Murder suspect returned to Alabama

Elizabeth Dawn Austin                 Curtis Lee Austin

A Horton man accused of fleeing the state after the murder of his wife's aunt returned to Alabama on Sunday.

Marshall County investigators extradited 31-year-old Curtis Lee Austin from Florida.  Panama City Police arrested Austin and his wife, 29-year-old Elizabeth Dawn Austin, on April 8.  Northeast Alabama investigators found the body of her aunt, Judith McElroy Carranza, earlier that day.

The couple is accused of killing the 60-year-old Marshall County woman, and dumping her body in Etowah County.  The preliminary autopsy identified strangulation as the cause of death.

Elizabeth Austin reported her aunt missing on April 1.  Investigators received a tip April 7 claiming Carranza's body was in a chert pit between Boaz and West End.  Deputies from Marshall and Etowah Counties, Attalla police, and a team from the Center for Applied Forensics at Jacksonville State University found human remains buried in a shallow grave.

Elizabeth Austin waived extradition from Panama City before her husband did.  Deputies booked her into the Marshall County Jail on April 16, 10 days before her husband.

The couple are also charged with armed robbery, and have charges pending from a November arrest for two counts of child abuse.  Carranza was expected to testify as a witness in the child abuse cases.