Woman suspect in double murder once was fired after attack

HOOVER, ALABAMA - A woman who is a primary suspect in the murder of her ex-husband and his wife, whose bodies were found in the trunk of a burned car, was fired from a police job in 2000 after attacking him. <br> <br> The Birmingham News reported Thursday that Jessica McCord was fired by Birmingham Police Chief Mike Coppage for being absent without leave and a physical attack on Alan Bates. <br> <br> ``You went to the home of your ex-husband and you admitted you hurt him to keep him from hurting you,&#39;&#39; Coppage wrote in the termination letter. <br> <br> McCord and her husband, Jeff Kelley McCord, have been identified by Hoover police as the primary suspects in the deaths of Bates, 30, and his wife, Terra, 31, of Frederick, Md. They were shot to death and dumped in the trunk of a rental car, which was found smoldering Saturday on the outskirts of Rutledge, Ga. <br> <br> They had gone to Birmingham for a custody hearing Friday involving Bates&#39; efforts to see his two daughters from his marriage to Jessica McCord. <br> <br> Jeff McCord was fired as a police officer in Pelham after he failed to show up for a disciplinary hearing Wednesday morning. <br> <br> The McCords declined comment after meeting later Wednesday with one of the state&#39;s most prominent criminal defense lawyers, David Cromwell Johnson, at his Birmingham office. <br> <br> Johnson said he has not been hired by the McCords. He said they had been staying with relatives in Florida and that police knew where they had been. <br> <br> ``They&#39;re just trying to get away for a while, and I think they should,&#39;&#39; Johnson said. <br> <br> Authorities have said the two daughters may have been with McCord family members Friday afternoon when Bates was supposed to pick them up. Court records show Jessica McCord repeatedly violated orders for Bates to be with his daughters and talk to them on the phone. She spent 10 days in jail in December for refusing to comply with a custody order. <br> <br> The Birmingham News reported that the McCords, who met while both were working at the Birmingham Police Department two years ago, got their marriage license in neighboring Shelby County in June 2000. The News said the McCords pulled up their mailbox shortly after moving into their home in Hoover about a year ago and mail is not delivered there. <br> <br> Alan Bates and Jessica McCord were divorced in 1995, with McCord granted physical custody of the girls and Bates given standard visitation rights. In November, Bates sought custody of the girls, saying he had been denied contact with his daughters for more than a year, including court-ordered weekly phone calls. <br> <br> A March hearing date had been set on the issue of custody.