Loretta Kay Carr can see cliff where Mary Isbell died: Judge

Left: Loretta Kay Carr (via Dekalb County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office). Right: Jessie Lee Kelly (via Cherokee County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office.) Inset: Mary Elizabeth Isbell (via Hartselle (Ala.) Police Department).

The woman accused of pushing another woman to her death over a cliff will be allowed to view the site where the alleged murder took place.

Loretta Kay Carr, 45, was charged in June with the murder of Mary Elizabeth Isbell, who was last seen in 2021 and reported missing in December of that year by her ex-husband. Carr’s daughter Jessie Eden Kelly, 22, has also been charged with killing Isbell, whose remains were found on June 28 at the Little River Canyon National Park, around 75 miles southeast of Huntsville, Alabama.

Prosecutors allege Carr pushed Isbell off a cliff inside the park.

The judge overseeing Carr’s capital murder case has agreed to allow the defendant to physically revisit the scene where Isbell fell to her death, Huntsville Fox affiliate WZDX reported.

Carr’s lawyers had argued that “the facts of this case make it impossible for [Carr] to describe the scene to her attorneys in sufficient detail” and asked for the judge to allow her to view the crime scenes, WZDX reported.

In addition to being able to visit the cliff, defense lawyers requested access for other areas deemed crime scenes, including the home of Carr’s fiance, Robert Mitcham, and Isbell’s mobile home, where sheriffs say there is physical evidence that a struggle occurred, according to WZDX.

Local CBS affiliate WHNT reported that Carr’s lawyers also want to use body camera footage involving a police search of Carr’s home and footage from police officers’ interactions with Kelly.

DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Wheldon reportedly said that all the women knew each other and appear to have been connected through someone identified as a “boyfriend.”

According to a criminal complaint, Carr is accused of kidnapping Isbell in October 2021, WHNT reported. Court documents say that Carr is accused of “intentionally” causing Isbell’s death “by pushing her off a cliff,” according to WHNT.

Isbell’s remains were positively identified on June 30, which would have been her 39th birthday.

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