The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate the death of a 56-year-old Lowndes County native found unresponsive in his Lowndes County Jail cell Thursday morning. Johnny James Payne, of 3579 Jess Lyons Road, would have celebrated his 57th birthday Sept. 19. He’d been arrested Sept. 2 at about 1 a.m. on Blaylock Road for possession of methamphetamine and just had a bond hearing Thursday before he was found in his cell at about 11 a.m., according to Sheriff Mike Allege and Coroner Greg Merchant. He was rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle where he was pronounced dead. The recent meth arrest was the...

A former MSU student is killed when a women driving the wrong way in a stolen car on Highway 82 crashes into his car at high speed near downtown Columbus early Saturday morning. And friends of the man, identified by Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant as 24-year-old Michael Ian Reed, dodged the oncoming car but witnessed their friend crash. The woman, identified by Merchant as 43-year-old Kimberly Denise Neal, of Aberdeen, also died. The accident happened at about 12:05 a.m. in the left passing lane of Highway 82 eastbound near the end of the Main Street on-ramp to Highway 82. The wrong-way car...

The Columbus Police Department is asking for help to identify two suspects involved in an armed robbery at the Princess Theatre early August 1, 2018. Two still photos that were taken by downtown CCTV cameras have been released Monday morning by Columbus Police, according to Police Chief Fred Shelton. “We believe three persons were involved and we are releasing two of the suspects’ photos today,” Shelton said early Monday morning. “We are releasing these pictures to ask the public to help us identify these persons.” Shelton said the suspects approached the Princess Theatre walking North on Fifth Street near 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, August 1. He...