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May 29, 2009

Cullman man indicted on capital murder charges

By Patrick McCreless

Local authorities arrested a Cullman native Thursday on a Jefferson County grand jury indictment for two counts of capital murder.

Cullman County Sheriff Tyler Roden said deputies arrested Michael Keith Winchester, 42, currently of Hillsboro, while he was doing construction work near Good Hope. He was incarcerated at the Cullman County Detention Center, but has since been transported to the Jefferson County Jail.

Winchester is charged with the November 2005 murder of his former co-worker, 42-year-old Gerald Freund of Birmingham. With the two charges of capital murder, Winchester could face the death penalty.

The Jefferson County district attorney’s office declined to comment on questions regarding the case — citing it is against policy to comment on any pending case.

According to Cullman County Sheriff’s reports, Winchester was first arrested in connection with the murder on March 7, 2007. The case was brought to a Cullman County grand jury, but Winchester was never indicted.

“It was continued for a few times but then the grand jury no-billed it,” said Cullman County District Attorney Wilson Blaylock. “There were not 12 people on the jury who agreed to indict.”

The Cullman grand jury did not give a reason why some members decided not to indict, Blaylock said.

Blaylock said Jefferson County was able to indict Winchester because, though the victim’s body was found in Cullman County, there is no direct evidence to suggest he was murdered there.

“I don’t think the murder happened here,” Blaylock said. “I think it started in Jefferson County.”

Reports indicate the murder is allegedly tied to the 2005 theft of $50,000 from Spectrum Stores, which owns and operates BP service stations in the Hoover area.

“That potentially could be the motive,” Roden said of the murder.

At the time of the theft, Winchester was a BP store manager while Freund was a cashier.

Hoover police arrested Winchester for first-degree theft on Nov. 14, 2005. At the time, Freund had been missing for more than a week. His roommate had filed a missing person’s report Nov. 3.

A hunter discovered Freund’s badly decomposed body on Nov. 15 in a wooded area off of County Road 821. Forensic reports indicated Freund died from a gunshot wound and that based on the rate of decomposition, his body had been in the woods for about two weeks.

Prior to the discovery of the body, authorities located Freund’s Jeep Cherokee in Ardmore, near the Alabama-Tennessee state line.

Further details on the murder were unavailable.



‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.

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