COLD CASE CHRISTMAS

1996 Alabama Nightclub Murder Is Finally Solved

A man has been arrested for the murder of Joseph Todd Jowers outside the nightclub he worked 26 years ago, police say.

The murder of Joseph Todd Jowers, who was shot and killed outside the nightclub where he taught line dancing in October 1996, has officially been solved after 26 years, Alabama police say. The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrested Thomas Terry Johnson Jr., 49, Friday, charging him with murder. On Oct. 13, 1996, Jowers was walking a woman to her car outside the club in the early morning when he was shot. The woman wasn’t able to describe the assailant and the case went unsolved, before it was reopened in October 2020 after remaining dormant for years. The homicide unit commander of the police department at the time said he believed there were several witnesses to the shooting who didn’t want to come forward. Johnson is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a $75,000 bond.