A married mother who was murdered while leading a double life on an adult website was spotted in a liquor store buying absinthe and whiskey eight hours before she died.
Kathleen West was seen on surveillance footage visiting R&R Wine and Liquor accompanied by a man who appears to be her husband, the night before she was killed. It was the last time she was seen alive.
The following morning, on January 13, a neighbor found the 42-year-old lying face down, in just a sports bra and bleeding from the head next to her cell phone and a bottle of Lucid absinthe.
Kathleen West was seen on surveillance footage visiting R&R Wine and Liquor the night before she died
West was accompanied by a man who appears to be her husband, William ‘Jeff’ West
West picked up a bottle of Lucid absinthe as well as a bottle Jameson whiskey, during her trip to the liquor store
It appears West, an Alabama housewife who would post sexy photos of herself on a subscription-only adult website under the pseudonym ‘Kitty Kat West’, picked up the bottle of Lucid, as well as a bottle Jameson whiskey, during her trip to the liquor store.
Video footage showed West in a good mood, smiling and laughing with the man she was with, who gave her a playful pat on her bottom.
Store clerk Stacey Oglesby said they seemed to be on their ‘date night’.
‘Everything was normal,’ she said.
West, 42, who fashioned herself after her heroine Marilyn Monroe, was also a member of The Cougar Club – a Twitter and Facebook account where women aged 35 and over posted provocative, half naked pictures.
West was an Alabama housewife who would post sexy photos of herself on a subscription-only adult website under the pseudonym ‘Kitty Kat West’
West was found lying face down, in just a sports bra and bleeding from the head next to her cell phone and a bottle of Lucid absinthe
Fellow member Sandie Kay insists that West’s death was not related to her penchant for posting sexy photos.
‘I wish for everyone to stop trying to connect online photos to her passing,’ Kay told Inside Edition. ‘It is not like that. It doesn’t necessarily mean indiscretion. They’re just pictures!’
‘The Kat that I knew was extremely supportive of every woman she was in contact with, a loving mom, giving and always had a smile.’ Kay described. ‘She was beautiful and loved being photographed.’
Her devastated mother Nancy Martin, released a statement to the public on Monday, nine days after West’s body was discovered.
‘It seems so impossible for the extreme sadness and grief we feel as the loss of our beautiful daughter Kat to ever diminish or decease however, the Lord is our hope and our salvation, and he can turn our mourning into comfort.
West was found on the street outside her four-bedroom home in Calera, Alabama, on Jan 13. She was found by neighbors
‘God wants to encourage us and relieve our suffering if we will just go to him at all times. And his word is powerful enough to bring healing and solace even during our darkest hours,’ Martin wrote.
‘My family asks for your prayers and support in our time of loss. My beautiful daughter Kat was not just my daughter but a cherished wife to Jeff, as well as a loving mother to their daughter.
‘So much negativity is out there, but with God all I see and hear is the goodness of my Kat. My family and I ask for help in the services to lay our daughter to rest with the good Lord, to where she will be guiding her daughter and husband through this. If you’re not able to make a donation we ask for prayers,’ Martin added.
Calera Police Chief Sean Lemley said West’s case is being treated as a homicide but has not revealed the cause of her death.
West was found dead in the street outside her family home in Calera, Alabama, on January 13 around 5am. Police have not released any new details, leaving neighbors baffled as to what is going on in the case.
The woman pleaded with Twitter followers to join her subscription service
The woman posted hundreds of photographs, two videos and had more than 800 ‘likes’ on her subscription fan page
On her fan website and on Twitter, the woman called herself Kitty Kat and posted explicit photographs and videos
According to AL.com, investigators spent most of January 13 at West’s home and have worked around the clock since then.
Calera Police Chief Lemley refused to answer questions about West’s death when contacted by DailyMail.com.
And recently, the department announced that Lemley will no longer take media questions on the case.
The married mother-of-one was wearing just a sports bra and was lying face down, bleeding from the head when she was found dead on January 13.
A neighbor who found her said there was a cell phone lying nearby which had a bottle of liquor strategically placed on top of it.
Police have not yet made any arrests and are refusing to answer questions on the case. The case is being treated as a homicide but the cause of death has not been revealed and no arrests have been made.
The woman’s 44-year-old husband, Jeff, who she described as being in the military on social media, has not commented and it is not known if he was inside the home when she died or when she was found.
West and her husband are shown above. It is not known if he was inside the house when she died
West, who ran a subscription-only website where she went by the name Kitty Kat West, was described by neighbors as an ordinary mother who kept to herself in the home where she lived with her 12-year-old daughter and husband
West was found dead in the street outside her family home in Calera, Alabama, on January 13 around 5am. It’s still unclear if her husband, Jeff (right), was inside the home when she was found dead
West and her husband Jeff, an unsworn Birmingham Southern College campus police officer, kept to themselves, neighbors said.
They lived at the home, which they built in 2015, with their 12-year-old daughter. It is also not known whether their daughter was inside.
West ran a subscription-only website where she went by the name Kitty Kat West.
That is the name she used for herself on Twitter and on a fan page where customers paid $15.99-a-month to access explicit photographs and videos.
Dawn encouraged Twitter followers to sign up to the service. Her last tweet was from the night before she died.
As of Friday, her page had been ‘liked’ by more than 800 people.
On Facebook, Dawn occasionally posted risque photographs, but most were of her with her daughter and her husband.
Calera Police Chief Sean Lemley said the case is being treated as a homicide but has not revealed the cause of her death. It’s been nine days since West (pictured) was found dead and police have still remained silent, leaving neighbors baffled as to what’s going on in the case
Nancy Martin, the mother of murdered, Dawn Martin West (pictured), 42, who led a double life as an ‘online exhibitionist’ with a $15.99-a-month subscription website, has released a statement asking the public to pray for their family
On Twitter, however, she teased fans with new photographs she had uploaded to her subscription page and wrote tantalizing captions including: ‘Sinful Sundays’.
The neighbor who found Dawn has not spoken out, but her father recalled her making the grisly discovery.
He said that when she found Dawn in the street, she rushed back inside to get her father. He came outside and touched her back to see if she was breathing and called 911 when he realized she was not.
Lemley said in a statement at the time: ‘The Calera Police Department is conducting investigation.
‘The victim, Kathleen Dawn West, was discovered deceased early this morning.’
‘This case is still on-going and no other information can be released at this time,’ he said.
A service was held for West on Tuesday.