Left inset: Daniel Robbins (Aaron’s Birmingham Mortuary Service). Right inset: Jessica Folds (Jeffcoat Trant Funeral Home). Background: The location in Alabama where Daniel Robbins suffered a heart attack while attempting to dispose of the body of Jessica Folds, his girlfriend, having strangled her (WTVM).
Tragedy struck in Alabama when a woman’s life was abruptly ended by her boyfriend, who later died from a heart attack as he tried to conceal the crime.
“He suffered a heart attack while attempting to hide her body,” confirmed 5th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Mike Segrest in a conversation with AL.com. The man in question was Daniel Robbins, a 44-year-old resident of Georgia, who was responsible for the death of his 47-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Folds, earlier in June.
“Their bodies were discovered together,” Segrest added.
According to reports from Georgia’s WTVM, Folds and Robbins were involved romantically before the fatal incident. Their bodies were located on June 10 at approximately 12:30 p.m., following a call to Chambers County sheriff’s deputies to investigate an abandoned vehicle along County Road 86 in Lanett.
“Upon arrival, deputies located a deceased white female and white male in a wooded area near the vehicle,” the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.
The Alabama State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) was called in to investigate, and the bodies were transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for autopsies to determine their causes of death.
“Based on the investigation … the female victim was strangled, and it appears the male was attempting to dispose of the body in a remote location,” Segrest told AL.com.
The abandoned vehicle that police found was still running when deputies arrived on scene. The driver’s side door was open and the tailgate was down, according to Segrest. There were drag marks found in the dirt from the truck to the location in the woods where the bodies were found.
Investigators believe Robbins was in the middle of moving Folds’ body and attempting to dump it when he collapsed and had the fatal heart attack. His ex-wife told WTVM that he had a preexisting heart condition.
Chambers County Sheriff Jeff Nelson told the station that the location where Folds and Robbins were found is believed to be a drop site, not the location where Folds was killed. He said the person who reported the abandoned truck also saw the couple’s bodies in the woods but thought they were mannequins.
According to Nelson, Folds was found with her hands raised over her head, while Robbins was in a fetal position. Folds reportedly lived just a few miles from the discovery site with Robbins in Lanett. Robbins was living in Macon, Georgia.
An obituary for Folds describes her as a mother of three who “lived and worked many places in the Auburn-Opelika area” of Alabama.
“Jessica touched the lives of many with her heart of gold, deep love for everyone, and smile that brightened the world,” the obituary says.
An obituary for Robbins, which was posted after his body was initially discovered but has since been taken down, says he was a father and “country boy” who worked as a welder and farmer, AL.com reports.
Officials have not released a motive for Folds’ killing.