Fort Payne man accused of killing his neighbor with a machete

FORT PAYNE, Alabama(WDEF) – Fort Payne police are investigating the city’s first homicide in three years after a man reportedly used a machete to kill his neighbor.

It happened this past weekend at a trailer park in the 2200 block of Gault Avenue but WDEF is just learning about the details.

Fort Payne Police Chief Randy Bynum said the homicide is one of the worst he has seen in a very long time.

"Lot of blood. There was lot of bloodshed on that scene," Bynum said.

David Wooten, 43, of Fort Payne is facing one count of murder after police say he killed his neighbor who was identified as Bernie Wayne Clark.

A neighbor identified as Bill Withers told WDEF that Wooten and Clark got into an argument over beer. The argument reportedly turned physical.

"The slender fellow beat him up pretty good. When he went home and sobered up a little bit, he looked in the mirror and realize how bad he was beaten. He got his machete and hacked him up. He almost cut his arm off. He cut him twice in the back and once in the head," Withers said.

Police were called to the scene when an anonymous person told them that someone needed to look in on Wooten. When officers arrived, Wooten reportedly directed officers to Clark’s trailer which was only 75-feet away.

It’s unclear if Wooten confessed to the crime, but police recovered evidence including a sharp weapon that was believed to be used in the murder.

Police won’t say the weapon is a machete, but several neighbors have come forward and told WDEF that they are 100-percent sure it was machete.

Withers told WDEF he was not surprised by the outcome of the fight between the two men.

"They both drank. David, the guy who did the killing said he heard voices in his head all the time," Withers said.

Chief Bynum  said Wooten was no stranger to law enforcement.

"We’ve had a couple of calls on him but nothing major; maybe some harassment where he had been harassed or maybe did some harassing of other folks in that trailer park but nothing outstanding," Bynum said.

Up until this past weekend, Fort Payne police did not have to investigate a murder for three years.

"We have property crimes just like any other town but we have very little violence. Person on person violence; we just don’t have that here in Fort Payne," Bynum said.

Wooten remains in the Dekalb County Jail on a $250,000 bond.