Sheri Mitchell-Clutts is held without bond after deputies said she admitted shooting her husband.
RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. — The fatal shooting of Timothy Clutts has shifted from a rural Franklin County home to the court system, where his wife faces a murder charge in a domestic violence case.
Sheri Mitchell-Clutts, 65, was booked into the Franklin County Jail on May 10 after deputies said she called 911 and admitted shooting her husband, 69-year-old Timothy Clutts. Jail records list the charge as murder of a family member with a gun in a domestic violence case. Her bond was listed at $0.00, and officials said she was being held pending an Aniah’s Law hearing, making pretrial custody one of the first major legal questions.
The case began before it reached a judge. Around 7:25 p.m. on a Sunday, Mitchell-Clutts called 911 from the couple’s home on Duncan Creek Road, Sgt. Kyle Palmer said. She told the dispatcher she had killed her husband and believed he had been going to kill her that day, according to Palmer. The dispatcher kept her on the line and directed her where to leave the firearm before deputies arrived. Palmer said Mitchell-Clutts followed those instructions and walked to deputies when they reached the residence. That call is likely to be a key record because it captured the first account given by the defendant in the minutes after the shooting.
Deputies entering the home found Timothy Clutts dead in a living room recliner with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators said a handgun was recovered inside the house, with reports describing it as found on top of a cooler. The sheriff’s office has not publicly released a full evidence inventory, photographs from the scene or forensic test results. It also has not released the full 911 audio. Timothy Clutts’ body was sent for an autopsy, according to reports citing investigators. The autopsy could become important for details such as the path of the bullet, distance and any medical findings tied to the moment of death.
The murder charge rests not only on the shooting itself but also on the relationship between the accused and the victim. The sheriff’s office has described the case as involving a family member and domestic violence because Mitchell-Clutts and Timothy Clutts were married. Authorities said the couple had been married for 15 years. Investigators said she had undergone open-heart surgery about two weeks before the shooting and was recovering at home. Timothy Clutts had been checking on her, according to the sheriff’s office, and a spokesperson said investigators believe he was doing so because of her recent surgery.
Mitchell-Clutts allegedly gave more than one account of what led to the shot. The first, according to authorities, was that she felt threatened by her husband throughout the day and believed he might kill her. The second, according to investigators, was that he had repeatedly come into her room and bothered her while she recovered. A sheriff’s office spokesperson said she described one visit in which he poked her, asked whether she was hungry and brought food after she said yes. Authorities said he had not made verbal threats. They said she got a gun in case he returned to the bedroom, but he instead went to watch television in the living room.
Investigators said the shooting happened after Mitchell-Clutts went to the living room. Timothy Clutts was sitting in the recliner, deputies said, when she fired once. That allegation will likely shape the legal fight because it places the victim away from the defendant at the time of the shot. Prosecutors may use that account to argue that the shooting was not a response to an immediate attack. Any defense may focus on her initial statement of fear, her recent surgery, her physical condition and what she believed at the time. No defense filing has been publicly reported, and it was not immediately clear whether she had entered a plea or hired an attorney.
Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said the investigation remained more complicated than the immediate admission might suggest. “Her demeanor seemed obviously upset from what little interaction I had with her at the scene,” Oliver said, “but you never know what’s going through somebody’s mind.” He also said the case was unusual because Mitchell-Clutts was open with deputies instead of leaving them to search for a suspect. That openness, Oliver said, led investigators to ask more questions about what may have been happening with her or with him before the shooting. The sheriff’s office has not announced any evidence of a second shooter or any additional arrest.
Investigators have also reviewed prior calls connected to the home. Oliver said deputies checked six years of call logs and, at the time of his public comments, had not found domestic-related calls at the address. The finding could become part of the background in the case, though it does not settle the facts of what happened inside the home that night. It may be used by investigators to show they did not have a known pattern of prior police responses involving domestic conflict. It may also leave attorneys on both sides to rely more heavily on witness interviews, medical records, phone records and the statements Mitchell-Clutts gave after the shooting.
The Aniah’s Law hearing is expected to be an early court step. At that stage, the state may argue that the seriousness of the charge and the facts of the shooting support keeping Mitchell-Clutts jailed without bond. The defense may challenge that request or seek conditions for release. Later steps could include a preliminary hearing, grand jury action, arraignment, discovery and motions over statements or evidence. The timing of those steps depends on court scheduling and filings. For now, the jail roster confirms her custody status, while investigators continue to assemble the case file that prosecutors may use in court.
The courtroom process will also determine how much of the evidence becomes public. A probable cause hearing could bring testimony from deputies about the 911 call, the scene and Mitchell-Clutts’ statements. Discovery could include the dispatcher recording, photographs, autopsy results and forensic reports. Motions could raise questions about whether her statements were voluntary, what she understood when she spoke with deputies and how her health may have affected the interview. None of those issues has been decided publicly. The charge remains an accusation, and Mitchell-Clutts is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
For now, the official record is brief but serious. Timothy Clutts is dead. His wife is jailed. Deputies say she called 911, admitted the shooting and later told them he had been bothering her after surgery. The next stage belongs to the courts, where prosecutors must turn the early investigative account into evidence that can be tested before a judge and, if the case proceeds, a jury.
Mitchell-Clutts remained held in the Franklin County Jail as the case awaited further court action. The next milestones include the bond hearing, autopsy findings and any formal filings that set the schedule for the murder prosecution.
Author note: Last updated June 4, 2026.