By SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
FLORENCE, Ala. — The Lauderdale County District Attorney’s Office has confirmed disturbing new details in the murder case of Autumn Strickland, a 38-year-old woman whose remains were discovered in a burn barrel days after she was reported missing.
District Attorney Chris Connolly revealed that Strickland was intentionally run over twice by her own vehicle early Saturday morning, May 18, and then later burned at a nearby residence.
“This was a deliberate and violent killing,” Connolly said. “Security footage shows the victim running down North Wood Avenue around 2:08 a.m. before being struck by her vehicle twice.”
Strickland had checked into the Stricklin Hotel on Friday night and was last seen leaving the hotel’s bar, The Boiler Room, shortly before 2 a.m. Authorities say she was hit by the car in a nearby parking lot and left there for nearly 30 minutes before a man in a truck—identified as Logan Rogers, 28—picked up her body.
Rogers allegedly transported Strickland to his home on the 2200 block of North Wood Avenue, placed her in a barrel, and attempted to burn her remains. The barrel was discovered Sunday, and Rogers was arrested and charged with murderon Wednesday, May 22. He remains held without bond, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 14.
“We’re still investigating how Rogers and Strickland may have crossed paths that night,” Connolly added. “There’s no indication they knew each other beforehand.”
Lindsay Maldonado, a close friend of the victim, told WAAY 31 that Strickland had been planning to return to South Florida after spending two years in Alabama working on rental properties with her mother.
“I’m just devastated,” Maldonado said. “It sounds like a Dateline or Crime Junkie episode, but it’s my friend, you know? It’s not right.”
Describing Strickland as lighthearted, kind, and deeply caring, Maldonado said:
“Just happy, silly—you could always call Autumn. She was just always fun, very easy to be around.”
Strickland had previously endured tragedy with the loss of a son to cancer but later gave birth to a daughter, according to Maldonado.
“You’re heartless,” she said, addressing the accused. “And you really deserve to have done to you what you did to her. Seems like just punishment.”
The case has rocked the Florence community and reignited conversations around violence against women in North Alabama. It also adds to a string of serious incidents across the region, including a recent fatal shooting in Huntsville and a multi-agency child predator sting.
Anyone with additional information about the case is urged to contact the Florence Police Department.
