By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on July 9, 2024; Updated on July 9, 2024
A SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ---
There are stunning new developments in the Donna Michelle Wallace homicide case. We featured Donna’s tragic story in a June 26, 2024, article titled, "Donna Micheal Wallace: Was Her Death a Suicide or Murder?" Since then, more than 13,200 viewers have been glued to this story.
Whether Donna’s death was a suicide or murder is an open question. What is not in question is whether there was a Huntsville police department coverup in this case. How high this coverup goes remains to be seen.
There are Serious Questions About the Decision to Take Donna Off Life-Support
On March 24, 2017, Donna Michelle Wallace, a Huntsville, Alabama resident, married Huntsville police investigator Timothy Wallace at the “Marry Me of Tennessee” in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. One of Wallace's daughters officiated the wedding ceremony.
Wallace, who became Donna's sixth husband on that day, holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Pyschology. He was also a seasoned crime scene investigator.
At the time of her divorce, Donna lived in Huntsville and her fifth husband – Shawn Sellers -- lived in Georgia. Reportedly, Sellers refused to sign Donna’s divorce papers. As such, there was no record of Donna's divorce from Shawn Sellers in Madison County, Alabama court records.
We have learned that Donna, aided and abetted by Timothy Wallace, was able to get a "quickie divorce" in Limestone County, Alabama on March 21, 2017 even though Sellers was residing in Georgia at the time. All of the documents in Donna’s divorce case were filed on the same day (March 21, 2017), including a Judgment of Divorce and Certificate of Divorce.
Timothy Wallace arranged for a Huntsville-based lawyer who was a close friend of his to handle Donna's quickie divorce. According to Wallace’s text messages to Donna’s family members after her death, the lawyer filed the Complaint for Divorce in Limestone County to save Donna money.
The legal filings in the case show an Affidavit from Shawn Sellers, an Answer to the Divorce Complaint, and a Settlement Agreement, all purportedly signed by Shawn Sellers. These documents were the basis upon which Donna's quickie divorce from Shawn Sellers was granted.
Shawn Sellers' Affidavit contains no statement that he was a resident of Alabama for at least six-months prior to the divorce filing, which is a legal requirement for a divorce in Alabama.
What is more, Timothy Wallace signed a sworn Affidavit in the case as a witness for Donna. As expected, Donna signed her sworn Affidavit as well. Despite the fact that Shawn was living in Georgia, Donna swore that he was a resident of Alabama during the six-month period prior to the divorce.
Donna’s Judgment of Divorce prohibited her from marrying anybody but Shawn for 60 days from the date of her divorce. On the same day, the Court issued an Interlocutory Order containing these provisions:
“Pursuant to Section 30-2-8.1, Code of Alabama, this Decree is interlocutory and is not to be treated as a Final Decree of Divorce until the expiration of thirty (30) days from the date of filing of the summons and complaint herein. This Decree shall become final and the bonds of matrimony now existing between the parties shall be dissolved and the parties, each forever divorced from the other, effective the 23rd day of April, 2017.
Neither of the parties shall again marry, except to each other, for a period of sixty (60) days after the Decree of Divorce shall become final as provided hereinabove. If an appeal is taken, then neither party shall again remarry, except to each other, during the pendency of such appeal."
Despite this court-ordered provision barring Donna marrying anybody except Shawn Sellers for a period of 60 days, Timothy Wallace took Donna to “Marry Me of Tennessee” and wedded her on March 24, 2017 -- only 3 days after the divorce decree was issued.
At the time, the applicable Tennessee law on marriage stated: “A second marriage cannot be contracted before the dissolution of the first.” TN Code § 36-3-102 (2015).
It is commonly understood in domestic relations law that the marriage is dissolved when the divorce decree becomes "final," as stated in Donna's Judgment of Divorce and Interlocutory Order.
Donna’s Death Under Suspicious Circumstances
Donna Michelle Wallace was rape survivor. Donna’s rapist was her stepfather. She was repeatedly raped, beginning when she was seven years old. Donna’s stepfather also allowed other men who paid him money to rape Donna -- for years.
Because Timothy Wallace was a police investigator, Donna trusted Wallace enough to marry him. Wallace, a divorcee, swept Donna off her feet. She loved him dearly.
Unbeknownst to Donna, Wallace had already been entangled in a domestic violence situation that warranted his arrest three years earlier.
On November 17, 2017, approximately eight months into her marriage to Wallace, Donna suffered a skull fracture in her home after she was hit in the back of her head with an object that caused blunt force trauma. Donna was hemorrhaging in and around her brain. Wallace was at home when this incident occurred.
On November 22, 2017, Donna was gravely injured from a gunshot wound to the head. The weapon that caused this injury was Timothy Wallace’s service gun. According to Wallace, after he discovered Donna’s injured body in their bedroom, he picked up his gun and placed it back down by Donna before police arrived on the scene.
There is no explanation in the Incident Report as to why Timothy Wallace, an experienced crime scene investigation, touched the gun before police arrived.
On November 26, 2017, Wallace made the decision to take Donna off life-support. Wallace made this decision in his capacity as Donna's lawfully married husband, which said status is now in dispute.
Wallace’s friends and colleagues in the Huntsville Police Department investigated Donna’s homicide case. At least ten of them were at the couple's apartment, which was the scene of the shooting.
No outside, independent law enforcement agency investigated Donna’s homicide even though Wallace was on the scene of the shooting and his service gun was used to gravely injure Donna.
The Huntsville police department quickly classified Donna’s death as a suicide, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.
No autopsy was performed on Donna’s body. Timothy Wallace had Donna's body cremated shortly after he ended her life-support at the hospital.
The Huntsville police department's investigative file in this homicide case has been unavailable to Donna’s family members since November 26, 2017, despite their repeated requests to view it.
Stay tuned for another stunning twist in Donna Michelle Wallace's tragic homicide case!
One of the many lessons I have learned from my 51 years of exposing police cover-ups in homicide cases is this – when investigators engage in a cover-up activity to protect a fellow officer or high ranking culprit, they simply cannot think of everything. In my next article in this series of investigative reports, we will tell you what the Huntsville police department missed in the Donna Michelle Wallace homicide case that allowed us to break this police coverup case wide open.
In December 1975, I represented the Estate of Bernard Whitehurst in a wrongful death case against the Montgomery police department. Whitehurst was an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Montgomery police officer Donnie Foster. The police initially claimed that Whitehurst was a fleeing felon who shot at Foster while on the run. My investigation, which included exhuming Whitehurst’s body, revealed that Whitehurst was shot in the back, and that the gun found beside his body was “planted” by police after his death.
The Whitehurst case evolved into a nationally recognized scandal that resulted in the resignations of Montgomery’s mayor and police commissioner, the indictment of three police officers, and the firing or resignation of eight others. During this period,…