(cache)Husband left a paraplegic Birmingham mother to die in burning garage and fled, authorities say

A Birmingham mother found dead inside a burned detached garage where she lived was a paraplegic who was unable to escape when authorities contend her husband set fire to the building.

Justin Martez Seals, 39, is charged with capital murder in the December 2025 death of 32-year-old Mekayla Rembert.

Seals went before Jefferson County District Judge William Bell Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

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Jefferson County prosecutors contend there was marital discord and Seals used gasoline or some other kind of accelerant to torch their home while Rembert, who used a wheelchair, was in the bedroom.

Seals later told police he was at a neighborhood store when the fire started and had no idea it was happening, but store employees told investigators that Seals told them something about a fire and gasoline and said, “My girl is dead.”

“This defendant had burn marks. This defendant had injury. This defendant had an issue with his wife,” said Deputy District Attorney Nick Taggart. “This defendant caused her death, and he should be held accountable.”

Seals’ attorneys said there’s no evidence linking their client to his wife’s death.

“No witnesses testified they saw Mr. Seals before the fire at the house. No witnesses testified they saw Mr. Seals set fire to the house,” said Seals’ attorney, Lauren Presley, of the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office.

“What they did testify to was that he was trying to run into the house to save his wife, that he was upset, that he was distraught,” Presley said. “That’s what all the testimony shows.”

When the hearing ended, Bell ruled there was enough evidence to send the capital murder charge to a grand jury for indictment consideration. Seals remains held without bond on the Jefferson County Jail.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service was dispatched at 8:57 p.m. that Monday to the blaze in the 1200 block of 16th Street S.W.

Firefighters quickly discovered the victim inside a detached garage. Rembert was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:01 p.m.

Birmingham homicide Det. Ronald Davenport said Rembert and Seals, who he testified had children in common, had been living in the garage. The main home on the property had burned to the ground a year before in an accidental fire.

Davenport said Birmingham fire officials told him there was evidence the fire had been intentionally set and showed him char marks at the front door and in the area of the bedroom.

The detective said he spoke with three neighbors who had spotted the blaze.

One of them said she saw Seals “screaming and hollering” and said he was sitting on the foundation of the previously burned house and talking “about his baby being trapped in the garage.”

Seals was not at the property when police and firefighters arrived.

They reached out to his father, and Seals went to Birmingham police headquarters the following day for questioning.

Seals told Davenport he had ridden his bicycle to Sams, also known as the West End Convenience Store, and was on his way home when he spotted the fire. He said he ran to the garage and realized his wife was inside.

Asked why he had fled the scene before police arrived, Seals told him he thought he might have outstanding warrants and didn’t want to go to jail.

Davenport said store video showed Seals got to the business at 9:38 p.m.

First responders received the initial 911 call at 8:57 p.m., and surmise it had started sometime shortly after 8:30 p.m. Store customers who entered the business about 9:41 p.m. told employees that there was a house fire nearby.

The detective said the couple’s daughter told officers that, “her parents were always arguing, and her father didn’t like the victim.”

During cross examination, Seals’ attorney noted that there was also an electric space heater in the bedroom, and that a gas generator provided power to the detached garage.

She also questioned Davenport about the time stamps on the store video, which the detective had previously said were off and had to be corrected to the right time. “The times are very important,” the public defender said.

“There’s no evidence at all that he started the fire,” she said, “or that anyone started the fire.”

Rembert’s sister, Amber Hollis, previously told AL.com that Rembert loved her children and loved to braid hair.

“She was such a sweet person,” Hollis said. “She never met a stranger she lived her life to the fullest.”