Human remains found last year have been positively identified as those of a Meridian man missing for more than 13 years.

 

Julius TaDarious Jones went missing Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011. His vehicle was found near an abandoned home a few days later on 27th Street, but police were unable to come up with any leads to his whereabouts.

 

Meridian Police Chief Deborah Naylor Young on Wednesday said MPD responded to an abandoned home in the 2300 block of 35th Street about suspected human remains on Aug. 22, 2024. Officers and Lauderdale County Coroner Stella McMahan collected the remains and sent them to the crime lab.

 

“These remains were sent to our crime lab for possible identification,” she said. “We were notified that these human remains have been identified as Julius TaDarious Jones.”

 

With the positive identification, Young said the remains have now been sent to the state medical examiner’s office to determine cause of death. Once the medical examiner’s report is available, she said, investigators will be able to determine how to proceed with the case.

 

“It was initially a missing person case. We have a lot of different scenarios that were given to us, but right now we’re just waiting until we get that information back from the medical examiner as to the cause of death, and then we’ll look further into what possibly happened,” she said.

 

Young said MPD will continue to investigate and learn more about the events that led to Jones’ death.

 

‘’Meridian Police Department would like to thank the community and the family for all information that was given to us during this investigation. We would also like to extend our sincere condolences to the Jones and Whitehead families.”