Incident report

At 6:04 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting a severely injured person at the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit church on CR 2011, Oxford, MS. The caller identified himself as Leo Ingram, associate pastor of the church. Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 304 (Deputy Fred Willits) and an EMT unit were dispatched to the location.

Reporting Officer (R/O) Willits arrived at the scene at 6:17 a.m. After confirming the presence of an adult male with apparently severe injuries and possibly deceased, R/O notified Dispatch and requested backup.

Reporting Investigators (R/Is) Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. At R/Is' request, Coroner's Inspector L. Johnson and a CSU team were notified to respond to the scene.

R/Is arrived at the scene at 6:54 a.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/O had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Partly cloudy; Exterior Ambient Temperature: 60°F / 16°C, Relative Humidity: 83%; Interior Ambient Temperature: 68°F / 20°C, Relative Humidity: 46%.

R/O Willits made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.

R/O was met in the church's parking lot by an adult male who identified himself as Leo Ingram (Person 2). Ingram led R/O into a building to the east of the sanctuary building.

In a classroom of that building, R/O observed an adult male, later identified as Wendell Martinson (Person 1), lying prone on the floor. Ingram indicated that 911 had instructed him to check for signs of life, and since doing so, he believed the man was deceased.

R/O then secured the scene, called for backup, and escorted Ingram to the exterior of the building.

Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 221 (Officer M. Richards) and Unit 213 (Officer M. Arborogh) arrived at the scene at 6:23 a.m. R/O Willits left Ingram in R/O Richards' custody while R/Os Willits and Arborogh cleared the scene, finding no other persons present in the classroom building or the sanctuary building.

After the sanctuary building was cleared, persons arriving for the scheduled worship service were permitted to gather in the sanctuary. YCFD EMTs R. Peterson and J. Bilkey arrived at the scene at approximately 6:27 a.m. and, after confirming the victim was deceased, withdrew from the crime scene.

R/O Winston further stated that, to the best of his knowledge, the following personnel had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be documented by CSU personnel: witness Leo Ingram, EMT Peterson, EMT Bilkey, and himself.

After receiving the verbal report from R/O Willits, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the scene. In a classroom, R/Is observed a lifeless human body, a male apparently in his mid-50s, located approximately 30 inches from the south wall and 96 inches from the classroom's only door, located on the west side of the room.

Visual inspection indicated the victim was wearing a beige suit, blue shirt, navy socks, and brown tasseled loafers. The victim was prone with the left arm extended to the side and the right arm bent at an approximate 90° angle with the right hand next to the head. The victim's head was pointing east. The left leg was bent at the knee, and the right leg was extended to the west.

A large pool of what appeared to be blood was visible underneath the body, approximately 36 inches from the south wall and 90 inches from the door in the west wall. Apparent blood stains and blood spatter were visible on the victim's clothing and skin and on the walls and ceiling. R/Is delayed further inspection of the body until the arrival of the Coroner's Inspector.

Immediately north of the victim's right foot, R/Is observed a large metallic cross, measuring 16 inches wide by 24 inches long, with possible bloodstains and other organic material on it. On the floor, 8 inches from the south wall and 73 inches from the door in the west wall, R/Is observed a wooden crucifix measuring 4 inches wide by 8 inches long.

Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 7:30 a.m. and joined R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 7:41 a.m. by visual observation that the victim was not breathing and by tactile observation that the victim did not have a palpable carotid pulse or any other signs of heartbeat or respiration. Inspector Johnson noted multiple stabbing or slashing wounds on the body, including possible defensive wounds on the hands.

Inspector Johnson further noted that the body was still warm to the touch, that mild rigor mortis was becoming apparent in the face and neck, and that livor mortis was becoming visible but was not fixed. While she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead for approximately 2 to 3 hours. Inspector Johnson indicated that further details would be available in the official autopsy report.

After Inspector Johnson completed her initial inspection of the body, she stayed with the CSU team to ensure the integrity of the body while the team took photographs of the scene and performed preliminary analyses until the body could be removed from the scene without affecting other evidence.

CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 7:22 a.m. R/Is instructed CSU to take samples of the apparent blood at the scene and to process the entire scene according to standard procedure.

The body of the deceased was remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson and was removed from the scene at 2:44 p.m. and transported to the coroner's office for autopsy.

R/Is left the scene at 11:30 a.m. to interview witness Leo Ingram, who had been transported to the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end-of-day suspension of processing. CSU to notify R/Is of progress by the end of this date. As of this filing, CSU is still actively processing at the scene.

Evidence was remanded into the custody of Forensics Officer T. R. Douglas for transport to the State Crime Lab for routine analysis. CSU is expected to submit an inventory of items taken into evidence within fourteen days of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to follow at a later date.

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