Husband of murdered woman with double life online arrested, charged with killing

The husband of an Alabama woman found dead last month has been arrested and charged with her murder.

Al.com reports that William “Jeff” West, the husband of Kathleen “Kat” West, was charged on Thursday with her murder. As CrimeOnline previously reported, the 42-year-old woman was found dead just outside her home in Calera in the early morning of January 13. When she was found by a neighbor, West was wearing only a bra and was reportedly bleeding from her head. The latest report indicates that she died of blunt-force trauma, though authorities have not made public many details about the homicide investigation.

“[Jeff West] was a suspect in the very beginning,” Calera Police Chief Sean Lemley told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.

“We know exactly what happened that night,” Lemley said, without elaborating. “And we do have evidence to support that.”

Kat West sold suggestive photos of herself using her online persona “Kitty Kat West.” It is not known if her husband was aware of her activities, and her friends said at the time of her death that they did not believe her murder had anything to do with the photos she posted and sold on the internet.

Surveillance video taken at a local liquor store appeared to show Kat and a man believed to be her husband buying alcohol hours before her death.

“They came in, it looked like they were on their date night,” Stacey Oglesby, a clerk at the liquor store, told Inside Edition last month. 

“They bought a bottle of Jameson and a bottle of Lucid absinthe and made their purchase and went on their way. Everything was normal.”

Jeff West is reportedly in custody at the Shelby County Jail.

 

[Feature image: Kat West/Facebook]