SYLACAUGA, Ala. – The case of a Childersburg man, 36-year-old Joshua Thomas Bettis, accused of murder has been bound over to a Talladega County grand jury following a preliminary hearing.
Bettis is charged with killing 31-year-old Frank Wesley Davies IV, of Mountain Brook, inside a residence on a hunting property the victim’s family owned on the 1700 block of Odena Rd. in Sylacauga. Talladega County Sheriff’s Office deputies discovered Davies’ body in the living room of the house, apparently dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
During a preliminary hearing in Talladega County District Court before Judge Dale Price on Thursday, Dec. 18, an investigator for the Sheriff’s Office testified that Bettis admitted that he went to the residence to purchase fentanyl from Davies, but when he gave Davies the money, Davies did not give him the drugs.
Price ruled that there was enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury.
If indicted, Bettis and his attorneys would begin the long process of a jury trial. If convicted, he would face a sentence of 20 to 99 years or life in prison.
