As I posted earlier here, Lexington Police have arrested Donald Southworth for murder, presumably for the murder of his late wife Umi Southworth, who was beaten to death June 16th of last year in a case that led to widespread criticism of police misconduct and the initiation of procedural changes. The police waited five hours after finding Southworth, battered in the bushes of her Meadowthorpe Lane property, before they called an ambulance because they didn't realize she was still alive. She died some hours later at the hospital.
It just so happens that husband Donald had earlier yesterday filed paperwork to make himself the executor of the late Umi's estate, in preparation for filing a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of himself and the couple's daughter Almira Fawn.
Southworth's lawyer questions the timing of the arrest, which occurred late last night. As do I.
There's nothing worse, and more dangerous, than official incompetence married to corruption, and it looks like that might well be what we are seeing here. It almost beggars belief, but as of now it looks like the Lexington Police Department is trying to cover themselves by engaging in malicious prosecution based on circumstantial evidence. If Southworth was guilty of the crime, I find it difficult to understand why the police would not have long ago arrested him. It should not have been that hard to gather the necessary evidence for such a brutal, bloody crime.
Two things for sure-
1. I'm glad I don't live in Lexington Kentucky.
2. If I did I wouldn't be writing this post.
UPDATE-The story just gets more bizarre. According to the LPD, Southworth murdered his late wife Umi Southworth by hitting her over the head with a piece of wood. Okay, so in so many words, not only do they not have a murder weapon, they don't even know what the hell the murder weapon was. All they "know" is that it was some kind of wooden object. I don't know, maybe they found splinters in Umi Southworth's head, or the nature and extent of her head injuries was somehow suggestive of wood as opposed to metal. Some enterprising investigative reporter should ask them if they have the object in question locked away in their evidence, or if they at least have some kind of general idea what it was. It's always possible they are keeping it secret for some reason but I seriously doubt that. They need to accede to some level of transparency here. Otherwise if this ever does go to trial, its going to be like a three ring circus-the part where the clowns pile out of the tiny little car.
UPDATE II-I covered the Southworth murder not long after it happened in June of last year. Owing to these latest developments, it might be worth your time to read A Murder On Meadowthorpe, in which I detailed the reasons why in my opinion it was unlikely-certainly not impossible, but unlikely-that Donald Southworth was the killer of his wife.
