Does the YCSD have the professor's killer in their sights?

Have detectives identified the professor's killer? Sources inside the Sheriff's Department are telling Crime Beat that YCSD detectives are in the process of executing search warrants on a number of "persons of interest" in the Douglas Reed homicide investigation.

No one was willing to confirm, on or off the record, just who was on the receiving end of those warrants, but investigators are apparently quite optimistic that the results will both rule out and rule in certain suspects.

Sources close to the investigation say the Crime Lab is processing the evidence collected on a rush basis in the hope that the preliminary findings will reveal the killer. If that happens, the YCSD would be able to get the killer off the streets while more in-depth forensic analysis continues.

Reed's classes were popular with Ole Miss undergraduates, and students starting the semester next week are likely disappointed and saddened that a favorite professor has been permanently stolen from them.

Although, if the rumors are true, some of Reed's colleagues may not be exactly bereft over the late professor's absence. Perhaps that's where the YCSD has their sights trained: on the prof's pals?

A source at the Coroner's Office reports that Reed was pepper-sprayed before he was shot to death, so his killer must have been pretty angry.

With an apparent crime of passion like that, why hasn't the YCSD made an arrest yet? Are they protecting the university elite and looking for a patsy outside the upper echelon of academe?

Check back for updates on this developing story.