FAIRFIELD, Ala. (WIAT) — Two of the unsolved murders in Aneta Honor’s family are victims of a double homicide at a house in Fairfield that’s been making headlines, not because of what happened there but because of who once lived there.
57th Street marks the childhood home of baseball legend and Fairfield native Willie Mays. In his book “24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid” with John Shae, Mays reflected on being raised in the house by his aunts.
Although the house has been out of his family for decades, it is pictured in the book, showing it years before it fell into the possession of the Fairfield Land Bank Authority.
In the story of this house that hasn’t been getting any attention: the unsolved murders of Catherine and Tavaris Honor.
A mother and son gunned down. An investigation stalled. Nearly six years later, CBS 42 is asking what happened.
This burned-out shell of a house used to be a home to Catherine and her son Tavaris Honor. Looking over her nephew’s Fairfield High School football plaques, Aneta Honor has another name for this house.
“It’s a murder home”
Her nephew and sister were found dead at the home June 3, 2019.
“I just feel like they took everything away from me,” Honor said. “I don’t have nieces and nephews. It’s a lot. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the word Auntie. They sort of took a little part of me, too. It’s devastating.”
Since laying her loved ones to rest, Honor said she keeps recalling a conversation she had with her sister about a dream.
“She said ‘Neta, I had a dream that somebody shot Tavaris, and I told the Lord, ‘”If you take my baby, take me, too,’” Honor said. “Immediately, I was like, ‘No, we’re not going to pray for that. We are going to rebuke that.’”
Honor said she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after seeing her relatives the day their lives were taken. What you can’t see in a photo from that day is what Honor can’t unsee.
“Tavaris was laying in the yard, and my sister was lying in the doorway,” Honor said. “It looked like whoever came to shoot Tavaris, it looked like she came outside to see it, and it look like she tried to run back in the house ‘cause when they shot her, she fell face first in the doorway.”
During 2019, there were several gun-related deaths in the area.
“For some reason, it was concentrated on Fairfield,” said Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington. “Two weeks prior to the death of Catherine and Tavaris Honor, there were two young men killed in a car, and a suspect was never developed in that case either.”
Honor said it’s been years since law enforcement contacted her family about the unsolved deaths.
“Actually, I hadn’t heard anything about it,” Honor said. “The detective retired. I think he retired the same year that they were killed, and since then, it’s been a cold case.”
In 2019, the Fairfield Police Department was in transition. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office started its neighborhood enforcement team to support the department.
“Many of the residents have told me they are able to sit on their porch again because of the team being placed in the neighborhood,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway on September 27, 2019.
The announcement came three months after the deaths of Catherine and Tavaris Honor.
“This is a way for us to provide what we think will be maximum police protection for the citizens and businesses of Fairfield,” said Fairfield Mayor Eddie Penny at the time.
When CBS 42 asked the sheriff’s office about the status of the investigation into the homicides of Catherine and Tavaris Honor, the station was given this statement that reads in part:
“The double homicide occurred in June of 2019. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office took over the law enforcement duties Fairfield Police Department in September of 2019. The Fairfield Police Department did not request that we take over the investigation related to the double homicide.”
Current Fairfield Police Chief Julius Hunter declined an interview about the case and the sheriff’s office partnership, referring CBS 42 to the mayor, who has not responded to repeated requests for an interview.
With no official statement from the Fairfield police chief or the mayor, CBS 42 wanted to find out what steps Honor could take to get an update on the investigation into the deaths of her loved ones.
“My heart goes out to Ms. Aneta Honor, who is seeking justice for her family,” Washington said.
That brought us back to Washington.
“Since speaking with you, I have spoken with my chief investigator, and he is looking to get the information from Fairfield Police Department, whatever they’ve derived at whatever reports, whatever they have in their file,” Washington said. “He’ll be looking at it to see what leads we can follow and see whether we can get justice for Ms. Honor.”
As for the house where Honor’s sister and her son lost their lives, the city seeks to preserve another part of the house’s history.
“Do I think it’s worth preserving? Absolutely not,” Honor said. “I understand the reason as to why they want to preserve. Like I said, we can get the good memories, but we don’t want to look at the bad.”
For her, if there is a story to tell about this house.
“I feel like with them knowing what the house is, it should make them more excited to solve the murders that was done there,” Honor said. “Put closure.”
Honor said tell it all.
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