WASHINGTON COUNTY – Officials said that a man found dead near a ditch in Hollandale last month died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On Tuesday, Jan. 20, Willie Cotton, 51, was found in a ditch by Hollandale Police Chief Jimmy Taylor. Cotton had a single gunshot wound to the head.
Initial reports said the shooting appeared to be accidental, but after Cotton’s body was sent to the Mississippi Crime Lab in Jackson for an autopsy, Chief Taylor said the coroner ruled it a suicide.
Taylor said he found Cotton after a call had been placed to the dispatcher – by Cotton – saying that he was in trouble.
“He said he needed help,” Taylor said. “He said he had fallen in a ditch, and the dispatcher asked if he needed a wrecker, and he said ‘no,’ his legs had given out and he needed help.'”
Taylor said when he walked through the residential area where the call was made, he called out to Cotton, and there was no response. Taylor then called the dispatcher who said she was unable to reach Cotton on his cell phone.
“He didn’t answer,” Taylor said. “So, I walked in between the houses and down the ditch bank and that’s where I found him.”
Taylor said Cotton, who lived a block away, was lying on the ground fully clothed.
Taylor also said the area where Cotton was found is a drainage bank, and that the town keeps it free of debris and overgrown trees.
“The few trees that are around are dried up now,” he said. “So, the area was pretty clean. And there was no water where he was. But there was some further up the ditch.”
Taylor suspects no foul play in Cotton’s death and he accepts the coroner’s decision that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, even though, he said suicide seemed out of Cotton’s nature.
“He was a real good gentleman,” Taylor said. “I would see him all the time and he was always friendly. We never had any problems out of him. He was cheerful. In fact, he was the kind of person that if you met him and you were feeling bad, by the time you left him, he would have cheered you up. I saw him that morning and someone waved at him and he waved back. He always waved. He was just that kind of person.”
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