Few answers in Calera mother's mysterious murder
t's been four days since a Calera wife and mother was found dead and partially-nude in the street outside of her home, yet no additional information has been released in a case that has startled the normally-tranquil Shelby County neighborhood.
The body of Kathleen Dawn West, 42, was discovered sometime around 5 a.m. Saturday in the 100 block of Green Wood Circle. Calera Police Chief Sean Lemley that day said the case is being treated as a homicide but has not revealed the cause of death, citing the ongoing investigation. No one is in custody.
Neighbors said they are baffled as to what is going on in the case. Police investigators spent most of Saturday at the victim's home and have worked around the clock since then.
West and her husband, an unsworn Birmingham Southern College campus police officer, kept to themselves, neighbors said. They lived at the home, which they built in 2015, with their 12-year-old daughter.
Kathleen West touted herself on social media as a stay-at-home mom but also had a subscription-only website, where she went by the name Kitty Kat West. Her Twitter and Instagram accounts, also under the name of Kitty Kat West, featured revealing photos of West, and directed viewers to her paid adult website, which cost $15.99 per subscription.
Her husband and parents have not responded to requests for interviews. A private Facebook page was launched almost immediately and is devoted to theories about West's killing. With hundreds of members - many from out of state - those theories are as expansive as the group membership.
Neighbors said they didn't hear any commotion Friday night or Saturday morning at the West home. One man, who asked that his name not be used, said his daughter made the gruesome discovery Saturday morning when she was heading to work.
She saw the woman in the roadway and went back home to get her father. He said West was face down, partially in the street and partially in the grass of the across-the-street neighbor's yard. He touched her back to see if she was breathing, and she was not, he said.
The witness said
West was wearing only a sports bra, and that she was bleeding from the head. A cell phone was nearby and a green liquor bottle was on top of it, as if it had been placed there, he said.
West's husband was briefly on the scene, and then neighbors called 911. Police have not confirmed that account.
Lemley on Tuesday evening said the investigation is ongoing but he can't yet release any information for fear that it will harm the case.