A 44-year-old man, Brian Keith Hawkins of Redding, California, confessed earlier this week to a crime that has been haunting him for 25 years. In 1993, Hawkins and his then-girlfriend, 46-year-old Shanna Culver, along with her brother, 45-year-old Curtis Culver, murdered 20-year-old Frank Wesley McAlister. The three had lured McAlister, who had apparently just come into some money from a settlement, to a remote area in a nearby town under the guise of selling him methamphetamine.
They then robbed McAlister and stabbed him to death, leaving his body at the scene of the crime and dumping his car in a Costco parking lot. Hawkins reached out to KRCR 7 ABC news to confess to his crime on camera before turning himself into the police station next door. Up until this week, the case had gone unsolved.
In the years since the crime, Hawkins has found religion and credits his belief in God and Christ to have pushed him to do the right thing — although he admits that he understands he can’t change what happened. In the emotional interview, it’s clear that living with the terrible secret has weighed heavily on Hawkins.
“Horrible, horrible, horrible, absolute horror, absolutely horrible since that day. Every minute of every day has been a nightmare. It’s kind of weird, Frank never got to have a life, but we were teenagers and now I’m 44 and still haven’t even had a life and now most likely won’t anyway.”
“I’ve been through hell my whole life because of this,” he said through tears. Hawkins continued, saying that there hadn’t been a moment where he hadn’t been remorseful for what he had done.
Hawkins at one point last year had even reached out to McAlister’s family with the intention of revealing the truth and asking for forgiveness, however McAlister’s father passed away before he could make it out.
As of Tuesday evening, Hawkins’ accomplices had both been interviewed, resulting in one more confession. Perhaps now Hawkins will finally know peace, despite the fact that it will almost definitely be behind bars.
(Via KRCR 7)