The Murder of the Mayor's Son's Baby Mama

 

In October 2020, a mayoral runoff race was underway when local media began to receive communications from a woman who had a revelation about Florence candidate Andrew Eloyde Betterton. Virginia Rosemary McDougal shared her sad story, but its ending less than three years later was even more tragic. 

In 1999, at the age of 16, McDougal, sometimes known as Gingersnapps, discovered she was pregnant. The child's father was Jacob Andrew Betterton, then 20. (He's shown below after a 2013 arrest for domestic assault.)

Neither Virginia nor Jacob wished to raise the child; in fact, Jacob refused to sign the birth certificate, forcing his parents to intervene. (Jacob's parents Andy and Jan are shown below in a rustic engagement photo.) 

By this time, Andy and his first wife Jan D. Goggans had been divorced for some years. Goggans, who is described by friends as attractive, vivacious, and everything Andy wasn't, was living and teaching in Madison County. Her less than stellar ex-partner had remained in Florence after obtaining his degree from the University of North Alabama. According to Virginia, it was Andy who initially took the child in.

McDougal didn't reveal much in her communications as to how her son Christopher Jackson Betterton was raised, only that she remained in touch with him as she attempted to conquer the drug problems in her life. By September 2020, the boy known as Jack was in Chambers County, Texas, a part of the Houston metropolitan area. While there, he and a friend experienced some serious legal difficulties:

The two young men posted a bond, which they quickly violated by returning to Northwest Alabama. It was then that things took a dark turn.

Virginia began to receive phone calls from a Texas man who accused Jack and his confederate of skipping town with his money and drugs. If the two young men didn't make it "right," there would be serious consequences for all of them.

Desperate for help, but unwilling to contact the police, Virginia turned to Jack's grandfather Andy. McDougal told her media contacts that Betterton refused to help his grandson; she wanted the public to know before the upcoming election.

Was her story true? No one published Virginia McDougal's accusations, possibly since those she contacted may have felt Betterton did the right thing. Did he?

In the four years following the incident, Jack Betterton has been arrested multiple times in both Lauderdale and Madison Counties, as well as being extradited back to Texas to face his charges in Chambers County. His arrests include DUI, Resisting Arrest, and Assault, with his most recent coming just days before Thanksgiving 2024.

Nor were these years productive for Virginia. If she was ever again threatened by Jack's crime boss contacts in Texas, she never reported it. McDougal continued to live in the Underwood community, but not peacefully. Eventually, Gingersnapps became a statistic.

On April 6, 2023, McDougal's family members found her unresponsive in the Arnold Lane home she shared with 58 year-old Dwayne L. Pigg with whom she had co-habited for some time. Pigg was later found in a shed behind the house with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot would to the head.

Pigg had at least two previous arrests for violating a Protection from Abuse order that had been granted Virginia. Why had the couple remained together? Was Pigg the real killer?

It would seem so; the violent boyfriend had left what were described by the sheriff's department as "notes and letters" around the home and a handgun by his body. Pigg apologized in his writings for his deadly actions.

It was an extremely sad ending for the 40 year-old Virginia McDougal who was the mother of four children in addition to Jack Betterton. She had related in her communications to the media that she felt she at last had some control over her life. Sadly, it's not always possible to weed out the dysfunction in a family. This family group would seem to be a striking example.

The Body by the Side of the Road

 

She had no regular job. Her parents were deceased, and her boyfriend helped send her to jail. Did no one care that in death her body lay beside a busy highway for weeks?

The temperature in Florence on September 1, 2016, was 95 degrees at 2:00 p.m. It had been a brutally hot summer, and the advent of colloquial Autumn brought no relief. That Thursday morning, an Alabama Department of Transportation employee was operating a mower along the right-of-way on Helton Drive between Huntsville Road and Florence Boulevard. The area had not been mowed since May, and the worker was expecting to encounter trash along with the high grass, but he wasn't prepared for what he found 15 feet from the busy thoroughfare. 

Lying deep within the tall vegetation was a body. Officers who quickly arrived on the scene found a badly decomposed body dressed in a shirt and pants. Due to the body's state of advanced decay and generic clothing, it was impossible to ascertain the sex of the deceased from simple observation. Authorities then sent the body to the state forensics laboratory in Huntsville for an autopsy.

Due to the condition of the body, an exact cause of death could not be determined, but the deceased was identified as 39 year-old Chrysty Lynn Copeland. The Florence woman had a minor arrest record, mainly involving domestic violence charges, and Florence police chief Ron Tyler reported that Copeland had left the Lauderdale County Detention Center on foot on August 4th. That Thursday was the last day that Chrysty was seen alive.

Oddly, Copeland's boyfriend reported her missing on the day her body was discovered. Did no one miss Copeland during the 28 days she had seemingly vanished?

Authorities speculated that Chrysty had left the detention center on a day the temperature reached 94 degrees. She traveled down Veterans Drive to Helton and then north, apparently attempting to reach her home in the Greenbriar area. Due to the condition of her body, autopsy results were inconclusive, but Chief Tyler reported that Copeland had numerous health issues.

Once the State released the body of Chrysty Lynn Copeland, her remains were cremated and her ashes given to a friend. There is no permanent memorial for Chrysty. 

Sadly, in the eight years since Copeland's death, others have disappeared after leaving the LCDC, but have not been found in the same dramatic way. Perhaps the best way to honor Chrysty Copeland's memory would be to establish a transportation fund that would assist these individuals in making their way home safely?