Couple indicted in Marshall County murder

Elizabeth Dawn Austin                  Curtis Lee Austin

A Marshall County couple have been indicted in the strangulation death of a 60-year-old woman.  29 year old Elizabeth Dawn Austin,  and her husband, 31 year old  Curtis Lee Austin,  were indicted on a charge of murder in the death of her aunt, Judith McElroy Carranza, in April.  Carranza’s body was found in a chert pit area in northwestern Etowah County. The couple were arrested in Panama City, Florida, after information from a robbery in Attalla led investigators to them. The owner of an Attalla nightclub told police he thought the masked man who robbed him at the business and took his truck sounded like someone who worked there as a bouncer — Curtis Austin.  When Attalla investigators started looking for Austin, they learned he and his wife sometimes stayed with her aunt in the Horton area of Marshall County. They planned to watch the house and, in checking with local authorities, they learned that Elizabeth Austin’s aunt had been reported missing.  Authorities believe Carranza was murdered, and the couple then robbed the Attalla lounge to get money to get out of town.  They already were known to Attalla police. Both were arrested in November 2014 on two counts of felony child abuse. They’d been released on bond with those charges pending. Since the murder charges, they’ve been jailed in Marshall County on $250,000 bond. Elizabeth Austin’s arraignment is slated for Nov. 2; her husband’s is Dec. 7.