A relative checking on an Alabama couple who failed to appear at a church event was let into their home by the couple’s 3-year-old son, after which the two adults were found dead, according to police and a neighbor.
Christina Chambers, a former sports reporter, and her husband, Johnny Rimes, were found fatally shot inside their home in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, the Hoover Police Department said in a statement. Officers responding to a report that the couple was unresponsive said both died from gunshot wounds in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. Their young son was inside the residence but was unharmed, police said.
After Chambers and Rimes did not show up for the church event Tuesday morning, family members became concerned, neighbor Charles Maple said. Maple said Rimes’s father went to the home to check on them and was met at the door by his grandson, who opened it for him. Maple said he learned those details from detectives.
“The child answered the door,” Maple said. “And then they went back [into the home] and they found the bodies.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/Christina-Chambers-121725-1-3c8ff97569e1484985d77fbc4e876f72.jpg)
Maple, who said the couple moved into the neighborhood about seven years ago, described them as seeming happy and devoted to their child. Still, he said he sensed a shift sometime after the boy was born, though he emphasized there had never been concerns about the child’s safety and that Chambers never shared fears for her own.
On Tuesday, Maple said he saw police vehicles outside the home and was stunned—though, he added, he wasn’t entirely surprised.
Chambers is also being remembered publicly by members of the local community for her warmth and humor. After working at WBRC FOX 6, she later taught journalism at a high school.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/Christina-Chambers-121725-2-49d49db2b44b47db9f6bac6fbbe05faf.jpg)
Alabaster City Schools Superintendent Wayne Vickers said in a statement that Chambers “quickly formed meaningful connections with her students” and that “her dedication to them and to her profession was evident in everything she did,” AL.com reported.
In a Facebook tribute, journalist Simone Eli wrote that Chambers’ care for others, her family, and her community “was palpable,” adding that she had touched many lives.
Police have not publicly identified which person was responsible for the murder-suicide.
