Authorities say a Huntsville man who was scheduled to stand trial in Madison County in June on a child sex abuse charge but did not appear died on September 11.
According to law enforcement sources, William Cary Higginbotham, 48, committed suicide as authorities were closing in on him for failing to appear on a warrant. However, there is no official word about where Higginbotham died.
According to Madison County court records, he was arrested in January 2023 and charged with sexual abuse of a kid under the age of 12. According to records, he was scheduled to go on trial on June 26.
The next record in the case file shows that he did not appear in court, and the judge issued a warrant on July 22 for failure to appear. Then, on September 13, prosecutors filed a request asking the court to abate – or effectively halt – the case against Higginbotham because he had died.
According to a Madison County District Attorney’s Office official, Higginbotham was discovered by authorities on September 11, and while they attempted to contact him to serve the warrant, he committed suicide.
The US Marshals Service for the Northern District of Alabama also stated that Higginbotham committed suicide when they were attempting to serve him.
News 19 has requested the location of the encounter, where Higginbotham died, but has yet to receive a definite response. We were told by some sources that Higginbotham died in Blount County, but the sheriff’s office would to comment. When asked if Higginbotham died in Blount County, the coroner declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
Coroners from Madison, Jefferson, and Limestone counties all told News 19 that they had no record of Higginbotham’s death. He was charged in Madison County, Jefferson County was mentioned as a likely place for his death, and he previously lived in Limestone County.
We also contacted the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for autopsy information on Higginbotham. The agency responded with a template letter Monday, stating that the records were not publicly available because the case was either being investigated by a district attorney or DFS had not completed its inquiry.