On a Saturday evening in January 2021, tragedy struck Huntsville, Alabama. David McCoy, a former police officer working for the Huntsville Police Department, fatally shot his pregnant girlfriend Courtney Spraggins in the head in her parked car outside his apartment.
According to 911 dispatchers, McCoy claimed Spraggins had taken her own life. However, evidence emerged that McCoy had planned and orchestrated the crime, leading to an indictment on March 24 on capital-murder charges for the death of Spraggins and their unborn baby.
In a twist of events, Huntsville police officers found the female victim shot in the head in the driver’s seat of her car. McCoy had allegedly tried to lie to investigators by fabricating claims that he had woken up to the sound of a firing, implying that she had killed herself.
He had also falsely led police to believe he was not in a relationship with Spraggins and didn’t know her. On the contrary, investigators had discovered a photo of him in the victim’s car and text messages on her phone that revealed the hidden truth.
According to prosecutors, the duo had had a complicated relationship. Spraggins had sought to move into McCoy’s apartment in December, though he told her he needed “more time.” Witnesses described a tense text exchange between the two when she asked him what she should do, and he responded with a stark statement: “A bullet to the head sounds good to me.”
After five hours of questioning, McCoy eventually caved and declared, “I did it.” Additionally, authorities had reportedly found a pistol in a closet in his apartment, and he had also tested positive for gunshot residue. Three days after the incident, former Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray announced McCoy’s dismissal from the police department.
The case is awaiting its April 4th hearing.