Barry Van WhittonA Jackson County, Ala., man suspected in the disappearance of three people has been charged in the 1997 death of his first wife.
Barry Van Whitton, 46, who has been serving time in a federal prison in West Virginia for a federal weapons conviction, is now in custody in Jackson County on murder charges, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office officials said this morning.
Whitton is charged in the death of 28-year-old Michelle Townson Whitton and he remains a suspect in the 2007 disappearances of his second wife, Kimberly Whitton, and her 11-year-old daughter, Haleigh Culwell, officials said.
Barry Whitton netted the federal weapons charge in 2007 while state and federal authorities were searching his 40-acre farm near Section for the missing mother and daughter. He has never been charged in connection with their disappearance though he has remained a suspect, according to accounts in the archives of the Huntsville Times.
Barry Whitton was sentenced in 2008 to 10 years in federal prison on the federal weapons charges, a sentence he is still serving, Jackson County authorities said.
Stay with the Times Free Press on this developing story.
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