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Oxford EAGLE
Monday, January 24, 2005
More Body Parts Found
by Loretta Winston
STAFF WRITER
Following on the heels of the discovery of a severed head in Taylor
on January 15, 2005, the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department
confirmed Sunday that four more body parts have been discovered in
adjoining counties. Sheriff's Public Information Officer Elizabeth Jones
said the body parts were found over the last several weeks, dating back
to last year.
On December 28, 2004, a severed arm was found in a sand pit in
Toccopola in Pontotoc County, east of Oxford. Six days later and 45
miles west, another arm was discovered in the Little Tallahatchie
River near Batesville in Panola County.
Two feet were found 24 miles south-southwest of the Toccopola
location and 55 miles southeast of the Batesville location in a
Bruce soybean field in Calhoun County. The feet were found on
January 11, 2005, just four days before the severed head was
discovered near a possible ritual site in Taylor.
Leonard Webb, who found the arm in the Little Tallahatchie River
while on his lunch break, was understandably disturbed after making
the discovery. "At first I thought it was a big snake," the
52-year-old described. "It wasn't moving, so I thought it was
dead. I went up to it, and then it was pretty clear that it
wasn't no snake. I said to myself, 'Why, that's some fella's
arm there.'"
While the gender of the head found in Taylor is still unknown,
Jones said the other body parts are believed to be from one or more
females. Jones announced that DNA tests are being conducted to
determine whether a link exists between any of the body parts.
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