Martez Seay: Five Murders, Plea Deal, and Prison Death

Martez Seay was a Birmingham, Alabama man who led a violent robbery and murder enterprise responsible for five killings and one attempted murder between November 2008 and May 2009. He pleaded guilty to capital murder in 2011 and was sentenced to life without parole. He died at Limestone Correctional Facility on August 7, 2023, at age 39.¹

Former Birmingham homicide Sgt. Sam Noblitt, a lead investigator on the case, described the group’s operation this way: “It was an enterprise. That’s how they made their money — robbing people, and killing them when things didn’t go their way.”² Investigators identified Seay as the triggerman in at least four of the six shootings and a main player in all of them, and said the group deliberately picked victims they believed would not report crimes to police.³

The Seven-Month Killing Spree

The first killing came on November 23, 2008, when 24-year-old Christian Callins was shot during a robbery. An associate, Gregory Shelton Jr., had lured Callins to the location under the pretense of a drug deal. The next day, November 24, Shelton himself was found dead in Birmingham’s Central Park area. Investigators said Seay killed the 27-year-old Shelton because Shelton had failed to dispose of the cell phone he had used to contact Callins.²

On December 28, 2008, 20-year-old Osmond Williams and 17-year-old Darrelle Sampson were found shot to death in a car in the 7400 block of 1st Avenue South Alley.⁴ The killings were a murder-for-hire. A drug dealer named Kareem Montez Finnerson, who claimed Williams had stolen drugs from him, hired Seay and others to carry out the shooting.⁵ Sampson was an innocent bystander who happened to be with Williams.³

The final killing in the spree took place on May 3, 2009, in Center Point. Prosecutors said Seay’s girlfriend, Kandi Hawkins, lured 44-year-old Lonnie Vaughn to the location after meeting him at a Birmingham nightclub. Seay kidnapped Vaughn at gunpoint, forced him to strip, and shot him multiple times before driving off in Vaughn’s SUV, which he later tried to burn to destroy evidence.⁶ The Vaughn case was what unraveled the rest. Investigators found Hawkins’ phone number on Vaughn’s cell, then found Seay’s number on Hawkins’ phone, and that chain of evidence connected Seay to the four unsolved 2008 killings.²

The Attempted Murder of Kandi Hawkins

After Seay was arrested for Vaughn’s murder, he turned on his girlfriend. From the Jefferson County Jail, he used the phone system to orchestrate a conspiracy to silence Hawkins before she could cooperate with investigators.²

On June 15, 2009, Hawkins, 25, was driven to what she believed was a safe hiding spot by Michael Mays, Seay’s younger brother Demarius Seay, and a third man. Mays shot Hawkins twice in the head.⁷ She was left on the side of the road on 40th Avenue North and flagged down passing cars for help.⁸ Hawkins survived but was paralyzed from the chest down.⁹

District Attorney Brandon Falls subpoenaed the jail phone records, which gave prosecutors direct evidence of the conspiracy involving Seay, his family, and his associates.² Hawkins gave a videotaped deposition in 2010 that was later played for a jury. “I believe he saved me so I could testify about what happened. … I had to clear my soul,” she said.⁷ Hawkins died in 2020 at age 36.³

How Investigators Built the Case

Once the cell phone trail from the Vaughn murder opened up, the case grew quickly. A Jefferson County grand jury returned 35 indictments against Seay and his associates, which Noblitt called “the most indictments issued at one time in recent memory for a Birmingham police investigation.”¹⁰ Thirteen of those indictments were against Martez Seay personally and covered all five murders along with the conspiracy to kill Hawkins. Witnesses had been reluctant to talk at first, Noblitt said, because they were scared, but as suspects were arrested and jailed, more people were willing to cooperate.²

The Guilty Plea

Seay went to trial in Jefferson County Circuit Court in early 2011 on the capital murder charge for Lonnie Vaughn. Prosecutors played Hawkins’ videotaped testimony and presented evidence connecting Seay to all five murders. On February 14, 2011, before the trial concluded, Seay pleaded guilty before Circuit Judge Tommy Nail. He pleaded guilty to capital murder for the killing of Lonnie Vaughn and received life without parole. For the four other murders and the attempted murder of Hawkins, he pleaded guilty to reduced charges of felony murder and received sentences of life with the possibility of parole.¹¹ The plea allowed Seay to avoid the death penalty.

The Rest of the Seay Family

Martez was not the only member of his family convicted of violent crime. All three Seay brothers and their mother ended up with serious felony convictions in cases that Birmingham-area reporting called “notorious.”³

Cortez Seay, the middle brother, pleaded guilty in 2005 at age 19 to the murder of 50-year-old Joe Mack Carpenter Sr., who was shot on December 14, 2004, at a drug house during a dispute over money. Cortez also pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder from the same incident and received a life sentence plus 25 years on each attempted murder count. He is incarcerated at St. Clair County Correctional Facility.¹²

Demarius Seay, the youngest brother, pleaded guilty in 2009 to the attempted murder of Kandi Hawkins and to felony murder for the April 12, 2008, shooting death of 17-year-old Brandon Ashley Donkor, a Parker High School student killed during a robbery at Dorothy Spears Park.¹³ Demarius received life in prison with the possibility of parole and is housed at Bibb County Correctional Facility.³

Yolanda Seay, their mother, pleaded guilty in March 2010, at age 46, to conspiracy to commit murder and hindering a prosecution for her role in arranging the shooting of Hawkins while Martez was jailed.¹⁴ Judge Tommy Nail sentenced her to 10 years for conspiracy, with all but 18 months suspended, and five years for hindering prosecution, with all but one year suspended, to run concurrently.¹⁵

Death at Limestone Correctional Facility

On August 7, 2023, Alabama Department of Corrections officials found Seay unresponsive in his cell at Limestone Correctional Facility. He was taken to the prison’s health care unit, where an attending physician pronounced him dead at 39.¹ ADOC’s Law Enforcement Services Division opened an investigation and listed the official cause of death as pending autopsy.⁹ Sources cited by the Alabama Political Reporter said the death was allegedly an overdose, though no official confirmation was reported.¹⁶

1
WHNT. Man Convicted of Murder Dies in Limestone Correctional Facility
2
AL.com. Cell Phone Clue Helped Unravel Case
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AL.com. Martez Seay, Birmingham Killer of 5, Dies in Alabama Prison at 39
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WBRC. Suspect Charged in 2008 Murders
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AL.com. East Birmingham Man Who Allegedly Ordered Hit Charged
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AL.com. Jefferson County Prosecutor, Seay Case
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AL.com. Jefferson County Jury Hears Case Against Seay
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WBRC. Birmingham Murder Suspect Shot
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WVTM 13. Alabama Birmingham Seay Murder Prison Death
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AL.com. Grand Jury Hands Down 35 Indictments
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AL.com. Jefferson County Jury OKs Capital Charge
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AL.com. Birmingham Brothers’ Slaying Cases
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AL.com. 2 Teens Arrested in April Shooting
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AL.com. Yolanda Seay of Birmingham Admits Role in Conspiracy
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AL.com. Birmingham Mother of Two Convicted
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Alabama Political Reporter. Escape, Multiple Deaths Hit Several ADOC Facilities on Monday