On the morning of February 15, 2012, Paula Cardwell attended to her usual routine, checking on her daughter, Anna Catherine Cardwell, as she slept. It was a familiar ritual, one that did not hint at the tragedy that would unfold just an hour later.
After running a quick errand, Paula returned to find her Slapout, Alabama home transformed into a scene of horror. Her 20-year-old daughter had been savagely murdered.
“As soon as I stepped through the back door, I was confronted with blood everywhere,” Paula recounted to Oxygen’s The Killer Among Us. “There were bloody footprints leading to the kitchen, and then I found her lying there on the floor, not far inside.”
In shock, Paula dialed 911, her voice shaking as she informed the operator, “I just came home and my daughter’s dead on the floor.”
Anna Catherine had suffered four gunshot wounds, with one fatal shot to the head, executed with chilling precision. The absence of forced entry pointed investigators to a chilling possibility: Anna Catherine’s murderer was someone she knew, possibly lurking within her circle of friends.
Who Was Anna Catherine Cardwell?
Remembered fondly by those who knew her, Anna Catherine was a vibrant college student with dreams of becoming a teacher, known for her confidence and kind heart. Her untimely death left a void in the lives of all who cherished her.
“I don’t think she knew a stranger,” family friend Melinda Peevy recalled. “If you were a stranger, she would make you into a friend. You could not ignore her, that’s how her personality was.”
Growing up, Anna Catherine was part of a close-knit group of friends in the small town of Slapout.
The 20-year-old also caught the eye of some of the boys in town. Although she’d recently broken up with a long-term boyfriend, at the time of her death, Anna Catherine was newly dating Nick.
“Anna Catherine liked the guys that were fun, that were polite and were good to her, that were good to her family and her friends,” her mom remembered. “And if they were not, she just wouldn’t stay with them.”
What Happened to Anna Catherine Cardwell?
The college student’s life came to a devastating end on Feb. 15, 2012.
After being called to the scene, police discovered a blood trail leading from the back door of the home to the kitchen, where she was laying on the floor.
“It was obvious to us that there was one fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head,” Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin explained. “That’s like an execution-style killing.”
Given that Anna Catherine was still wearing her pajamas, investigators believed she likely got up sometime after her mother left the house at 9:15 a.m. to answer the door and was attacked.
“The blood trail is telling us that as she’s running, she’s bleeding,” Elmore County Sheriff’s Det. Troy Evans said. “The blood is striking the ground and you can tell her movements from just being able to look at the blood patterns and see where she had gone.”
The evidence suggested Anna Catherine was shot in the hallway then began to run through the residence and tried to make it out the back door. She left a bloody handprint on the wall as she tried to flee before her killer dragged her back into the kitchen and fired the fatal shot with a 9 mm handgun.
Investigators Speak to Anna Catherine’s Friends, Love Interests
Investigators also learned that Anna Catherine’s car was missing.
As news of the murder spread, Anna Catherine’s friends—including her best friend Lacy—began arriving at the home.
“She was upset, she was emotional,” Evans remembered. “But she really couldn’t tell us anybody she suspected of committing this crime.”
With the investigation underway, authorities took a close look at Anna Catherine’s ex-boyfriend and new romantic interest, but both were cooperating fully and there was nothing to suggest that either was involved.
Detectives caught their first break when Anna Catherine’s car was found around 5 p.m. in the parking lot of a local grocery store about 10 miles away.
“Finding her car was huge for the investigation,” Chief Deputy District Attorney C.J. Robinson said. “That car is basically a rolling crime scene.”
Investigators Look Into Anna Catherine Cardwell’s Friend Josh Caspari
As authorities searched the car for DNA and fingerprints, they spoke again to Anna Catherine’s best friend Lacy. She shared that on the morning of the murder, she texted Anna Catherine, but never received a reply.
A few hours later, she learned from a friend that Anna Catherine had been killed and called her own boyfriend Josh Caspari—but Josh had been noticeably absent from the group who gathered at Anna Catherine’s home.
Lacy explained that was because she had ended the rocky on-again, off-again relationship.
“Josh was not happy with Anna,” Evans explained. “Anna convinced Lacy to break up with Josh. She didn’t think Josh was a good guy. She didn’t think Josh was good for Lacy.”
Other friends confirmed that Josh blamed Anna Catherine for the end of his relationship.
With the new potential lead, investigators began to take a closer look at Josh. After bringing him in for questioning, Josh told detectives that the morning Anna Catherine was killed, he’d called his mother to take him to a friend’s house to pick up his truck. Yet, his mother told detectives she’d actually picked him up in the same parking lot where Anna Catherine’s car was discovered.
“At this point, his mother destroyed his alibi,” Evans said. “He had lied to us about his whereabouts.”
Detectives Find Stolen Guns in Josh Caspari’s Home
During a search of Josh’s home, they found a stock pile of weapons including shotguns, rifles, pistols and two handguns, steroids and a large stack of cash. They learned the guns had been stolen in a recent home invasion robbery of a former police officer, carried out by two masked men.
Investigators were able to link the crime to Josh and his roommate Cody Abernathy and both men were arrested. It didn’t take long for Cody to begin to talk.
“Abernathy’s statement to us was basically, ‘You just do what Josh wants you to do,’” Evans said. “They’re all scared of Josh.”
In exchange for leniency, Cody confessed to carrying out the home invasion and admitted to driving Josh to the Cardwell home the morning of the murder, although he insisted he had no idea what his friend planned to do.
Eventually, Josh confessed to the shooting, insisting he wasn’t a “monster.”
“I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t meant to happen like this,” he told investigators. “I didn’t have it planned out like this.”
Yet, he refused to provide specifics of the shooting, claiming it was a “blur.”
Who Killed Anna Catherine Cardwell?
The evidence against Josh grew even stronger when his fingerprints were found in her vehicle and one of the stolen guns was determined to be the murder weapon.
Cody wasn’t charged in connection to the murder, but was sentenced to 10 years for the home invasion.
Josh pleaded guilty to capital murder in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I feel like it did make us all grow up really quick and realized like, this is real,” friend Lindsay McBrayer said. “It could happen to you and it could happen in your circle and it can happen in your town.”
