The Deaths of Mike and April Holton

 

I came across this story when watching the television show American Monster. It was one of those that I was surprised that I had never heard about; it was also one of those that had me angry at investigators by the time it was done. Dateline has also done an episode on this case titled 11 Minutes. I attempted to find it on a streaming service to watch but was not successful. I point out the title to their episode however because “11 Minutes” kind of says it all. These were eleven crucial minutes that in my opinion makes the case regardless of what investigators may say. I will say that at this point and time it appears as if while the investigators may still have a grudge to hold the prosecutor in the case eventually made a reasonable decision. It is just sad that a) it took so long to happen and b) that investigators had already convinced people they had the guilty party to the point that they cannot accept that the prosecutor was correct in their decision.

Jesse Michael “Mike” and April Holton met while they were seniors in high school. When they were both nineteen they got married. They appeared for many years to have the perfect family life. Mike was a firefighter and at the age of twenty-five was named the youngest fire chief in their town of Eclectic Alabama's history. In 2012 he even became mayor of the town. By then the couple had three sons together but their picture perfect life was crumbling behind closed doors. He would resign as mayor in 2014 citing “family issues” but even still many did not know what was going on.

April had had a difficult and less than ideal childhood. Her biological parents were both alcoholics and drug addicts who failed to care for April and her two brothers. They were placed in basically a foster home and raised together. Due to this April had no tolerance for drugs. In 2006 Mike injured his back at work. He had gone to the doctor who prescribed him pain medication but stated that the only real “cure” would be to rest his back. It was eluded that Mike did not do anything to rest his back at all and he subsequently became dependent on the pain medication. Things quickly got out of control, but like most addicts Mike hid things from his friends and family for as long as he could. It seems that by the time April realized just how bad the addiction was Mike had practically put the family in financial ruin. April loved her husband and stayed with him for their children but also because she wanted to help him, but again, like most addicts, Mike continued to hide things and proclaim to have things under control. Eventually the couple would fall so far behind on the mortgage that their home would go into foreclosure and they were forced to move. His addiction was actually the “family issues” that he cited when he resigned as mayor. It was said that April was forcing his hand on the issue claiming that if he did not resign she would make public his addiction.

Even after losing their house April tried to make things work. In the mists of all of this their oldest son, Jesse “Madison,” was having his own issues. It was said that Madison always had some behavior issues and despite her feelings about drugs April had taken him to a doctor who prescribed medication for Madison's ADHD. Later Madison would say that he did not take the medication as prescribed, if at all, because he did not like the way it made him feel. The issues within the family did not help matters either. Mike and April argued more and while they attempted to concentrate on salvaging their relationship it appears that Madison was getting more out of control.

It appears that the final straw for April came after discovering that sixteen year old Madison had began to use marijuana. Of course she was totally against it and tried to control the situation and punish her son accordingly friend and family say that Mike's reaction was much different. It was said that Mike had commented “It's just pot” and that was enough for April. She decided that it was time that she ended her marriage, if for no other reason than to care for her sons. In mid-2016 April would move out of their Eclectic home with the three boys and move to a nearby town. In August she filed for divorce.

Still none of this helped when it came to Madison's behaviors and soon after the separation April had caught Madison with marijuana once again. This time she told him that if she caught him again he would not be living with her. Well, that mattered little to Madison since not only did he have a home with his father that he could live but he fully knew at this point that his father had little leverage with him when it came to drugs. What April did not know was that by this time Madison was basically Mike's “drug mule.” Mike's “black market” deals had all but dried up and apparently after discovering his son could obviously get marijuana he had approached him about whether he knew someone who could supply him with the pain pills he wanted. Madison did know someone and began getting them for his father. So when April made this threat Madison had few cares and a short time later April caught him again and sent him to live with his father.

In the meantime Mike was not taking the separation and the impending divorce well at all. He and April had been together since they were teenagers and he had expressed how much he hated the idea that she could or would ever be with someone else. A short time after the divorce Mike had contacted one of April's friends and they had a conversation where he had expressed these feelings to her. At the time April was not even thinking of dating anyone else and was only concentrating on straightening out her life and making sure her children were taken care of. However, by early September April had met someone and began dating. Madison would later say that he had told his father about April having a boyfriend and that he had “freaked out” and not taken it well. Mike was still hoping to work things out with April.

Many would say that while obviously their relationship did not last that the one thing both April and Mike agreed upon was Madison and his behavior, especially when it came to the issue of drugs. However, while that was said I have been left to wonder if this was actually true. I have the distinct impression that it was only true to the extent that Mike wanted April to believe that it was. He wanted so badly to repair their relationship and he had to have known that Madison's drug use, and his reaction to it, had been a big thing between them that I feel as if his feelings about it were not what he portrayed to April and it was more of a front to look united with her.

On the morning of September 11, 2016 April got a phone call from the mother of one of Madison's friends. The woman explained that the now seventeen year old, Madison had apparently had a party at his father's house the night before that had involved at the very least marijuana. Apparently the woman was very upset about the situation. While April headed over to Mike's house it appears that the woman also called Mike. By all accounts it seems that after his run as mayor Mike had gone back to working as a firefighter and had worked the previous night and was either already headed home when he received the call or did so then. When he got to his home it was obvious that there had been a party at his home as it was described as “trashed” with marijuana paraphernalia laying all around. Madison was not home but according to him he received a text from his dad to get home and he did. It is unclear whether Mike had talked to April and knew she was headed over there or if the woman who had called told him she had also called April. By the time April arrived at Mike's home Madison had returned and Mike had used some handcuffs that he owned to bound the boys hands behind his back and he was sitting on the couch when his mom walked in.

It is unclear whether Mike had already decided to call the police before April arrived or if they were called after she had gotten there but an officer arrived a short time later. It appears that everyone had a discussion with the officer and that Mike and April apparently wanted to teach their son some sort of lesson. The officer could have arrested Madison on the spot considering all of the evidence laying around but seeing as it was a Sunday he would not have seen a judge until the following morning. An agreement was made that Mike would take Madison to the station the following morning where they would ask for a “juvenile warrant.” Again, it seems that this was going to be done in an attempt to teach Madison a lesson and show him there were consequences for his actions. When the officer left Madison was still handcuffed and on the couch.

Eleven minutes after the officer left Mike's house a 911 call was made by one of Mike's neighbors. He claimed that Madison, still handcuffed, had come to his house and asked him to call them saying that his parents were arguing and his mother was yelling for help. It is unclear whether Madison had told the neighbor what he saw and if the neighbor relayed that to the dispatcher or not, but I will get into that shortly. The same officer who had been there less than fifteen minutes prior showed up at Mike's house again. He went inside the home and when he entered the master bedroom of the home he found both Mike and April laying on the floor surrounded by blood. A 9mm semi-automatic handgun was found near Mike's feet. Mike was pronounced dead at the scene but April was clinging to life and rushed to the hospital.

Obviously investigators wanted to talk to Madison and hear his story about what he alleged had happened in the eleven minutes from the time the police officer left the home and Madison showed up at the neighbors home. According to Madison after the officer had left his parents had gone into the bedroom, leaving him still cuffed on the couch. Once in the bedroom his parents began to argue and Madison claimed his mother began yelling “Help.” Madison told investigators that while still handcuffed he had “broken down” the door to the bedroom where he saw his father with a gun and his mother in a headlock. He said he immediately left and went to the neighbors house where 911 was called.

Investigators were suspicious of Madison's story. They would say there was no evidence of any damage to the bedroom door that he alleged he had broken down and they felt his demeanor while being questioned was suspicious. They almost immediately began accusing Madison of shooting his parents. They conducted a gunshot residue test (GSR) on his hands and it returned negative, but they still were not convinced. They decided to hold him based on the paraphernalia that was found in the home until they could hear back from the medical examiner who would be conducting an autopsy on Mike the following morning. They wanted to know exactly what the autopsy would find, especially concerning the angle in which Mike had been shot in the head.

At the hospital where April was being treated family members began to wonder where Madison was and they learned that he had been taken to the police station. One of April's brothers would end up going to the station and actually sat in on an interview with Madison the following day after the autopsy had been conducted. This is where it gets a bit confusing. According to investigators the medical examiner had determined that in order for Mike to have shot himself he would have had to have held the gun in his left hand and upside down to create the angle of the bullet wound. At this point investigators were convinced that Madison had at the very least shot his father, if not his mother too. With his uncle present at the second interview Madison continued to maintain the story he had told the previous day. Later that day (September 12^th) April would succumb to her injuries. She had also been shot in the head, but not before the bullet had penetrated her hand that she had apparently put up in defense. By the time April had died investigators had already charged Madison with the murder of his father, a second count, for the murder of his mother would be added.

I have spent the last eight, plus, years researching cases and publishing this blog; I have spent the last thirty years or more reading books, and watching movies or documentaries on true crimes. I have often said here that I go into cases believing that investigators and prosecutors “got it right” until I see differently. But, I have seen many cases in which they have not got it right. I have seen countless cases where investigators find a suspect and along with tunnel vision begin to manipulate the evidence to fit their theory. Mike Holton was a very respected member of the community and not many in the public knew of his substance abuse issues. Investigators were immediately convinced that Madison Holton had murdered his parents because he was the only other person in the home at the time. But, in my opinion they never fully took into account those eleven minutes. All they needed to hear was the report from the medical examiner which of course did seem damning but like anything else that was a preliminary examination and nothing else mattered.

Before I completely get into discussing those eleven minutes I want to point out that the one thing that struck me the most immediately was the fact that there was absolutely no talk about Madison having any blood on him. It was said that Mike had been killed by a close contact bullet. This would have caused blow back blood. Investigators would say there was blood all over the bedroom and yet there was no comment about any blood at all on Madison. This is important for many reasons but for me I think it is most important when we talk about the eleven minutes.

So, investigators believe in the eleven minutes between the time that the officer left the home and the neighbor called 911 Madison shot both his parents. But, there was a lot more than shooting them that would have to be done. First, he would have had to have gotten the handcuffs off. Investigators say that was easy because the key was on a table in the same room as he was in. He would have then had to go into the bedroom and shoot both of his parents. Playing devils advocate here there was a theory floating around that it was possible that Mike had shot April and that Madison shot him after, something Madison continually denied happened. But, since he was charged with both murders I am going to go with shooting both parents within those eleven minutes. Somewhere in between there he would have had to have gotten a gun. Madison said his father kept several in a safe in the bedroom closet and that he kept a 9mm (the one found at the scene by the bodies apparently) in his bedside table. There did seem to be some confusion at this point though because investigators seemed to not allege that Madison had used the 9mm but a .357. I admit I do not know a lot about guns so I am unsure how that would work as far as ammunition goes and if it would be possible to use the same type. However, this leaves open the question of if a .357 was used, where was it? If this were the case this something else to add to be done in the eleven minutes... hide the gun. Either way he either hid the gun or wiped it of prints because his prints were not found on the gun. He then would have had to clean himself up, not missing a single drop of blood on his clothes or this body. Add to this that there was no mention of the officer noticing that he was wearing different clothing from a few minutes prior. So, if he did shoot his parents and did not have to change his clothes the other other option would have been that he completely covered his clothes before entering the room. Even still he would have had to at the very least washed his hands since they were clean for GSR. He would have then had to re-handcuff himself with his hands behind his back, get out the door and get to the neighbors home.

Aside from the fact that I absolutely do not believe there was enough time for this seventeen year old to get all of this done in the time period he had, I have other reservations. I question how he would have been able to go into a room with two people, retrieve a gun and still manage to shoot two people without either of them either getting away or wrestling with him. Even if Mike had shot April and Madison only shot Mike he would have had to get into the room, get the gun, get behind his father and shoot him. That is if the medical examiners initial assessment held true.

Another thing that investigators stated that they believed pointed to Madison's guilt was the fact that he claimed to have not heard any gunshots. They went to the home after the murder and with one investigator inside and one outside they did a test of different areas claiming that if Madison was telling the truth about what happened he should have heard the gunshots. I disagree. The television show showed the video that was taken by investigators and while they said it was not a matter of telling everyone to be quiet and listen before being able to hear the gunshots I believe they failed to take into account the fact that Madison would not only have been running but likely breathing very heavy as he ran to the neighbors house. In addition the neighbor never heard the gunshots either so that tells you that they could not have been super loud.

Initially Madison was held on a very high bail in which no-one in his family could afford. Then again it seems that no-one from Mike's side of the family would have been willing to do so even if they could afford it. They firmly believed then and now that Madison shot both his parents. April's family however began to feel differently. While they understood how things looked they also took the time to really think over his story and the evidence. In December of 2017 his bail was lowered and his uncle posted it for him. By then he had spent all of his senior year of high school in jail.

Madison's story had stayed consistent from the beginning to the end. He later said he had decided he would never take any deal that prosecutors may have offered him because he refused to plead guilty to something he had not done. His trial was set to start in October of 2018. Defense attorney's came across something that convinced them even more that Madison was innocent. There had been a search done on the house after the shooting and in a dresser drawer they found a notebook. Inside the notebook was basically a journal or writings from Mike. There was at least one that read like a suicide letter in which he apologized to people and told them goodbye. On the day the trial was to begin with jury selection there was a surprise.

Fifteen minutes before court started investigators were contacted by the prosecutors office and told that they intended to drop the charges against Madison. Investigators were not happy at all. The prosecutor would say that there simply were not enough facts known in the case to make an accurate determination as to what occurred. Prosecutor, Randall Houston was quoted as saying, “As prosecutors our job is to find the truth and do justice. When we cannot find the truth, it is impossible to do justice.” He even stated that it was his belief that while he could not say for certain what happened that he believed that the evidence had him leaning more towards the fact that Madison's story was closer to the truth than the idea that he had killed his parents. He stated that it was possible if more evidence ever arose that Madison could be recharged but he seemed to be of the belief that the truth would never truly be known.

One thing that really bothers me about this is that while there was talk about a GSR test given to Madison after the shooting but there was never anything ever mentioned as to if one was done on Mike's hands at the time of his autopsy. Now of course, even if the test had come out positive it would not have necessarily proved that he had shot April and himself, but it would more than likely have shown that he killed April. Then again investigators claimed that the type of weapon that was used in the crime did not always leave gunshot residue.

Madison did not necessarily get away with everything I guess one could say. While prosecutors dropped the murder charges against him, they did charge him for the issues surrounding the party he had the night before the shooting. It received time served for that but in my opinion that was the prosecutors way of ensuring that he could not sue the city, county, or anyone else for wrongful arrest. Most reports say that Madison said he was not interested in suing, but one report stated there had been some sort of agreement made in which he would not sue. I am unsure which is correct. However, with that being said Madison was convinced that the investigators from the case were still “out to get him.” Soon after his release he moved out of the area. That being said there was something else that I found interesting about the investigation and those in charge.

As I pointed out, within twenty-four hours of the shooting Madison had been charged. The television show that I watched had members of both April and Mike's family giving interviews. Mike's brother stated that they did not want Madison at the funeral as they believed that he was responsible. Early on that seems to be a fairly reasonable. However, I found it odd that while he was not allowed to go to the funeral, he was escorted out of the jail to have a private viewing of his parents at the funeral home. While considering that I feel Madison was innocent of the charges that he faced I still find it odd that he was allowed to do this considering investigators were completely convinced that they were his victims.

After being released Madison obtained his GED since he had been locked up during his senior year of high school. On the television show I watched he expressed that he wanted to go to law school and eventually become a defense attorney. I cannot say that his feelings have changed but I did find a report as recent as November of 2020 saying that Madison had joined the Army and currently is stationed in Germany with his new wife.