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Georgia Woman Brutally Stabbed 30 Times and Shocking Notes, Photos She Left Behind Lead To Killer
After Cathy McNaughton was fatally stabbed in her Sharpsburg, Georgia, home, detectives found papers and a disposable camera that changed the case.
On February 15, 2009, law enforcement in the suburb of Sharpsburg, Georgia responded to a frantic 911 call.
“Deputies saw a really bloody, violent crime scene,” Kevin McMurry, a former assistant district attorney for the Coweta County District Attorney’s office, said in the "Voice from the Grave" episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
The victim, Cathy McNaughton, 66, was already “clearly deceased,” McMurry added. Seated beside her in a home office was her husband Alec McNaughton, 60, who’d called 911.
The crime unit collected kitchen knives and DNA evidence from the scene for analysis.
Who was Cathy McNaughton?
Raised in North Carolina, Cathy eventually moved to Atlanta. She worked for Delta Air Lines for 30 years before retiring, according to Linda Looney, a former news anchor at the WVEE radio station.
“Cathy made everyone laugh. She lit up the room,” her friend Sonya Lawrence told The Real Murders of Atlanta.
Cathy, who was divorced with two adult daughters, met Alec in 2004 through an online dating site. He’d also previously been married. At the time, Alec was a prominent lawyer in Oklahoma.
They dated for six months, tied the knot and settled in Georgia. The couple was married for a little over four years when Cathy was killed.
Investigators found no sign of forced entry, and valuables — including gold and diamond jewelry and a Volvo — hadn’t been taken. Robbery didn’t look like a motive, and interviews with neighbors turned up no leads.
What happened to Cathy McNaughton?
Cathy was stabbed 30 times and had defensive wounds. She had been dead for eight hours, which put the time of the murder at around noon.
“We determined that she was sitting at her desk working when she was attacked, first from the rear,” said Larry Duren, a former special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “She turned and then she was attacked again.”
The killer “was someone filled with rage,” said McMurry. “That rage was taken out on Cathy McNaughton that day. This was evil embodied.”
What Alec McNaugton told police
Detectives began their investigation by talking with Alec. In a taped interview, he described his marriage as happy and his wife as “the sweetest person I’ve ever met.”
He denied any involvement in her death. “He said he wanted to find the person who had committed this crime,” McMurry told The Real Murders of Atlanta.
He said that he got up around 6 a.m. on the day that his wife was killed, had coffee, and then left town to have lunch with his mother in Sandy Springs, about 50 miles from Sharpsburg. Alec told investigators that he returned home at 7:30 p.m. and found Cathy dead.
Alec’s account was backed up by his mother as well as by a message from him to Cathy on the couple’s home phone. “Hi, honey, it’s me. I’m up at mother’s,” he can be heard saying in the recording.
Cathy McNaughton’s ex-husband interviewed
Because of the overkill nature of the murder, authorities were looking for someone with a close personal relationship with her.
For leads and information, they interviewed Cathy’s daughters, coworkers and her ex-husband, Gary Mendenhall.
Detectives were surprised to discover that Mendenhall was in town the day of the murder. They also took note that Cathy’s ex had a fresh cut on his thumb, and had to question whether that happened during the murder.
But despite the initial suspicions, flight records showed that Mendenhall was on a plane at the time Cathy was killed. He was eliminated as a suspect and detectives were back at square one.
Investigators turn to the media
Forensic evidence from the crime scene showed that the only fingerprints at the scene belonged to Cathy and Alec.
It also showed that all of the blood evidence at the scene was Cathy’s. None of the kitchen knives showed a tie to the crime.
At a standstill, detectives asked the media to inform the public that investigators were seeking tips in the case.
Leads came in, including one from one of Cathy’s former work friends. The two had had lunch 10 days before the murder. At that time, Cathy shared that she was divorcing Alec.
“We learned that there was a deep financial strain, and Cathy was tired of supporting both her and Alec,” Tiffany Grier, a former investigator with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, told The Real Murders of Atlanta.
Background check reveals Alec McNaughton’s violent past
Detectives looked closer at Alec’s history. An ex-wife revealed that he was abusive and violent during their marriage. In a 911 call, his daughter told a dispatcher, “He’s going to kill us.”
Alec’s sisters, Anita “Nina” Cramer and Julie Holden, told investigators that their brother was violent when they were growing up. Out of terror, the siblings both stayed silent about the abuse.
Cramer recalled “severe, regular daily torture and abuse” from her brother. “He would threaten us, he would hit us, he would lock us in bathrooms,” she said.
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Alec’s previous three marriages were all marked by violence. He had beaten his first wife, threw his second wife into a glass table, and pulled a shotgun on his third wife, according to The Real Murders of Atlanta.
When Cramer heard about Cathy, she wasn’t shocked. “My brother is a psychopath,” she said. She later added, “I should have warned Cathy.”
Alec McNaughton’s financial motive
Despite his earlier success as a lawyer, Alec was in dire financial straits when he married Cathy. “Alec had back taxes that he owed, and he was extremely in debt,” Duren said.
“Cathy was somewhat financially secure, and there was a possibility that he had married her just for her financial resources,” Major John Lewis, of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, told The Real Murders of Atlanta.
While evidence pointed at Alec as the prime suspect, detectives were faced with the fact that he had a solid alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the crime.
To bolster their case, they obtained a warrant for Alec’s cell phone records. While they awaited results, they did a deeper search of the McNaughton house.
Cathy McNaughton's shocking notes and photos found
In a closet, detectives found papers and writings “that changed the case,” McMurry said. Cathy had written that Alec had threatened to kill her three times.
It was a bombshell revelation. “She’s almost speaking from the grave,” Looney said.
Investigators also found a disposable camera. Detectives processed pictures on it taken three years earlier in which Cathy was bruised and battered.
“She saved that camera, not knowing that it would become critical evidence in the case of her own murder,” said McMurry.
Cellular records showed that the call that Alec had made to Cathy on the day she was killed were made in close proximity to the couple’s home, and not 50 miles away in Sandy Springs.
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Alec McNaughton arrested and tried
Investigators theorized that Alec learned of Cathy’s plans to divorce him and went into a murderous rage, and that he covered his tracks with a desperate 911 call.
In a second interview with police, Alec maintained his innocence and that the cell phone records were wrong. “I’ll have some very good lawyers to defend me,” Alec is heard saying in the recorded interview.
He was arrested on February 27, 2009. “He appeared to be cold, calculated, manipulative and narcissistic,” Duren said.
In August of 2010, Alec, who’d taken the stand in his own defense, was found guilty of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
To find out more about the case, watch the “Voice from the Grave” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
