhibition­ist wife, who was found dead from a head wound outside their suburban home, a court document showed Friday.

A police complaint alleged Kathleen Dawn West, 42, was killed with a bottle of Lucid Absinthe in January.

Her husband, 44-year-old William Jeffrey West, was charged with murder Thursday. The woman died of a head wound, police said during a news conference, but they wouldn’t reveal the alleged weapon.

Surveillan­ce video obtained by Inside Edition from a liquor store near the couple’s home showed the two purchasing what appeared to be a bottle of Lucid Absinthe and another bottle hours before her partially nude body was found in the street in front of the house, located about 35 miles south of Birmingham in Calera.

Court documents don’t list a defense lawyer for West, an unsworn police officer fired from his job at Birmingham-Southern College, and no hearing date was set. West was being held on $500,000 bond.

The woman — who bore a resemblanc­e to Marilyn Monroe — posted risque photos publicly and even sexier images that subscriber­s could pay $15.99 a month to view.

The slaying resulted from a domestic argument, police said.

Jeff West’s father, William West, told Birmingham news outlets he believed an accidental fall caused his daughter-in-law’s death. The two loved each other, he said, and his son knew of the woman’s online activities.

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