By Brian Livingston
blivingston@themeridianstar.com
Local law enforcement officials said Meridian suffered fewer murders in 2009 but they will also say even one is too many.
It wasn't until April 29 in which the first murder victim, James Ray Sims, 45, of 3437 12th Ave., was discovered. It was determined that the shooting victim had been dead for up to two weeks before his body was found by relatives who were checking on his welfare.
There have been no arrests in this case.
At the end of June and the first of July the public was informed of a tragic death of a homeless man whose body was discovered in an alley behind Hope Village Thrift Shop on Eighth Street.
David A. Caraway's body was found in an alley behind the thrift shop by a citizen who was walking through the area on the way to work. The preliminary autopsy report stated the 52-year-old Hickory native had died of injuries associated with a severe beating.
Five teenagers, 17-year-old Antshawn Davis, 19-year-old Marcus Anderson, 19-year-old D’ Anthony Davis, 18-year-old Antonio Larickus Chapman, and 16-year-old Eric Mosley, were ultimately arrested and charged with capital murder.
Halloween was a frightful time for citizens and local law enforcement as the city saw back-to-back murders within 14 hours of each other. Ricky Deshun Thomas, 26, and Fredrick Moore, 32, were charged with capital murder in connection with the Oct. 30 shooting death of Jerome Hearn. Hearn's body was found in his car, which was parked at a home in the 2300 block of 25th Avenue.
Barely 14 hours later 27-year old Stanley Mason was allegedly gunned down by Earnest Robinson Mosley Jr., 37, in a front courtyard of the Highway Village Housing Complex located at 506 Front Street.
Meridian Police Department authorities said these two incidents were unrelated.
