A University of Mississippi graduate who went missing over two years ago was declared dead - but his body has not been found.
Jimmie 'Jay' Lee - who used he/him pronouns - was last seen driving from his campus apartment in Oxford to Molly Barr Trails on July 8, 2022.
The 20-year-old was allegedly going to meet Sheldon 'Timothy' Herrington, 23, who has been accused of murdering Lee.
The two allegedly had an under the radar sexual relationship. Officials claimed Herrington strangled Lee and got rid of his body.
He was arrested on in July, 2022 on a first-degree murder charge. But in March of the following year, his charge was upgraded to capital murder, Daily Journal reported. Herrington has been out on a $250,000 bond since December 2022.
Jimmie 'Jay' Lee, 20, was a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi when he went missing
Lee has been declared dead by the court after his parents filed a motion in September
If found guilty of capital one murder, one can face a life sentence or the death penalty. The trial will begin in December.
Police suspected Herrington because their were conversations between him and Lee the day his went missing.
Notably, authorities said they found Herrington Googled 'how long it takes to strangle someone' before he saw Lee, the Mississippi Free Press reported.
Surveillance footage and bodily fluids found by investigators were also considered when charging the 23-year-old.
At the time of his disappearance, his friend Lakiowa Milan told WREG: 'He’s really energetic, nice, friendly. He’ll talk to anybody. He’s kind of the life of the party. Real sweet.
'So, its just unfortunate something like this has happened so close to home.'
Sheldon 'Timothy' Herrington, 23, has been charged with capital one murder in connection to Lee's disappearance
Lee was a well known campus figure before he went missing
Lee was described by the University of Mississippi's student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, as 'a well-known member of Oxford’s queer community.'
Lee's heartbroken parents, Jimmie and Stephanie, filed a motion in September for their son to be pronounced legally dead by the Lafayette County Circuit Court.
Typically, family members involved in a situation with such uncertainty have to wait seven years until requesting a missing a person be declared dead.
But Zeb Hughes Law, went into effect in July, in the case of a 'catastrophic event that exposed the person to imminent peril or danger' an exception can be made, according to Daily Journal.
Lee was last seen leaving his campus apartment to go meet Herrington by park trails
Lee's death was listed as such. The document, officially issued in October, ordered the state to issue Lee a death certificate.
Without a body, Herrington's trial will be under out of the ordinary circumstances.
'You let your imagination run wild,' criminal defense attorney Blake Ballin uninvolved in the case told WREG. 'There are many different ways that the state could still prove somebody is dead even though they can’t produce a body.'
'You know these cases are unusual but not impossible,' he added.
Ballin said new technology and digital evidence make prosecuting this unique case possible - but it may not be easy.
Without Lee's body, there is still a chance of prosecuting Herrington using new technology, criminal defense attorney Blake Ballin said
He said: 'You’re going to want to hammer home on the point that there is no body here.
'How do you know this person is missing? How do you know they don’t want to be found? What proof is there that this person is even deceased?'
Defense attorney Kevin Horan filed a 134-page motion in June to have his trial moved somewhere other than Northeast Mississippi, claiming the possibility of a biased jury, Advocate reported.
No decision has been made about moving the trial location yet.
