The body of missing student Jimmie “Jay” Lee may have finally been found almost three years after his disappearance.
A search for Lee was launched in July 2022 after the Ole Miss University student went missing and his car was found near an apartment complex in Oxford, Mississippi.
On the weekend of February 1, 2025, a group of deer hunters discovered human remains and a gold necklace resembling one belonging to Lee in a wooded area of Carroll County, approximately 70 miles from Oxford, Mississippi Today reported.
Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker confirmed to local media that a gold necklace with the name “Jay Lee” had been found but the remains are yet to be identified through DNA testing.
Oxford Police Department said that Carroll County Sheriff’s Department was leading the investigation. “Our main priority has always been to bring Jay Lee home,” Oxford police Chief Jeff McCutchen said in a statement. “We, like the public, are anxiously awaiting updates and ask for patience as the investigative process unfolds.”
In pictures on his Instagram profile, Lee is seen wearing a gold necklace resembling the one found at the weekend. He was a popular member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community, according to local media.
A few weeks after Lee went missing, fellow Ole Miss graduate Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr, 24, was arrested in connection with the case and later tried for capital murder.
Authorities interviewed Herrington, who maintains his innocence, twice on the day of his arrest and he gave conflicting information about the hours before Lee vanished, police testified at the trial in December 2024.
The case ended in a mistrial after one juror disagreed about convicting Herrington without a body.
The prosecution alleged that Herrington and Lee shared a sexual relationship. Prosecutors told the court that on the morning of the disappearance, Lee was lured to Herrington’s apartment and killed because he feared being exposed as gay.
“Tim Herrington lived a lie — lived a lie to his family,” District Attorney Ben Creekmore said, CNN reported at the time. “He lied to Jay Lee to coax him over there, promising to do something with him.”
Police testified that on the day Lee vanished, Herrington was seen on surveillance footage buying duct tape in Oxford before he drove to his hometown of Grenada, Mississippi, which is about an hour away.
Herrington’s attorney, Kevin Horan, argued repeatedly in court that his client could not be found guilty given the lack of physical evidence.
“Seventy-one search warrants, and they have recovered not one bit of direct evidence,” he said.
“We’ve been looking for Jay Lee’s body for two years, and we are not going to stop until we find him,” McCutchen of the Oxford Police Department told the court. “I can guarantee you that.”
If Herrington is tried again and convicted, he faces life in prison. A date for his second trial has not been set.
A group called “Justice for Jay Lee” was created following his disappearance to raise awareness. Responding to news that remains had been found, the group posted on Instagram: “JUSTICE FOR JAY LEE.”
