A second suspect was arrested and charged in the deaths of a Mississippi family whose bodies were found shot to death in an abandoned farmhouse.
USA Today reports Cedric D. Mason, 30, of Jackson, Miss., was arrested by a state highway patrol SWAT team late Wednesday. Mason, who resisted arrest, was taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson for observation then later transferred to a Copiah County jail.
Mason was charged with two counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping in the deaths of Atira Hill, 30, and her 7-year-old son, Jaidon.
On Monday police arrested Timothy Lydell Burns, 42, of Jackson, Miss. On Tuesday, Burns (pictured above) led them to the bodies of Hill, Jaidon and her husband, Laterry Smith, 34, in an abandoned farmhouse in rural Hermanville, about 60 miles from the family home in Brandon, Miss.
Authorities believe Burns abducted the mother and son and took them to the farmhouse in rural Copiah County where they were shot, USA Today reports.
Smith was likely killed at another location in Jackson before being transported to the farmhouse.
Hill’s family reported her missing on Saturday. Hill’s mother, Judy Hughes, told police of a strange phone call she received from her daughter just after midnight aying she had to leave town quickly and would be gone for a few days.
Police found the family’s smoldering SUV upside down in a ditch about a mile from where the bodies were found. Authorities determined Burns was driving the SUV when it overturned. Burns reportedly set the vehicle on fire to get rid of evidence.
Police are not revealing what (if any) connection Burns or Mason had to the family.
“Until all the evidence is processed and reports finalized, we’re not prepared to discuss those details,” said spokesman Warren Strain of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Burns had prior arrests including convictions in 1992 and 2008 in Hinds County for cocaine possession. In 2008, he also was convicted of vehicle theft and grand larceny in Claiborne County, USA Today reports.
WAPT-TV reports investigators were searching a dumpster at a Shell gas station in Jackson, Miss., where they recovered personal items belonging to the family.
Among the items collected were bloody clothes and Hill’s ID badge from her job at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, WAPT-TV reported.
A hospital spokesman confirmed to ABCNews.com that an Atira Hill worked there and that she had not reported to work on Monday.
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Thanks to loyal reader @MinnesotaNicety for the tip.
