Arrest made in Odenville homicide

By Joel Paris/For The Leeds News

Billy Lee Spence, 46, of 1004 Brooke Dr., Trussville was arrested for murder last Thursday night in the death of Michael Clapper of Odenville. Clapper’s body was discovered February 2 around 9:30 a.m. at 174 Mini-Warehouses in Odenville. Authorities estimate the incident actually occurred on January 31.

“We made an arrest last night after an extensive investigation and many, many man hours,” Sheriff Terry Surles said Friday at the Odenville Town Hall.

“These investigators have put in a lot of time, running down people and rumors. Fortunately, we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve actually made some progress and I’m ecstatic about the results we have been able to obtain.” Surles went on to say that Spence was in jail and offered what he thought was a possible motive or scenario in the murder. “Right now, I think it was just two people very well acquainted with one another that got into an argument and the argument went too far. There was an exchange and the victim died from blunt force trauma, it just went too far,” Surles said.

It is unclear what started the argument between the friends. “We’re still looking for leads from the evidence we have been able to obtain from the crime scene, vehicles and the suspect himself,” Surles acknowledged.

“We don’t know what started the argument, but we think it was money. A small sum, definitely nothing that would constitute someone doing this, but again, we’re still in an investigative process.”

Clapper was doing some remodeling in the building when Spence allegedly showed up and the situation escalated.

“This has been the most collaborative effort of police work that I’ve witnessed in a very long time. Anytime we needed someone picked up for questioning the Odenville Police Department did that for us along with the deputies. Everyone took a special interest in this case,” Surles noted.

“I want to stress to everyone that the Clapper family is very pleased with the resolution of this case, as well as our suspect’s family. I’d like to remind everyone that both sides have suffered a loss and I’d like for us to respect those feelings for them. Both families are good people. Sometimes bad things happen to good people on both sides of the family. It touches home when you have to work these types of cases.”

Odenville Police Chief Adam Pardue said the Clapper case is only the second homicide to occur in Odenville since he was named chief nearly six years ago. He added that the first was a matter of self-defense.

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