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- The Anniston Star, Anniston, AL, 4 Aug 2009, p. 7, col. B
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31825404/edward_kyttle_murder/
Trial for 1993 Heflin murder began Monday
BY GRAHAM MILLDRUM
gmilldrumannistonstar.com
HEFLIN The trial of Edward Kyttle, accused of killing his wife in 1993, began Monday.
Edward Kyttle's truck, which he was driving, crashed into a pond near the intersection of County Roads 43 and 96 in the early morning hours of Jan. 10, 1993.
His wife, Eleanor Kyttle, 56, of Heflin, drowned in the truck.
Monday a jury was selected and the prosecution and defense presented their opening arguments at the Cleburne County Courthouse.
The defense argues the death was accidental, and the prosecution says it was a deliberate murder.
The couple's marriage was strained because Edward Kyttle was having an affair, Calhoun/Cleburne County District Attorney Joe Hubbard said.
Edward Kyttle had fallen in love with another woman, Hubbard said. Eleanor confronted her husband over the affair, Hubbard said, and he originally denied it.
Hubbard said Edward Kyttle proceeded with the affair and suggested the other woman move in with them.
"Eleanor could not accept this," Hubbard said. "She could not share her home, her family, her dreams and her husband with another woman."
Edward Kyttle could not financially afford a divorce, Hubbard said, and remained married. A few days before her death, Eleanor Kyttle attempted to change the beneficiaries on her insurance policies and get a divorce, Hubbard said.
After that decision, things seemed to calm down, Hubbard said, until Edward Kyttle drove a truck into a pond about a mile and a half away from their home.
Hubbard did not state why he believed Eleanor Kyttle drowned in the car, while her husband escaped.
Edward Kyttle left the truck in the pond, Hubbard said, and went to a nearby home to call for help.
Edward Kyttle made the call, then proceeded to change clothes, dry his hair and wait for emergency personnel while his wife remained submerged, Hubbard said.
Defense attorney Eric Snyder presented a shorter statement.
He warned the jury that the case will involve very personal details of the family and it pits family member against family member.
"We feel the evidence is gonna show that night it was a horrible accident that happened where Mr. Kyttle ran off the road around four o'clock in the morning," Snyder said.
The trial continues today.
Contact Staff Writer Graham Milldrum at 235-3546.
The Cleburne News, Cleburne, AL, 7 Aug 2009
https://www.annistonstar.com/cleburne_news/cleburne_local/man-found-guilty-in-wife-s-murder-edward-kyttle-was/article_8c6580ed-f0b6-5645-aac2-af88142e50d6.html
Man found guilty in wife's murder; Edward Kyttle was accused of drowning his wife in 1993 in Cleburne County
Graham Milldrum, Staff Writer
A man accused of drowning his wife in 1993 in Cleburne County so he could live with another woman was found guilty of murder Thursday.
Edward Kyttle drove a pickup carrying the unconscious Eleanor Kyttle into a pond near the family home in Cleburne County and left her to drown, Calhoun/Cleburne County District Attorney Joe Hubbard said. The prosecution rested its case shortly after 10 a.m. at the courthouse in Heflin.
The defense had argued that there was not enough evidence to prove that Kyttle murdered his wife and the crash was a "tragic accident."
The jury of six men and six women returned the verdict around 2:40 p.m.
Prosecutors said Kyttle forced the couple's 14-year-old son to put his unconscious mother into the back of a beat-up truck.
Key testimony came Wednesday from that son, Mark Kyttle. He told the court his mother and father argued and he heard a "thump." Then his father ordered him to load his mother into the bed of a pickup. He gave that testimony to the Calhoun/Cleburne Counties Cold Case Unit in 2006. As late at 2005, he'd maintained his 1993 story, where he said his mother got into the truck to go to a hospital with his father. He said he was afraid of his father at the time and that fear continued into adulthood.
Ed Kyttle leaned back against his chair during much of the arguments, unlike his normally more attentive posture during the trial.
"What you've also got, in addition to circumstantial evidence, was you've got Ed Kyttle lying through his teeth," Hubbard said.
He said the shifts in Kyttle's statements to friends, family and investigators came from attempts to cover up facts investigators discovered.
Kyttle did not take the stand in the case.
After the verdict, Circuit Judge Brian Howell raised Kyttle's bond from $150,000 to $1 million. Kyttle was taken to the Cleburne County Jail.
He is set to be sentenced at 9 a.m. on Oct. 16. Murder carries a sentence of 10 to 99 years.
The Anniston Star, Anniston, AL, 10 Nov 2009
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31876203/edward_kyttle_murder_11102009/
Man convicted of killing wife now in prison
BY REBECCA WALKER rwalkerannistonstar.com
A man who earlier this year was convicted of drowning his wife in the early 1990s was transported to a state prison facility Monday.
Edward Wilson Kyttle, 62, has been held in the Cleburne County Jail on $1 million bond since his conviction in August. In October, Circuit Judge Brian Howell sentenced him to life in prison.
Kyttle was taken to the Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery on Monday, according to Brian Corbett, public information manager for the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Prosecutors in the case said Kyttle in 1993 drove a pickup carrying his unconscious wife, Eleanor Kyttle, into a pond, leaving her to drown.
The Couple's son Mark, who was 14 at the time of her death, testified that after an argument between his parents, his father forced him to load his mother's unconscious body into the bed of the truck. Mark Kyttle said his father threatened to kill him if he told anyone what happened.
As such, the son said he kept the details of that night from authorities until 2006 when he gave testimony to the Calhoun/Cleburne Counties Cold Case Unit.
Defense attorneys said Eleanor Kyttle died as a result of an accidental car wreck, in which Edward Kyttle was driving. He was not injured in the wreck, according to an Associated Press story from 1993. Kyttle's defense attorneys in the trial said there was not enough evidence to determine whether she died because of an impact or had drowned.
A state pathologist testified during the trial that the victim could have been hit on the head before the wreck. He said there were bruises on her chin, a small amount of pooled blood on her brain and some lacerations on her tongue and lower lip, which are generally consistent with a blow to the chin, he said. However, he could not determine whether the injuries came from being hit by a person, or from impact in the wreck.
Contact staff writer Rebecca Walker at 235-3562.
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1947 - Yes, date unknown
d. 10 Jan 1993, Lecta, Cleburne Co., AL