Corey Alexander murder of father, shooting mother

Corey Alexander shot her parents at their Hillcrest home in Little Rock on April 22, 2022, killing her father, Raymond Bryce Alexander, and seriously wounding her mother, Charlotte Lea Alexander, during what doctors later described as a substance-induced psychotic episode.

Police arrived at the home on F Street, across from Fair Park Elementary School, after receiving a 911 call from Charlotte Alexander, who was screaming and hysterical. On the call, she said her daughter had a gun, had already shot her, and had killed her husband in the driveway.

Officers arrived to find Charlotte Alexander lying near her husband’s body outside the garage. Ray Alexander, 83, had been shot multiple times and was dead at the scene. Charlotte Alexander had suffered gunshot wounds and a broken arm and required emergency surgery.

Corey Alexander was gone when police arrived.

Crime Scene

Investigators found the garage door open, with bloody shoe prints and tire marks inside. Charlotte Alexander’s 2016 white GMC Acadia was missing. Police later located the SUV about a mile away at the intersection of North Pine and Hill roads, abandoned with apparent blood on the passenger side.

Officers found Corey Alexander shortly afterward in an alley near H Street and North Oak Street, about a block from the house. Police noted apparent blood on her shoes and feet. She declined to answer questions and has remained in custody since her arrest.

A neighbor, Dextrik Crockett, told police he was visiting his girlfriend across the street when he heard eight or nine gunshots. Looking outside, he saw an older man lying in the driveway and an older woman exiting the garage. He then heard more shots and saw the woman fall. Crockett said a younger woman entered the white SUV, backed it out, and ran over the older woman’s legs.

He said the driver exited the vehicle briefly, spoke to the injured woman, then ran back when the SUV began rolling because it was not in park. Crockett said the vehicle drove away, and he ran to help the victims. Police arrived about five minutes later.

Mental health system failures

Investigators later learned that Ray Alexander had tried to have his daughter involuntarily committed roughly six weeks before he was killed. In a March 4, 2022 petition, Ray Alexander wrote that his daughter was “extremely psychotic, homicidal and suicidal,” addicted to methamphetamine, and believed he and his wife were already dead.

“She thinks that me and her mother are dead,” he wrote. “Yesterday while I was replacing a window in her apartment, she was crazy beyond her wildest dreams. She was talking about planning our funeral.”

He also wrote that she believed imposters had taken their place and that she was threatening to kill them because of that belief.

Police encountered Corey Alexander that same day at a B Street duplex, where a neighbor reported receiving threatening messages from her. Corey Alexander told officers her parents had been murdered, while Ray Alexander produced court paperwork authorizing police to take her into custody for a commitment hearing.

She resisted arrest and had to be physically restrained. She later avoided involuntary commitment by agreeing to voluntary hospitalization, where doctors diagnosed substance-induced psychotic disorder, methamphetamine use disorder, severe opioid abuse, and substance-induced mood disorder. She was discharged after five days into outpatient treatment.

Lead up to murder

Charlotte Alexander later described the night before the shooting as chaotic and exhausting. She said her daughter returned home around 9 p.m. from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and became agitated. The argument escalated, and she and her husband forced her daughter to leave. Around 2:30 a.m., Corey Alexander forced her way back inside. A few hours later, Ray Alexander left for his regular Saturday morning breakfast with friends.

When he returned around 9:45 a.m., Charlotte Alexander said she heard the two arguing in the garage about money and about Corey’s belief that her parents were imposters. She told police that her daughter then entered the bedroom and took Ray Alexander’s revolver from a bedside table.

“When I realized what was happening, I rolled off the bed,” she said, adding that she heard her husband say, “Oh God, Corey, no please!” before the shots began.

Charlotte Alexander fled toward the garage but said her daughter followed her and shot her twice. As she lay in the driveway speaking to the 911 dispatcher, she said her daughter took her car keys and backed the SUV over her hand. She told police she saw her husband lying unresponsive nearby before losing consciousness.

Charlotte Alexander told investigators she never wanted contact with her daughter again, saying, “She’s not my daughter anymore. She’s dangerous.”

Corey Alexander later told doctors she remembered the event only in fragments. She said she had been drinking, using meth, and possibly pain pills, and had not slept for several days. She said she believed her parents were “skin walkers”—a recurring delusion in which she thought imposters had replaced them and that their real bodies were hidden elsewhere.

She pleaded guilty in April 2024 to first-degree murder and first-degree domestic battery. Under the terms of the plea agreement, negotiated by prosecutors and public defenders, she received a 40-year prison sentence and is permanently barred from contacting her mother or brother. A theft charge was dismissed as part of the agreement. She must serve more than 23 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Alexander entered the Arkansas prison system on May 13, 2024. She is currently housed at the McPherson Unit in Newport. Now 50 years old, her earliest projected release date is October 21, 2045.