More body parts found

Locations in and around Yoknapatawpha County
where dismembered body parts were found

Are they related to head found in Taylor?

Following on the (ahem) heels of the discovery of a severed head in Taylor on February 22, the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department confirmed today that four more body parts have been discovered in adjoining counties.

Sheriff's Public Information Officer Elizabeth Jones said the body parts were found over the last several weeks.

On January 30, a severed arm was found in a gravel pit in Toccopola in Pontotoc County, east of Oxford.

Twelve days later and 45 miles west, another arm was discovered in Enid Lake between Batesville and Water Valley in Panola County.

Two feet were found 24 miles south-southwest of the Toccopola location and 55 miles southeast of the Batesville location in a Bruce cotton field in Calhoun County.

The feet were found on February 18, just four days before the severed head was discovered near a possible ritual site in Taylor.

Locals shocked

Trevor Gibson, who found the arm in Enid Lake while on his lunch break, was understandably disturbed after making the discovery.

"At first, I thought it was a big snake," the 52-year-old described. "It wasn't moving, so I thought it was dead. I went up to it, and then it was pretty clear that it wasn't no snake. I said to myself, 'Why, that's some fella's arm there.'"

While the YCSD has not publicly confirmed the gender of the head found in Taylor, Jones said the other body parts are believed to be from one or more females.

Jones said that DNA tests are being conducted to determine whether a link exists between any of the body parts.

Serial killer?

While some people have wondered whether these gruesome discoveries are indications that a serial killer is at work in North Mississippi, law enforcement officials across all the involved jurisdictions discount the suggestion.

"If you ask me, this is the work of one sick individual," said Pontotoc County sheriff J. A. Drexel. "Serial killers are for movies and television. We don't have that kind of thing around here."

Sheriff Drexel said no evidence of occult activity was found at the Toccopola scene nor, to his knowledge, at the scenes in Panola and Calhoun counties.

If Sheriff Drexel is correct, what does that say about the rumored evidence of voodoo rituals found in Taylor?

Read more

Severed head found in Taylor

Evidence at the scene points to occult influences?

Crime scene location south of Oxford

When local farmer Tucker Allison contacted the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department to report vandalism on his Taylor property, he never imagined what that might lead to.

According to Allison, his 11-year-old son and a friend were playing Saturday morning when they stumbled upon what Allison described as a strange ritual site in a clearing beside a creek.

"There's kids that come out here cow-tipping from time to time. Sometimes they spray-paint something, but I've never seen anything like this around here," Allison told Crime Beat. "I knew as soon as I seen it something wasn't right about it, and I called 911 right off."

Responding to the father's 911 call, sheriff's officers investigated the reported vandalism and discovered a secondary scene where reportedly they found a bucket containing a human head floating in an unidentified chemical solution.

The vandalism scene, which was the subject of the initial report, offered its own unusual evidence, including the remains of a campfire, a burned wooden box, empty rum bottles and a dead chicken among other evidence.

Whitehead told said he told police that the chicken most likely came from his coop. "I recall missing a chicken several weeks back, but I thought it was coyotes," the Taylor farmer said. "In a situation like that, you never consider that a crime is involved."

Similar incidents nearby?

The finding of the head comes amid burgeoning rumors that other body parts have been found this month in the neighboring counties of Calhoun and Panola.

"I think the cops just don't want everybody to get keyed up over this so they're not talking," said Tim Hillman, a Batesville resident. "But there comes a time when we need to know whether or not we should keep our kids locked up in the house."

PIO Jones would not comment on the alleged discoveries of other body parts, saying only, "the department has mounted an intense investigation into this matter and will release more information as it becomes available. We must balance the public's need to know with the department's need to solve this case."

Read more

Which is worse: homicide or neglect & fraud? Does it matter?

The Jerry Shaw murder and the Yoknapatawpha Acres scandal

A source close to the Jerry Shaw murder investigation tells Crime Beat that the sheriff's department recently got fingerprints from multiple suspects to compare to prints found at the crime scene in an effort to identify the person responsible for Shaw's death.

Certainly, a killer should be held accountable for what he or she did, but given the revelations about allegedly rampant neglect and fraud at Yoknapatawpha Acres that have come to light in the aftermath of Shaw's death, who's the real bad guy here?

The stories coming out of the nursing home are appalling from bogus fees being charged on top of the standard rates to patients' wounds being left to fester. Patients' families and members of the Oxford community alike have been outraged by the discoveries.

There is talk of a looming class action lawsuit against Yoknapatawpha Acres, its parent company Bundren Healthcare Management Inc., and the recently-arrested former manager Richard Landrigan.

Though nothing has been proven yet, it appears that the late Jerry Shaw was also a participant in the misconduct. If that's the case, does that mitigate the killer's actions? Should it?

Was Shaw responsible, at least in part, for his own death? There are plenty of people who think he got what he deserved. Some have even said the killer should be congratulated, not punished.

But that's not how we work as a society.

Still, we can hope the district attorney will take all the circumstances into consideration if and when the killer is taken into custody, which our contacts in the YCSD say could be very soon.

Read more

Suspect arrested in socialite murder

Additional arrests possible?

Oxonians were shocked by the arrest of a popular local pharmacist in the October 30 murder of socialite Kelly Moran.

Lorraine Estrada, 39, was taken into custody yesterday at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department following an extended interview with the investigating detectives.

Yoknapatawpha County assistant district attorney Russell Moran discovered his wife's body when he returned home from work that Thursday evening in October. Initially, Kelly Moran was thought to have been the victim of a burglary gone wrong, but subsequent investigation cast doubt on that theory of the crime.

The case against Estrada includes both physical and testimonial evidence, according to Elizabeth Jones, information officer for the department. However, Jones declined to provide any details about what implicates Estrada in the death of her friend.

Jones also would not comment on Estrada's alleged motive but said investigators do believe they know what led to the killing.

DA's office "gratified"

At a brief press conference this morning announcing the arrest, assistant district attorney Calvin Dollarhide said, "This has been a difficult case not only for my colleague Russell Moran, who lost his beloved wife in such a brutal way, but for all of us in the Yoknapatawpha County law enforcement family. We are gratified that the sheriff's department has this cold-hearted killer in custody. Now the healing can begin for Kelly Moran's loved ones, friends and neighbors."

Dollarhide said Estrada will face charges for premeditated murder in the Moran killing and acknowledged that additional charges are possible.

Reached by phone, Russell Moran said he was thankful for the the support he's received from the community but declined to comment on the arrest.

Friends and acquaintances stunned

Pharmacist and murder suspect
Lorraine Estrada

Employees at the pharmacy where Estrada worked expressed surprise at her alleged involvement in a murder. "Lorraine is a wonderful, kind woman and an excellent pharmacist. She takes a personal interest in the well-being of all the pharmacy customers," said clerk Megan McDowell. "I can't believe she'd be involved in even hurting another person, much less killing someone."

By all accounts, Kelly Moran and her alleged killer, Lorraine Estrada, were close friends who socialized with each other regularly.

"They were here every week for karaoke," said a Rooster's Blues House employee who asked not to be named. "They were as thick as thieves, laughing and singing and having cocktails together week in and week out. I can't begin to guess what could've happened to make Lorraine do something like that."

"The sheriff's department usually does a good job, but this time I think they got it wrong," chimed in Rooster's patron Yvonne Boyd. "I saw Lorraine and Kelly here together all the time. There's no way Lorraine did what they say."

But not everyone believes in Estrada's innocence. "I know both of these women very well, and let me tell you something," said mutual friend Patricia Lee, "Lorraine's always been kind of a stick-in-the-mud, but Kelly was a rebel in her own way. I'm not at all surprised things finally came to a head between them."

"I am surprised that Lorraine's the one who came out on top though," Lee added. "Kelly must've made her really mad for that to happen."

Co-conspirators yet to be revealed?

A source close to the investigation told Crime Beat exclusively that detectives were also interrogating a second suspect at the same time as Estrada was being questioned before her arrest.

According to this source, it is possible that investigators are looking at one or more additional people who could have had some involvement in the murder of Kelly Moran.

When reached at the sheriff's department for comment, Jones said she would not comment on rumors but refused to confirm or deny the possibility of additional participants in the Moran murder.

A preliminary hearing for Lorraine Estrada is scheduled for November 25, 2019.

Read more

Do you know this person?

Neighbor's security camera captures potential witness in socialite slaying

The Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department has released a video of what could be a witness in the Kelly Moran homicide investigation.

The video, captured by a private security camera on St. Andrews Circle the night Oxford socialite Kelly Moran was found dead, shows a person walking not far from the Moran residence near the time Kelly Moran is believe to have died.

If you have any information about the person in the video, you're asked to contact the sheriff's department at crimescene.com.

Neighborhood watch

The vigilant neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he provided the video to the sheriff's department when he noticed it had been recorded the same night Mrs. Moran had died.

The neighbor lives adjacent to Lamar Park and said he had installed security cameras about 18 months ago after body parts were found in Lamar Park in 2017.

Those body parts were later connected to the murder of Oscar Knight, whose severed thumb had been found at the Rebel Inn prior to the discovery of the body parts in Lamar Park.

Two suspects were arrested in that case and are currently awaiting trial.

High society murder?

Kelly Moran died on October 30. Her husband, assistant district attorney Russell Moran, reportedly found her body when he arrived home from work and called 911.

An autopsy found that Mrs. Moran died from an opiate overdose. The sheriff's department confirmed that Moran had been taking prescribed opiate painkillers for several years prior to her death to treat chronic pain from a car accident.

However, the coroner's report listed the manner of death as undetermined, which implies that the medical examiner is not convinced the death resulted from an accidental or suicidal overdose.

According to a source inside the coroner's office, evidence observed at the scene and at autopsy indicate that Kelly Moran's likely death resulted from outside forces.

Sheriff's department mum

The sheriff's spokesperson, Elizabeth Jones, said the department is pursuing several avenues of investigation in the case but would not comment on whether they have any suspects.

"The detectives have several promising leads, including this security video. If anyone has any information, we ask they they get in touch with us."

Jones said persons coming forward with information may remain anonymous.

Read more

Correcting mistakes

In this edition: stylist sorrow… rose-colored regrets… and a Halloween treat for grown-ups

Greetings, peeps!

The View from the Behind the Chair is the only place you'll hear the things women only tell their hairdressers.

In the first chair, a woman who deeply regrets going to one of the lesser salons makes up for her bad decision by letting slip that we can expect to see a glorious end-of-season sale at Talon Notch. Ladies, flex those ankles — it's nearly time to go shoe shopping!

In the second chair, someone recently interviewed by the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department wonders whether she painted a rosier picture of her late gal pal than appropriate. As I told her, just because you shouldn't speak ill of your hair stylist doesn't mean you shouldn't fill in the gaps when talking to law enforcement. We are, after all, only human, and sometimes our bad behavior should serve as a warning to others. (Did I mention the woman who went to another hairdresser?)

And in the third chair, the warm story of the Halloween angel. Apparently someone bringing their children around this past Halloween distributed splits of champagne to those handing out candy. (Only when the person was of legal drinking age, of course.) After learning where my client lived, I called a real estate agent and told her she had eleven months to find me a home in that neighborhood.


I'm just hearing, and I'm just saying.

Read more