The Lee County, AL sheriff’s office is reeling after encountering two suicides just hours apart in the Salem community. On November 4, 2025, at approximately 6:57 PM CST, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call in reference to a domestic violence incident where the suspect was attempting to set a vehicle on fire. Lee County deputies arrived in the 100 block of Lee Rd. 831 approximately ten minutes later and observed the suspect vehicle leaving the scene.
Deputies attempted to make a traffic stop on the vehicle at which time the driver fled in the vehicle. The chase continued on Lee Rd. 241 in Salem until the driver came to a stop at the intersection of Lee Rd. 241 and Lee Rd. 240 where deputies were waiting.
The driver then shot himself while seated in the vehicle. Deputies observed a single gunshot wound to the head from what appeared to be a handgun that was located in the vehicle. Deputies attempted life saving measures without success. The subject was identified as 54-year-old Billy Harold Morris Jr. of Phenix City, AL. The domestic violence incident involved Morris and his wife that began at their residence.
In a second incident less than two hours later at approximately 8:27 PM CST, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Investigators attempted to serve a search warrant in the 100 block of Lee Rd. 2222 in the Salem community of Lee County, AL, in reference to the sexual assault of a juvenile under the age of eighteen.
Before Investigators could enter, a single gunshot was heard coming from the back of the residence. Investigators immediately backed away from the door of the residence and waited for additional personnel to arrive. A few minutes later, entry was made into the residence where the suspect, 35-year-old Charles Jantsin Murphy, was found deceased in his bed with what appeared to be a single gunshot wound to the head.
The Opelika Police Department was contacted to assist in both investigations. It is standard procedure for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to contact an outside agency to investigate a case whenever a firearm has been discharged in the presence of Lee County deputies.
