A second suspect is in custody and has been charged with the abduction and killing of a Mississippi family, the Associated Press and ABC News reports.
While authorities say that they are still piecing together exactly what happened on the night when 7-year-old Jaidon Hill, 30-year-old Atira Hughes-Smith and her husband, 34-year-old Laterry Smith, were slain, they have charged Cedric Mason, 30, with two counts of capitol murder and two counts of kidnapping, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.
The first suspect, Timothy Ladell Burns, was questioned after police responded to the family’s wrecked and burned vehicle on Saturday. On Tuesday, Burns led authorities to the bodies, at an abandoned home about a mile away from the car. Burns was charged with two counts of murder and arson, as all three victims were reported to have gunshot wounds, the AP reports.
Neither Burns nor Mason have been charged with killing Laterry Smith, whom authorities believe was murdered in a house in Jackson, Miss.
Investigators are continuing to gather evidence and have discussed possible motives for the slayings. They are trying to determine if Burns and Mason knew the family.
"We have theories, but the investigation will ferret out the facts," said MBI spokesman Warren Strain Wednesday, AP reports.
Read more at ABC News.