Suspect charged in June 2021 homicide in Oktibbeha County

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- An Oktibbeha County man is charged with murder in connection with a shooting investigation back in June.

Bond for Sedrick Beckum was set Friday, December 17th at $1 million dollars in Oktibbeha County Justice Court. Beckum is charged with murder – second degree. He remains in the Oktibbeha County jail.

The shooting happened on June 11th on Bethel Road. 28-year-old Arshuntay Brown died at the scene. WCBI has learned Brown and Beckum were a couple at the time of the gunfire. At the time, deputies called the shooting a death investigation.

Now, autopsy results are in and investigators moved forward with the murder charge.

“Anytime you send things to the crime lab, there’s a process or wait period,” said Oktibbeha County Sheriff Steve Gladney. “The backlog is tremendous and you just have to wait your turn to get things back. So… but we’ve worked on things other than that since June”

Sheriff Gladney denied that if the crime lab was not backlogged that Beckum’s charges would have been filed sooner.