I wanted to share with you a little-known cold case out of Starkville.

I first heard about it through the Knock Knock Podcast and was riveted by this tragedy and also shocked and elated when they recently apprehended a suspect in the case.

Let me start at the beginning.

On the night of September 3rd, 1990 (Labor Day) in Starkville, MS; 65 year old Betty Jones hears a knock at the door. She is staying with a church friend, Kathryn Crigler, to care for her due to recent amputation of 81 year old Crigler’s leg.

When Jones answered the door, her throat was slashed, she bled out quickly and passed away.

From there, the horror only grows. After the murder of Jones, the intruder made his way to the bedroom where Crigler was sleeping. He raped her and then left her for dead, locking the door on the way out of her home.

Crigler managed to drag herself down the hallway into the kitchen to call 911.

She lived only a few months after the attack. They were able to get DNA via a rape kit and she gave them a description of the assailant.

However, decades passed with the case sitting unsolved. The community was rocked by this tragedy.

Along comes Sgt. Bill Lott who begged to work on the cold case and did so even during his off hours. He wanted to see justice for his grandmother.

Also, the step-grandsons of Betty Jones, Simon and Jason B. Jones decided to start looking into the case since it was something that haunted their family. They started the Knock Knock Podcast to bring attention to the crime.

Since the DNA on file had not matched with anyone, an online petition was started to get Mississippi to allow a familial DNA search. This is the method that is solving a lot of cold cases these days. This was a stretch but seemed to be the only hope in a case like this that had hit a proverbial wall.

On October 6th 2018, a suspect was arrested. Michael Devaughn, 52, of Rienzi was charged with capital murder and sexual battery. He was in the Tishomingo County jail for a June arrest for felony possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine). He was a DNA match but it’s unclear from the variety of news sources how the DNA was obtained for the match.

Jan 30th, 2019 the suspect was denied bond and plead not guilty. Officials say the case will be pushed forward as soon as possible.

I found it fascinating because the podcast made a push for use of familial DNA search in Mississippi, via a petition, which could benefit a lot of cold cases. I would love to see this happen since familial DNA is solving cases all over the world right now.

If you are interested in finding out more about the case, you can check out the podcast or the recent 48 hours episode on the subject.

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