Anthony Tyrone Patton and Tammy T. Houston found themselves in familiar territory when they were arrested and charged with the 1998 murder of 35-year old Nancy Nanette Scheber.

Patton, 37, and Houston, 27, both of Meridian, were arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of Scheber. Their bonds were set at $100,000 each. More arrests could be pending.

Scheber’s body was found on Jan. 1, 1998 at about 7:30 a.m. by a Meridian Police Department officer as he patrolled an area off Anderson Road on Sand Mountain that overlooks Meridian. The area was being used as an illegal dumping site and MPD officers routinely swept through the area to make sure no one was dumping trash.

It was determined at the time of the original investigation Scheber had been bludgeoned to death with some sort of garden implement. The time of death was put at around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. New Year’s Eve.

On Jan. 5, Houston and Robert D. Green, both 19 at the time, were arrested and charged for Scheber’s death. Four days later, Patton was arrested and Houston’s charge was reduced to accessory after the fact.

Sometime in the months following the arrests, and subsequent indictments by a Lauderdale County grand jury, all three suspects were set free. Lauderdale County District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell said Thursday afternoon the case was first turned over to prosecutors on the coast because of a conflict of interest within his office.

“We had a new assistant district attorney who had previously represented Patton so my office couldn’t prosecute the case on those grounds,” said Mitchell.

But because of a heavy workload, prosecutors on the coast didn’t have the time to carry on with the trial.

“The case eventually ended up with the Mississippi State Attorney General’s Office,” said Mitchell. “They reviewed the case, the indictment and decided later in 1998 there wasn’t enough evidence to go to trial on.”

The case was dismissed and all the suspects were released.

The new arrests follow an investigation by the MPD’s Cold Case Unit, which recently began to re-examine Scheber’s murder case.