YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A man convicted of killing three cops in Alabama was executed this week and his sister happens to live in Youngstown.
Michelle Vines moved to the area when she was just two years old.
She knew she had a brother, but it wasn’t until a decade ago she found out his case was the one making national headlines.
“I found my dad in Birmingham, Alabama, and I was told that my brother was on death row,” Vines said.
Despite attempts to save his life, 43-year-old Nathaniel Woods died by lethal injection Thursday night for his role in the deadly shootings of three Birmingham police officers in 2004.
Although Woods was not the gunman and his convicted accomplice, Kerry Spencer, was the one who shot the officers, Alabama’s attorney general said Woods still played a role, even pointing at one of the officers for Spencer to shoot.
But, Vines used this as an opportunity to get to know her brother.
“We just started writing each other and talking to each other and we built a bond over those years,” she said.
Through those letters, Vines saw him differently than what he was portrayed to be.
“He is such a loving person. He doesn’t have an evil bone in his body. He has such a Godley spirit about himself and I just don’t understand,” she said.
But his death was a little bit of justice served for the families of Officers Charles Bennet, Harley Chisholm III and Carlos Owen.
“This will never ever bring closure and it certainly won’t bring Rob, Carlos or Harley back,” said Susan Bennet, Charles’ widow.
“Partial justice has been served today for our families. One cop killer down as we patiently wait for the next one,” said Star Sidelinker, a relative of Chisholm.
Spencer’s execution date has not yet been set.
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