A Manhunt is Underway in Jasper County For A Double Homicide Suspect

JASPER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The Mississippi Highway Patrol is currently searching for a man wanted in connection with killing two people in East Ridge, Tennessee, Sunday morning.

Update: Body found in Jasper County, believed to be Tennessee murder suspect

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety Communication Director, Warren Strain, says multiple law enforcement agencies are searching parts of Jasper County and eastern Mississippi.

Strain says they are are looking for 22-year old Casey Lawhorn.

Lawhorn was seen at a convenience store in Heidelberg about 4:00 p.m. today.

He was traveling in a 2002 gold Ford Taurus, which was found abandoned in the southbound shoulder of I-59 in Jasper County, approximately five miles from the store where he was last seen.

Lawhorn used social media to claim responsibility for the deaths of his mother, Vi Lawhorn, and a friend, Avery Gaines, earlier on Sunday.

Law enforcement say Lawhorn is considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone who may come in contact with Lawhorn should not engage him,  but should call 911 or the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department at 601-764-2588.