On April 20, 2026, sheriff’s deputies discovered a mother, her 12-year-old son, and her pregnant teenage daughter brutally murdered inside their Alabama mobile home. The victims, Lisa Gail Fields, 46, Keziah Luker, 17, and 12-year-old Thomas Cordell each had their arms zip-tied behind their backs. Fields had a gunshot wound, Luker had multiple stab wounds, and the killer cut Cordell’s throat. For more than a week, the crime rocked the small town of Wilmer as the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office searched for a suspect.
On April 28, Sheriff Paul Burch announced the arrest of 54-year-old William Graham Oliver. Those who know him can’t believe he could do something so evil.
Burch shared a few key details from the investigation during a news conference.
Burch said during the conference shared online by WKRG that Oliver knew the victims but declined to share what that relationship was beyond saying he was not a family member. He confirmed the man was at the home the evening of the murders.
“He was at the home, 7:30-ish Sunday night. Very, very tight timeline. Very solid circumstantial evidence at this point, and we feel confident that we have the right man,” Burch said.
The sheriff claimed Oliver was looking for something at the residence, but he would not go into detail.
The crimes shocked Oliver’s next-door neighbor.
Mark Coleman told WEAR that seeing the SWAT team at Oliver’s home jarred him.
“Well, the SWAT came in, guns, and all of that, and the SWAT vehicle,” Coleman recalled, “and I’m looking, I’m thinking, What, these, no way, no way. And then I certainly wasn’t even thinking about the murders at that point. I’m thinking some others, something else, you know? That was the farthest thing from my mind.”
Coleman said he never considered Oliver the type who could kill. He told WEAR he was a devoted father and handyman.
“He’s a quiet, unassuming man,” Coleman said. “He spends a great deal of time with his kids, has three boys, and I’ve seen him and his wife get along well, and his mother lives with him as well. And just a nice, unassuming guy.”
Oliver faces eight charges of capital murder.
No matter what his neighbors think, police are confident they have the right man. Burch said a crime like this is even more heartbreaking because of the young victims.
“Any time there are children involved, it makes it a little tougher,” the sheriff shared, per WEAR. “And, you know, especially an unborn child. But again, he will, you know, he’ll face justice, but he’ll ultimately face the ultimate justice on Judgment Day.
Oliver has been charged in the death of Fields, Cordell, Luker, and her unborn baby. Luker’s 18-month-old daughter was in the home the night of the horrific slayings, but Oliver did not harm her. According to WEAR, prosecutors charged Oliver with one count of capital murder of two or more persons, four counts of capital murder during a burglary, two counts of capital murder of a person younger than 14, and one count of capital murder with a child present.
People convicted of capital murder in the state of Alabama sometimes spend their life in prison or can even face the death penalty. Somehow, both of those options seem soft in comparison to what Field, Cordell, and Luker endured.
