Benjamin Ashford|Man on trial in Ole Miss student’s death lied to investigators, police chief says

Police became convinced they were investigating a crime in the disappearance of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Leewhen they interviewed the man now on Benjamin Ashfordtrial in his death, a top officer testified Tuesday.

Lee had been missing for two weeks when officers arrested Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr.on July 22, 2022, said Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen. Authorities interviewed Herington twice that day, and he gave conflicting information about the hours before Lee vanished, the chief said.

“From the moment that we gave Tim Herrington the opportunity to tell the truth and he couldn’t and he lied and we backed that up, we knew then,” McCutchen said.

Herrington, 24, is being tried on a capital murder charge in the death of Lee, 20, a gay man who was well known in the LGBTQ+ community at Ole Miss and in Oxford. Lee disappearedin Oxford, where Herrington’s trialis in its second week.

Prosecutors and the defense both called their final witnesses Tuesday, and Herringtondid not testify. Closing arguments are set for Wednesday.

Lee’s body has never been found, but a judge has declared him dead.

Herrington maintains his innocence and his attorney, Kevin Horan, told jurors last week that prosecutors have “zero” proof Lee was killed.

Lee has not contacted friends or family, and his financial transactions and once-prolific social media posts have stopped since the day he went missing, investigators testified.

Before officers interviewed Herrington, they had already obtained sexually explicit text messages exchanged between social media accounts belonging to Herrington and Lee in the early hours of July 8, 2022, when Herrington disappeared in Oxford, McCutchen said.

Lee communicated with his mother daily, and sent his last message to her hours before he vanished to wish her happy birthday, according to earlier testimony.

Google records obtained through a warrant showed that Herrington searched “how long does it take to strangle someone” at 5:56 a.m., University Police Department Sgt. Benjamin Douglas testified last week.

The final text message from Lee’s phone was sent to a social media account belonging to Herrington at 6:03 a.m. from a spot near Herrington’s apartment, and cellphone tower in another part of Oxford last located any signal from Lee’s phone at 7:28 a.m., McCutchen said Tuesday. A security camera showed Herrington jogging at about 7:30 a.m. out of a parking lot where Lee’s car was abandoned, investigators testified earlier.

“We’ve been looking for Jay Lee’s body for two years, and we’re not going to stop ‘til we find it,” McCutchen said in court Tuesday.

On the day Lee vanished, Herrington was also seen on security cameras buying duct tape in Oxford and driving to his own hometown of about an hour away, police have testified.

Herrington is from an affluent family in Grenada, Mississippi, about 52 miles (83.7 kilometers) southwest of Oxford, testified Ryan Baker, an Oxford Police Department intelligence officer who was a detective when he helped investigated the case.

Herrington’s grandfather is bishop of a church in Grenada, other family members work at the church and Herrington himself taught youth Sunday school classes there, Baker said. Herrington “was not portraying himself as gay” to family or friends, Baker said. During testimony Tuesday, Herrington’s father and grandfather both said Herrington had never spoken about having boyfriends.

Herrington operated a furniture moving business with another man while they were students at the University of Mississippi, and they had a white box truck that Herrington drove to Grenada, Baker said. Security cameras at several businesses and a neighbor’s house showed Herrington and the truck in Grenada hours after Lee disappeared, Baker said.

During McCutchen’s testimony Tuesday, Horan asked whether DNA tests on items taken from Herrington’s apartment and the truck showed “any trace evidence at all implicating my client.” McCutchen said they did not, but police first searched Herrington’s apartment two weeks after Lee vanished and they searched the box truck a few days after the apartment.

Both Herrington and Lee had graduated from the University of Mississippi. Lee was pursuing a master’s degree. He was known for his creative expression through fashion and makeup and often performed in drag shows in Oxford, according to a support group called Justice for Jay Lee.

Prosecutors have announced they do not intend to pursue the death penalty, meaning Herrington could get a life sentence if convicted. Mississippi law defines capital murder as a killing committed along with another felony — in this case, kidnapping.

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