Authorities said Timothy Clutts had been checking on his wife before he was shot in the living room.
RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. — An Alambama murder case began with what deputies described as routine care after surgery, then ended with a husband dead in his recliner and his wife under arrest.
Sheri Mitchell-Clutts, 65, is accused of killing her husband, 69-year-old Timothy Clutts, on May 10 at their home on Duncan Creek Road in Russellville. Investigators said she had undergone open-heart surgery about two weeks before the shooting and told authorities her husband had been bothering her while she recovered. Deputies said they later found no evidence, at least in early reports, that he had threatened her verbally before the fatal shot.
Authorities said the day unfolded inside the couple’s home as Mitchell-Clutts recovered in a bedroom and Timothy Clutts came in to check on her. A sheriff’s office spokesperson said investigators believe he was concerned about her condition. Mitchell-Clutts allegedly told deputies he came into the room, poked her and asked whether she was hungry. She said she was, and he brought her food, according to the account released by authorities. That detail became important because it placed the husband’s actions in the frame of caregiving rather than an attack, while also showing what Mitchell-Clutts later described as repeated contact that irritated her.
The first emergency account was different. Sgt. Kyle Palmer said Mitchell-Clutts called 911 around 7:25 p.m. and told the dispatcher she had killed her husband. Palmer said she also told the dispatcher she believed Timothy Clutts was going to kill her that day and saw him as a threat. The dispatcher kept her on the phone until deputies arrived and told her where to put the gun. “She walked straight to the deputies when they arrived,” Palmer said. Deputies entering the home found Timothy Clutts in a living room chair with one gunshot wound to the chest. They recovered the handgun used in the shooting.
After the first response, investigators said Mitchell-Clutts gave a second account. In that version, she was not describing a direct attack in the living room. Instead, authorities said, she told them her husband had been coming into her room and bothering her during the day. She got the gun in case he came back, they said. When he did not return to the bedroom, deputies said, she went to the living room where he had gone to watch television. Authorities said she found him sitting alone and fired one round. They have not said Timothy Clutts was armed, standing or advancing toward her at the moment he was shot.
The difference between those two accounts is now one of the central facts in the case. Mitchell-Clutts first described fear, according to authorities, then later described annoyance and a decision to get the gun before going to the room where her husband was sitting. Investigators have not publicly said whether they believe her medical recovery affected her thinking or actions. Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said she seemed upset during his limited contact with her at the scene. “You never know what’s going through somebody’s mind,” Oliver said. The sheriff also said her openness about the shooting made the case unusual while leaving investigators with questions about what had been happening in the home.
The sheriff’s office said the home had not been the subject of known domestic-related calls in the six years reviewed by investigators. That review does not prove there had never been conflict, but it gave deputies no earlier domestic call history to guide the first phase of the investigation. Oliver said investigators were going through those records as part of a broader effort to understand the couple’s background. The absence of prior calls also sharpened the contrast between the setting and the outcome: a wife recovering from surgery, a husband checking on her, a recliner in the living room and a single gunshot that brought deputies to the home just before dark.
Jail records show Mitchell-Clutts was booked into the Franklin County Jail at 9:43 p.m. the same night. The listed charge is murder of a family member with a gun in a domestic violence case. She was held with bond listed at $0.00, and officials said she was awaiting an Aniah’s Law hearing. The proceeding can allow a judge to decide whether a person accused of certain serious crimes should remain jailed before trial. It was not immediately clear from public reports whether Mitchell-Clutts had a lawyer or had entered a plea. The body of Timothy Clutts was sent for an autopsy, according to reports from investigators.
The killing was reported on Mother’s Day, a Sunday evening when the account from authorities suggests the household had grown quiet. Timothy Clutts had gone to watch television, deputies said. Mitchell-Clutts had expected him to return to her room, according to investigators, and got the gun for that possibility. When he did not return, authorities said, she left the bedroom and went to him. That sequence matters because it is the part of the account that prosecutors may use to argue intent, while defense lawyers, if they enter the case, may examine her health, statements, fear claims and state of mind.
Officials have released only a limited set of evidence. The full 911 recording has not been made public. Deputies have not released the autopsy report, forensic results, photographs of the scene or detailed timelines from body camera footage. They also have not said whether any medication, medical records or hospital discharge instructions are being reviewed. For now, the public record rests on statements from the sheriff’s office, jail records and comments from Oliver and Palmer. Those records describe a case with an immediate admission, but not yet a complete explanation.
The next phase will move from the home to the courtroom. Prosecutors will have to present enough evidence to support the murder charge and any request to keep Mitchell-Clutts jailed without bond. Investigators will continue gathering records from the scene, the call, the gun and the autopsy. The defense, once known, may respond to the state’s version of the events. Until then, the case remains defined by the gap between Mitchell-Clutts’ initial claim that she felt threatened and the later account that her husband was seated alone when she shot him.
Autopsy results and the first bond hearing are expected to show how prosecutors frame the shooting and how Mitchell-Clutts’ health and statements may factor into the case.
Author note: Last updated June 4, 2026.