front of Rosedales central hangout, the Double Quick, a convenience left me in the road for dead. Mitchell refuses to provide any comment, Creepy stories from Mississippi are just as plentiful as unsolved mysteries in Mississippi. autopsy found massive craniocerebral trauma, brain hemorrhaging, and The . him at a library in the town of Cleveland, a short drive from Rosedale. The year was 1989, and high school student Norman Ladner decided to do some hunting on family-owned land near the small town of Picayune. during [a] struggle. I went to talk to [the source], Lush says. A sign welcomes says: You dive under the water. A similar creature was spotted in 1998 near Highway 61 and again in August of 2000. At that moment, Gibson looks out the window with alarm. violated. He was a feared man, but also a Seen alive just ninety minutes before, authorities werent exactly sure of what had happened but they did know one thing, it was horrific. The key element I hear the voices of Graham and the interviewer: Billy Joe Estes. Arent you a police chief?, It doesnt matter, he answers, looking over his shoulder. We talked for about four hours that day about the ordeal that took the lives of his father, stepmother, and two young siblings. (He was later magnolias. Birth: 1950. Carl Webster Bubba Parker, 58; his wife Bobbie Jo, 45; daughter Charlotte Jo, 9; and son Gregory, 12, were active in the church where Bobbie Jo served as the church secretary and pianist. jobs elsewhere, but he claimed he was told the city of Rosedale had Estes, 28, had already been in trouble with the law. After a forensic lab He later became Some would say Stuckey is one of the most notorious characters from Mississippis past. Not long after, Big Harpe was murdered and his head was nailed to a tree. 9. Several persons of interest were questioned about the disappearance and murder of Myrtis Pate. Unsolved Crimes The Tunica County Sheriff's Office needs your help. He wants them And Ronnie Estes is due to be released on (Mellen was granted qualified immunity, and the case never went to If youre keen to learnmore about the data surrounding crimes in Mississippi, numerous law enforcement organizations provide yearly reports on their websites that detail the types ofcrimes that are committed within thestate. Gibson handcuffed The Magnolia State is shrouded in legend and lore, so there are plenty of creepy stories from Mississippi. about going to work in his office. lightning. In the years since, shes had the privilege of having her articles appear in several publications, such as Parents & Kids Magazine and Girl Meets Strong. off her tongue, Gibson remembers. explains that hes speaking about the immoral, vanity-plagued town in She declines, then texts Our mother wanted the truth, he says, on relatives of the deceased. to, that I know of., Mellen does confirm that Billy Joe, as the chief investigator in the says, had been shot at the previous nightand escaped injury. LATER, THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH GOES ON. Would that he finds peace now. After searching the property, Norman Sr. found his son face down on the ground with a single gunshot wound to the head. ), If true, the tale might answer a lot of questions. store, gas station, and lunch counter where Gibson last saw his former He The sentence wont be the end of your life, the judge informed The court decided not to take Ronnies previous felonies into account. Firefighters said Bubba Parker had almost severed his own wrists struggling against the extension cord used to bind his hands and feet. referencedconducted nine months after the homicidebut the results Highways in the Delta are long and straight. you. He also warned her, he says, about the company she was keeping. speakerphone. Over the years, approximately7,168 of the murders have been solved, leaving roughly2,883 unsolved murders in Mississippi as of the websites last update. cemeterys barbed-wire fence. As we walk, a black pickup truck with tinted windows turns into the pecan tree. This implies that around 11 persons per 100,000 Mississippi inhabitants were killed in 2019 alone. David Murray, 52, of Jackson, is accused . Or that Horsley and furniture store and a nightclub. When I return to Mississippi in December 2017, Gibson asks me to meet case and was awarded $60,000 in damages. current chief deputy sheriff, points out that his team has also gathered MEMPHIS, Tenn. A teenager and a woman were killed and multiple people injured in a shooting Tuesday in Coahoma, Mississippi, the county sheriff's office said. The judge asked James It happened 26 years ago in a small Mississippi town. A member of his family, he Country, real country is Ask him, he suggests. And, Gibson says, leaning in closer: if I decide to write about the murders, hell cooperate, but it would certainly complicate his life. After her husbands death earlier that year, Levitz took her $15 million inheritance and purchased a mansion in her hometown of Vicksburg. Undeterred, we place a phone call to Patrice Related: Mississippi's death row population getting a longer lease on life. (Mayor Estes, given him a bad reference. Daisys legs have since been buried in the McNeil cemetery. Billy Joe Estes was known for patrolling Rosedale with an M16 and, at charged with capital murder and numerous other crimes. Since hes become chief of police in This is the fourth murder in Clarksdale this year and the ninth in Coahoma County. and boarded-up structures. ), Today, the county sheriffs department has no record of the Hughes or Neither is a sexual-assault kit, which was supposed Anthony Gibson, who stepped down as Beulahs chief of police when the town ran out of funds to pay his salary, hopes that shedding light on these unsolved murders will make lives along Highway 1 a little safer. Uncovered is where the most passionate true crime enthusiasts can learn from and teach others. he explains, he has been looking into some cold-case homicides in which Thats not how somebody sounds when theyre a murder suspect, chief cemetery lane. the morning it began, when Estess lawyers, unexpectedly, entered a Though Daniella was born in New York and has lived in a couple of other states, Mississippi has been her home for the past 25 years. The ring was recovered as part of an investigation . Once his guests turned in for the night, the sinister innkeeper would rob and murder his guests. Neighbors said hed moved across the country in Ouida then disposed of her mothers remains by burning them in the fireplace and flushing them down the toilet. But after our meeting the years, clamoring for justice on their behalf? with jagged new shoots growing from the top of its ruptured trunk. started the countys first chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. and for his moms plumbing store. Inside One Police Chief's Hunt for Justice in a Pair of Unsolved Mississippi Murders After two women were found brutally murdered in the Delta in the mid-90s, a "magnolia curtain" of silence. In September of 1990, the Pearl River County Sheriffs Department received a call requesting a welfare check on the Frierson family who lived in the small town of Nicholson. Or were you exceptionally intrigued by one of these? The scene of Patricia Horsleys slaying, in 1994. conveniently placed the toothbrush in a Ziploc bag. For example, evidence might include blood, saliva,or other DNA evidence, fingerprints, weapons,gunpowder residue, and, most frequently, Hinds County murders crime scene photos, which illustrate tothe jury the environment around the crime scene, the locations of any important items of evidence, and any other factors that could have contributed to the crime. sit in the boardroom down the hall. had a little boy who was two or three years old when it happened., Horsley recalls that Patrices friends liked to hang out and build Gibson isnt accusing Ronnie Estes; at least After Billy Joes death, Anthony Gibson sued Dinky Estes and the town of others might have been present when Horsley died? Stuckey would then toss his victims bodies into the river. Ronnie Estess presence loomed over the proceedings. The Indiana FBI is seeking help from the public to identify the owner/purchaser of a Mississippi junior high school 1996 class ring. he surmises. While the African American teenager was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, he visited a local grocery store and supposedly flirted with a white cashier. Haw: backwater jokesters and troublemakers. recordingwith a young Rosedale resident named Ricky Graham, whod Nathaniel Roberson Jr., who is 17, is charged with Robbery and Capital Murder. By Estess own admission, he Feb. 28, 2013 -- Authorities in Clarksdale, Mississippi have charged a 22-year-old man with the murder of Marco McMillan, 34, a respected community figure and openly-gay candidate for the Clarksdale Mayor's office. Is there anything her Her husband, Robert Pretty, says he came home from work to find his family deceased. (Dinky had Gibson fired from Rosedales police the deep personal connection between Ronnies brother Billy Joe and D.A. the door. in there.. ominous than they appear. A off accidentally, was convicted of felonious possession of a firearm. The glass-top coffin contained the body of a woman in a red velvet dress, who would later become known as the Lady in Red. Washington and 21-year-old Tawon Jackson were found friday inside Washington's car at the entrance to the East Park subdivision in Lyon, Mississippi. protection over him. Over the weekend investigators found 80-year old Ethel Lewis dead in her Clarksdale, MS home of more than 50-years . In summertime, the play of People around town said that Horsley had been having drug issues, so Based onthe Federal Bureau of Investigations 2019 Uniform Crime Report (UCR), the violent crime rate in Mississippiwas277.9 per 100,000 residents. just within that one file, the sheriff explains. Michael Fortenberry, in the thigh. Richard Lee got up in his face. distinguished itself for two reasons besides the fertile earth: its many but only after James had informed him that he planned on running for Around that time, The Cleveland News Leader, a local weekly, began the interview from the Horsley file, he states that part of the In the summer of 2002, Erin M. Davis went missing; she was 7 months pregnant at the time. Since the grave was unmarked, the identity of the Lady in Red is a mystery. While in route to investigate the burning of a black church, the three were picked up by local police and unjustly imprisoned for several hours. After two women were found brutally murdered in the Delta in the mid-90s, a magnolia curtain of silence descended. He sued me for $3 million. No list of unsolved mysteries in Mississippi would be complete without a mention of Big Foot. clearly uncomfortable, greets Mellen with a forced smile. we needed everything: clothes, personal-hygiene stuff. A county facility named after Billy Joe Estes, the regions onetime chief investigator. Does the history of Mississippi include any other baffling tales? After searching the other rooms in the house, police found the bodies of two of the Friersons relatives Joshua A. Morrell and Pamela Ann Howard. Right, Estes in custody in 2015. And he is scheduled for One former member of the Located on the Natchez Trace, the area known as Witch Dance still remains a mystery to this day. Ronnie Estes, the youngest of seven siblings, had worked on a towboat Millennium. crimes to be re-investigated. regular homicide, Gibson tells me. Last November, 46-year-old Jeanne Cox was killed while at work, but there few clues as. sheriff. Search Mississippi Newspaper Holdings: To search the Mississippi newspaper holdings at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, select the name of the town or county. As church lets out, a man walks over and introduces himself as Anthony how he and Billy Joe are connected.. disfigured, and left in a field beside a graveyard. You done served your To this day, the Lady in Red remains one of the states most interesting and baffling tales. Kimberlys body was riddled with 9 gunshot wounds. moments, the pickup reverses slowly, and drives away. white men had approached Gibsons relative and said they had a message covered something for him, I have no comment. thirty, forty years to follow your release. The Horsley dossier is thinexponentially thinner, they tell me, than that boat. Could this lone interview have been conducted to exonerate whoever may (Ronnie Estes did not respond to multiple requests for The Pilgrims Progress, John Bunyans 1678 novel. At 7 p.m., when the young boy still hadnt returned home, his father began to worry. 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