A group of children made a gruesome discovery Saturday morning (June 10) when they found a black man’s severed head in their Jackson, Miss., neighborhood. When authorities were called to the scene, a headless burned body was later found in the woods at 4PM about a mile away on Green Avenue. Police Chief Lee Vance said authorities have yet to confirm if the head is linked to the body.
“While we can’t say right now that one belongs to the other, due to the type of crime and the close proximity of the body parts, we can assume that perhaps this [is] the remains that was attached to the head this morning.”
Burned human torso, headless, found on Green Ave. near Grand Ave. Working to confirm if linked to this morning’s discovery of a human head.
— Jackson Police Dept. (@JacksonMSPolice) June 10, 2017
Neighbors reacted with a combination of shock and fear upon learning of the heinous crime. “I watched Twilight Zone last night. I experienced it today in my on hood,” one resident said.
Officials say the head was severed from the body at the neck, and while there’s no motive behind the crime yet, Vance concluded that this could have been a means of sending a message.
“Whoever committed this crime, obviously rage was an ingredient. Perhaps [this] was some type of message sending, perhaps, but no I have never seen anything to occur where a head has been torn or cut from a body.”
This is the city’s 28th homicide this year.