2/26/2022- 3:25 p.m.
Darin Christopher Starr, 54, the man being sought for his role in a murder-for-hire plot in Coffee County, turned himself in at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 5 in Hondo, Texas to law enforcement. An extradition hearing is expected to be held Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Darin Starr had a federal warrant issued for his arrest on Dec. 2, 2021 after he was charged with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire in connection with the murder of his sister-in-law Sara Starr.
At a press conference Dec. 7, 2021 the FBI and Coffee County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Daleville resident Jason Starr for the 2017 murder of his ex-wife. Darin Starr is Jason Starr’s brother.
According to other media reports, a federal indictment in Alabama’s Middle District claims Jason Starr allegedly gave his brother a 2016 Triumph motorcycle and cash to kill Sara Starr.
Jason Starr was arrested by law enforcement officials in his Daleville home in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 2021 after a multi-county and multi-state investigation that involved a number of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Jason Starr was charged with “use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire.”
The investigation included the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office, Dale County Sheriff’s Office, Geneva County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Rucker Criminal Investigators, the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Enterprise Police Department, Houston County Sheriff’s Office and Daleville Police Department.
Preliminary indications were that Sara Starr’s death occurred sometime after 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2017. Sutton said that his department had first been contacted at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2017 when Sara Starr had been found dead.
The death was initially reported to authorities as a “possible suicide” but no weapon was found.
The next day Coffee County law officers called Sara Starr’s death a “murder” at a news conference held Nov. 28, 2017 at the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office in New Brockton.
“We’re not at liberty to say a lot but one of the key factors that turned this into a homicide investigation instead of a possible suicide is that the death was an apparent gunshot wound to the head and no firearm was recovered from the scene,” District Attorney Tom Anderson said at that time, adding that a “person of interest” was being investigated.
Sara Starr was a fourth grade teacher at Harrand Creek Elementary School in Enterprise and the mother of four children. Originally from Kansas, Sara Starr had lived in the area for more than 10 years before her death.
Although her ex-husband Jason Starr was questioned about the death of his former wife, he was never charged at that time.
Jason Starr made his first appearance in federal court in Montgomery and was released on his own recognizance with a monitoring ankle bracelet.
At the time of his arrest in December 2021 on a charge of “use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire,” Jason Starr was out on $30,000 bond in connection with a May 24, 2018 on charges of sexual abuse of a child.
