What Happened to Jay Lee?
In 2022, Blaque/OUT Magazine told you the story of 20 year old Jimmie “Jay” Lee, a missing University of Mississippi student. He was a popular LGBTQ student pursuing his Masters degree at the University. He was well-known, out and popular. On July 8, 2022, he disappeared. His social media posts stopped, his bank transactions stopped and his family hadn’t heard from him. Lee’s mother reported him missing, a search ensued but Jay Lee was never heard from again.
Jay’s story has lived on the Blaque/OUT Trans Remembrance Archive and Information Index (T.R.A.I.I.) as a likely victim of a violent fate since the Court declared him deceased, but Jay Lee was never found. He vanished seemingly into thin air. Two weeks after Jay’s disappearance, Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr. was brought in for questioning. After initially lying about their relationship, evidence found in social media and text correspondence indicated that Lee and Herrington likely had a sexual relationship while Herrington hid his sexuality to family and friends. In 2024, Herrington was brought to trial for the death of Jay Lee with evidence of Herrington searching details around strangulation, video surveillance, and obtaining and purchasing objects that could be use to conceal a body. One of Lee’s friends testified at trial that he spoke with Lee early on the morning of his disappearance when he told him that he had had a sexual encounter with someone that ended badly but he was on his way back over to see that person to speak with them. Herrington and Lee exchanged Snaps where they had argued that morning with the last words being “open” as if Lee had arrived at Herrington’s apartment and was trying to gain entry. In December of 2024, after 9 hours of deliberation, the jury deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial. The Defense insisted throughout the trial and the one dead-locked juror stated that there was no way to prove a murder was committed as no body was ever found. The jury was polled 11-1.
UPDATE: Over the weekend, a gold name plate necklace with Jay Lee’s name on it was found with human remains in Carroll County, Mississippi , but authorities have not publicly confirmed the remains belonged to the missing University of Mississippi student awaiting DNA confirmation.
“The Oxford Police Department is aware of an ongoing investigation in Carroll County. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Department is the lead agency in this case. As this remains an active investigation, we are unable to provide any further details at this time. No additional comments about that investigation will be made until the identification of the remains has been confirmed… Our main priority has always been to bring Jay Lee home. We, like the public, are anxiously awaiting updates and ask for patience as the investigative process unfolds,’ said Chief Jeff McCutchen.
A photograph on Lee’s IG shows him wearing a necklace like the one found just days before his disappearance. The remains were discovered an hour and a half from Oxford, Mississippi.
