The Tragic Murder of Bree Rutland

One definition of "tragedy" is a play in which the hero's downfall is caused by an imperfection in his otherwise flawless and heroic character. This is truly the story of Brioni Rutland, known to his friends as "Bree." Below is an account of Bree's murder taken from Pen-N-Sword articles:

The morning of Tuesday, November 26th, Brioni Jamaal Rutland was at Deshler High School assisting with the athletic program. Around eleven o’clock, he told associates he was going to Krystal in Florence to meet some friends for lunch. He never arrived.

Early on Wednesday, Bree’s girlfriend Morgan Taylor Presley notified the police that the former Deshler football standout was missing. Police soon used the GPS on his cell phone to locate it in a sewer on Wood Avenue. Along with the phone, police found Bree’s wallet. At that point, the police went public with their search for the 27 year-old Tuscumbia resident.

By Thanksgiving night, authorities had found Bree’s gold Chevrolet Impala at Village Apartments in Sheffield, but it yielded no new clues as to Rutland’s whereabouts. On Friday morning, hikers reported a large amount of blood on the Old Railroad Bridge in Sheffield. At two o’clock the next afternoon, a search team found a body that family identified as Bree’s.

Local authorities have a suspect in custody and hope to answer both the questions of where and why Brioni Jamaal Rutland, aka Bree, was murdered. The 27 year-old Deshler volunteer coach was last seen at Deshler High School around eleven o’clock Tuesday morning.

Pools on football games or other sports are common in today’s offices, as well as fraternities, and just about any venue where the males of the species gather. Was it an argument over a football pool debt that cost Brioni Jamaal Rutland his life?

A source with the Tuscumbia Police Department has indicated a debt of a few hundred dollars won in such a pool was the basis for the original disagreement between Rutland and Jeremy LeShun Williams (pictured below), a former basketball teammate of Rutland at Deshler High School. Authorities have copies of text messages between the two men that indicate Rutland expected to pick up money from someone on the day he disappeared.

A life destroyed for a few hundred dollars.

Lonell D. Hankins, 31, of Tuscumbia (pictured above) has been shot in an early Tuesday morning altercation and airlifted to Huntsville in critical condition. Hankins is a cousin to Bree Rutland, recent Tuscumbia murder victim, and played football at Deshler High School in 1999 and 2000. Hankins was allegedly shot by Gregory Williams, brother to Jeremy LaShun Williams who has been arrested in the murder of Rutland. 

Hankins recovered; Williams was convicted of Felony Murder and sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole. He will be eligible for consideration in November 2028.

Final Curtain: Brioni “Bree” Rutland was rumored to be heavily into gambling. Whether a major Shoals bookie or just a regular player in football pools, Bree’s life was reportedly taken over a gambling debt owed him by his assailant. Rutland regularly Tweeted as “GRIND2SHINE.” He had 386 followers who were personally approved by him. One of his followers had recently tweeted “cant live this life!” 

Did this become an apt eulogy for “Bree” Rutland?