PANOLA COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A mother says she now believes her missing 18-year-old son was killed after two people were found dead in Panola County over the weekend.
Lakeldra Johnson says her “mother’s intuition” told her it was her son Jaylon’s body found Sunday in a field of Highway 315 near the Sardis city limits. She was not allowed to see the teen’s body Sunday to identify him but met with Sheriff Shane Phelps on Tuesday.
Johnson said she had already provided investigators with a picture of a unique tattoo her son had.
“That’s when they told me they identified my baby by the tattoo that was on his left forearm. I broke down. I got weak,” she said. “I don’t know how to feel to be honest. I don’t. I don’t know how to grieve. I don’t know how to mourn. I don’t know what to feel.”
She said Sheriff Shane Phelps and another deputy embraced her and offered condolences. But Phelps stresses his department is not officially naming Jaylon Johnson as the deceased at this time.
“We want to be able to go work through this investigation, cross all our T’s, dot all of our I’s,” Phelps said.
He said he has to wait for the State Medical Examiner’s findings for a positive ID and cause of death.
“It may be next week. It may be three weeks. We just don’t know,” Phelps said.
Phelps said this past violent weekend first left a man, identified as Danell Williams, dead of gunshot wounds outside a house on John Lamar Road Saturday morning. Then Sunday the body of a male was found in a field just a short distance from where Williams died.
Investigators won’t say what the connection is between the two deaths and is asking the public to be patient.
“I just want answers for my baby and the other party too. I do. I want justice from all angles, regardless of the situation,” Johnson said.
Jaylon Johnson is still listed as a missing person on the Panola County sheriff’s Facebook page. No arrests have been made.
If you have any information about both cases, you are urged to call the Panola County Sheriff’s Department at 662-563-6230.