Death of Alabama woman, 22, 'accidentally' shot in chest by boyfriend's dad is ruled a HOMICIDE

By NATASHA ANDERSON, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and NIC WHITE, US SENIOR INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER Published: 20:30, 15 May 2026 | Updated: 20:59, 15 May 2026 The death of the Alabama woman who was 'accidentally' shot in chest by her boyfriend's dad has been ruled a homicide. Whitney Robeson, 22, was shot in the chest on March 7 at her boyfriend Brandon Towers' home in Trussville, Alabama. She died from an 'injury to left lung, heart, and aorta, due to gunshot wound of chest,' the Jefferson County Coroner's Office revealed on Friday. The recent university graduate had just started as a trade consultant with Restoration Hardware in Birmingham, Alabama, when she was killed. The Jefferson County Coroner's Office called the shooting accidental at the time, but on Friday declared her death a homicide. No further details were offered. Jeffrey Scott Towers, 54, was abruptly charged with manslaughter on Monday after being arrested without incident about 5pm. He was released a few hours later on $30,000 bail and will face court at a later date yet to be determined. Towers' lawyers, John Amari and Dain Stewart at Amari Law Firm, have denied he was criminally responsible for Robeson's death.  Whitney Harlow Robeson, 22, died from a single gunshot wound on March 7 at her boyfriend's home in Trussville, Alabama Jeffrey Scott Towers, 54, was abruptly charged with manslaughter on Monday after being arrested without incident about 5pm 'What happened to Ms. Robeson was a tragic event,' they said in a statement. 'While we understand that the justice system must play out, we know that the facts will show that Mr Towers has no criminal history, has been a productive and upstanding citizen for his entire life, and is not guilty of these charges.' Robeson graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University in the College of Human Sciences interior design program. 'Whitney lived with inimitable grace; keen, quiet attentiveness and loyalty; boundless generosity and an uncanny way of always knowing just what she needed to do,' her family wrote in her obituary.  'This marvelous, independent woman was on the cusp of her successful career in interior design: the job she had always wanted since she was a little girl watching HGTV. 'In the precious little time she had been in that role, Whitney's new colleagues and supervisor were instantly taken by her kindness, talent, attentiveness, and integrity.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.