News Briefs From Across The State
Soldier was stationed in Alaska
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has confirmed that a soldier from Tishomingo County was killed this Saturday on a mission in Afghanistan. Twenty-one year old Sgt. Christopher R. Bell, of Golden, was among four soldiers killed while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
The DoD said the soldiers, Sgt. Joshua D. Powell, 28, of Quitman, Texas; Spc. Devin A. Snyder, 20, of Cohocton, N.Y.; Pfc. Robert L. Voakes Jr., 21, of L’Anse, Mich., and Golden, died from injuries sustained on June 4, in Laghman province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.
The fallen soldiers were assigned to the 793rd Military Police Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
Funeral arrangements for Bell have not been finalized.
Motel drowning death under investigation
Authorities are looking into the death of a man found at the bottom of a motel pool in Starkville on Monday. Marvin Dean Rowan, 54, was pronounced dead at the University Motel on Highway 182 about 6:30 p.m. on June 6.
Emergency crews arrived on the scene and initially tried to revive Rowan who was reportedly staying long term at the motel.
The Columbus Dispatch said Rowan was staying at the motel with his fiancée, and that several other people were in his motel room at the time of his death, but none of them witnessed the incident.
Rowan was reportedly swimming alone when his body was seen at the bottom of the pool.
The drowning is still under investigation.
The incident marks Starkville’s second swimming pool drowning in less than a month. Mississippi State University student Sammy Lee Jackson, 19, of Rolling Fork, was found at the bottom of the swimming pool at his apartment complex on Louisville Street on May 15.
Cop charged with distributing drugs
An Ackerman police officer has been arrested and charged with distributing a controlled substance. Officer Terry Glen Gazaway has been charged with two counts of distribution of a controlled substance for knowingly and intentionally distributing a substance containing Alprazolam and Hydrocodone.
WTVA reported that the indictment against Gazaway said the sales occurred on at least two different occasions in February 2011.
Bond for Gazaway was set at $30,000, and his case remains under investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
Conviction upheld in home invasion murder
The Associated Press is reporting that the state Court of Appeals is upholding a capital murder conviction against a state inmate accused of killing a man during a home invasion. Mark Kee Brown, 36, was convicted of capital murder in 2009 in Harrison County for the shooting death of D’Iberville resident Larry Darnell Turner.
Brown was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
On June 7, the Appeals Court said the issue of Brown’s post-arrest silence came up when Brown testified that he had an alibi for the time of Turner’s slaying and testified that he did not tell police about it. The court said prosecutors did not violate Brown’s rights by asking about his post-arrest silence.
Brown claimed prosecutors turned the jury against him by commenting on his decision not to answer questions from police after his arrest.
Be the first to comment