Head of gang linked to 5 murders dies in Alabama prison
By Lynne Keenum
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HARVEST, Alabama (WVTM) — A man who admitted to the murders of five people in the Birmingham area died in prison Monday according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
After a plea deal, Martez Seay, 39, was serving a sentence of life without parole in the Limestone Correctional Facility.
A statement from ADOC said, “Inmate Martez Seay was discovered unresponsive in his cell. He was transported to the health care unit where he was pronounced deceased by the attending physician.”
Seay’s cause of death will be determined by an autopsy. The investigation into his death is being conducted by the ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division.
In 2011, then Birmingham homicide detective Sgt. Sam Noblitt said, “In my years in law enforcement, he’s one of the most violent and ruthless persons that I’ve investigated or been involved in the investigation with.”
Police said that on May 3, 2009, Martez Seay gunned down Lonnie Vaughn in Center Point with help from his girlfriend Kandi Hawkins.
Evidence in that case linked Seay to four other murders.
Authorities said he was the head of a dangerous gang involving his family members.
He was arrested 10 days later. While he was still in jail, police said he had his mother, Yolanda Seay, arrange for Hawkins to be shot in the back of the head so she couldn’t talk to police.
That shooting left Hawkins paralyzed from the chest down.
Yolanda Seay was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in that case.
Martez Seay’s brothers, Demarius Seay and Cortez Seay, were convicted of two other homicides and are serving life sentences.
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