MCCOMB, Mississippi (AP) — McComb Police Chief Greg Martin says a Brookhaven police officer, who was arrested in connection with a murder in Pike County Monday, had been fired by his department prior to his hiring in Brookhaven.
Brookhaven Police Chief Bobby Bell told The Daily Leader the arrest of the now former officer Jasper Cortez Pittman came as a shock to him. Pittman was arrested by Pike County authorities in the murder of 53-year-old Kenneth Thompson.
Pittman was fired during Tuesday night's board of alderman meeting, according to Bell. Bell says Pittman had only been working for his department two weeks and was still on a probationary period.
Officials say Pittman was charged with accessory after the fact to murder. Other charges against him include arson sexual battery, arson, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit arson.
Thompson was found dead around 2 a.m. Monday behind 1025 Josephine Drive. His body was found in a shallow grave on Pittman's property. An affidavit filed by Pike County Sheriff's Department investigators reveals that Pittman had a sexual relationship with Thompson's 14-year-old son, Blake Thompson.
The 14-year-old has been charged with murder in the slaying of his father in Pike County.
Two others, LeJerrious A. Perkins, 17, and Greg Antonio Fortenberry, 26, both of McComb, along with Blake, are all charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit arson.
Blake had run away from home days before and was staying at Pittman's home, along with Fortenberry and Perkins, authorities say.
Thompson looked frantically for the teen, but could not find him. Finally, he got a phone call on Sunday from one of Blake's co-conspirators telling him where he could pick up his son. When Thompson arrived, the three suspects slashed his throat, killing him, according the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
One of Thompson's family members saw Blake and two others driving around the Wal-Mart parking lot in McComb on Sunday in Thompson’s truck and called police.
The truck was later found in a remote area, burned and discarded on property belonging to one of Pittman's relatives.
