If you live in a place for long enough, you know things and hear things about your community. People talk. As everyday life moves on, you may forget about things. Beginning this week, The Clarke County Tribune would like to remind everyone about the county’s unsolved murders in hopes it may remind individuals about those incidents and possibly shed new light on the cold cases.
Any information you may have on these crimes, whether you think it may matter or not, could help bring these unsolved murder cases to an end. In some cases, alleged murderers were arrested but never convicted, resulting in the cases still being open.
“A lot of factors are involved in investigating murders,” stated Sheriff Todd Kemp. “When you come to a dead end, you’re just at a dead end and start grasping for straws. If there is a murderer on the loose, then we want to make sure that the person is captured.”
In the coming weeks, The Clarke County Tribune will cover the unsolved murders of Mildred and Georgia Price (1995), Willis Parker (1998), Michael Ruffin (2010), David Wayne Hales (2012), Otis Brown (1982), Bruce O’Bryant Dear (2016) and Deborah Herrington (1990).
The information provided was compiled from The Clarke County Tribune archives, Sheriff Todd Kemp and Quitman Police Investigator Ryan Evans.
These cases are all still active. If you have any information on these unsolved cases, please contact the Crime Stoppers hotline number at 1-855-485-8477. All calls are anonymous and may result in a reward.
Mildred and Georgia Price
On October 11, 1995, the Town of Enterprise was rocked with a double homicide.
Mildred Price, 43, and her 10 year old daughter Georgia were found brutally murdered in their home on Ritchey Street. Price’s son, Rennford Harris, discovered the bodies and contacted the local authorities.
“Upon my and Deputy Hopson’s arrival, we found two bodies inside the home with apparent stab wounds. They had been there for 24 hours before our arrival,” explained Sheriff Todd Kemp, who was the Chief Deputy Sheriff at the time. “I don’t know if anyone can imagine walking into a crime scene and finding a child murdered. That’s tough. It’s stuck with me a long time having to see that little girl lying there deceased. It’s one of the worst crime scenes I’ve ever been exposed to, and I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”
The scene was truly gruesome.
Mildred Price was stabbed in the back of the neck, and her throat had been cut. Her body was found still in her bed.
Georgia Price, her daughter, had also been stabbed several times and had her throat slashed, but she was found on the floor of the bedroom.
“It looked as if the daughter might have been hiding under the bed and was pulled out and stabbed,” stated Billy Ray Evans, sheriff at the time of the murder.
The Mississippi State Crime Lab came down and collected evidence from the scene and used state of the art measures to analyze it. Officials with the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department, investigators with the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Enterprise Police Department, and the Clarke-Wayne-Jasper Metro Narcotics Task Force all worked on the case.
Some individuals were questioned involving the double homicide, but no arrests were ever made.
Willis Parker
Willis Parker
The county was shocked on May 1, 1998, when 72 year old Willis James Parker was found dead in his home on County Road 250. Parker’s granddaughter, Bionnie Parker, discovered his body and reported it to the authorities.
Investigators believe that Parker had been murdered two to three days before his body was discovered. He had been found in a t-shirt and briefs and had a garbage bag over his head. The autopsy reports on the case indicated that he died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Upon investigation, authorities concluded robbery to be the motive. Parker’s black Chevrolet truck, wallet, several guns, and other belongings had been stolen from the scene.
Although no arrests were made at the time the body was found, law enforcement did have a suspect in the crime: Stacy Maurice Johnson. Johnson surrendered himself to the authorities in Gary, Indiana, after realizing the Mississippi and Indiana State Police, as well as the FBI, were looking for him.
“I went to Gary, Indiana, and picked Johnson up on a warrant from Clarke County and brought him back down here,” explained Sheriff Todd Kemp. “He was living down the road from Mr. Willis Parker when the murder happened, and Mr. Parker had befriended him to some degree. Johnson left the residence in Mr. Parker’s truck, met a woman at the casino in Philadelphia, left Philadelphia, and then wound up in Columbus where he sold Mr. Parker’s truck as well as some items off the back of his truck to some individuals in the Columbus area.”
At his initial appearance in court, Judge Tobey Bartee set a bond for Johnson at $450,000. He was charged with the capital murder of James Willis Parker and was to remain in the Clarke County Jail until the grand jury set in August could make a decision.
“We went to trial with Stacey Johnson on stealing the truck and other items, but the DA at the time didn’t think we had a strong enough case to convict him of murder,” stated Kemp, “but there’s no doubt in my mind that he killed Mr. Willis Parker with blunt force trauma to the head.”
Johnson was convicted for the theft and was sent to Mississippi prison for five years. Unfortunately, no one has ever been convicted of the murder.
