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Her son was gunned down, she was denied his life insurance payout, and Lexington police won’t answer her calls

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2 years ago

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Tracie Mayfield fell to the ground when she opened her son’s car and was hit with the smell of his cologne.

It had been six months since Yakebau “Ya Ya” Cortez Head, 31, was shot and killed in Lexington. The car had been taken into police custody to process potential evidence, and she got the car back in July.

“I broke down because all I could feel is my son,” Mayfield said.

She worries the Lexington Police Department isn’t conducting an adequate investigation into her son’s death.

Mayfield said neither the local investigator nor the chief has called her. Family members have an idea of who is responsible for her son’s death, but she said those people haven’t been arrested.

On top of that, life insurance coverage Mayfield had for her son was denied based on information the Lexington Police Department provided, implying her son played a role in his death.

All these circumstances together have led her to mistrust the local police department, Mayfield said.

“I want justice,” said Mayfield, who is from Lexington but lives in Kosciusko. “… I feel like I can get some closure, but there is nothing I can look forward to.”

In the early morning of Feb. 12, Head knocked on the front door of his girlfriend, who was expecting him. As he stood outside, he was shot five times in the back, Mayfield said.

Family members who live in town went to the shooting scene that night and saw a man they recognized get into a car nearby that drove by. Mayfield said both of the people in the vehicle knew her son.

Chief Charles Henderson did not respond to requests for comment, including whether any suspects have been identified, charges have been filed or arrests have been made.

Mayfield said she has had better communication with a detective from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, who she said updated her on some of the evidence that had been processed. An agency spokesperson confirmed MBI is assisting Lexington police in the investigation of Head’s death, but declined to comment further.

Head was buried March 3 at Zion Cemetery in Lexington. Mayfield remembers over a hundred people who attended the funeral, which she said is a testament to Head’s impact in the city.

“My son did so much for people in Lexington,” she said. “Regardless of what was going on, he was that type of person.”

Head, who was between jobs, still gave children from the community toys and haircuts and offered money to help them stay off the streets, Mayfield said. Before he died, he gave some of his clothes and shoes to someone who needed them.

His laugh and smile were contagious. She said he had a good heart, and Head would say that regardless of what people do to us, we have to love in return.

Mayfield knew her son was not perfect and had prior criminal convictions, including being part of the youngest in a group of men who robbed a grocery store 14 years ago. But he didn’t deserve to die and be shot in the back, she said.

Jill Collen Jefferson, an attorney with the civil rights organization Julian, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Lexington police has subjected Black residents to excessive force, intimidation and false arrests for over a year under two police chiefs: Henderson and his predecessor, Sam Dobbins, was fired after a recording surfaced of him using racist and homophobic language.

She has heard from people in the community who, like Mayfield, are family members of crime victims and have had difficulty seeking help from the police department and have felt frustrated about investigations.

Jefferson said you have a police department not only accused of misconduct against residents but also one that doesn’t seem to act when there are legitimate crimes to investigate.

After Head’s death, Mayfield notified her life insurance company and submitted a claim to be able to receive a payout. The plan was to use the insurance money to help cover her son’s funeral and support Head’s four children.

She expected to receive about $40,000 – $20,000 through general insurance coverage and $20,000 under accidental coverage, which covers homicide deaths.

To investigate the claim, Mayfield’s insurance company reached out to the Lexington police and asked whether the beneficiary, Mayfield, was a person of interest in Head’s homicide and whether Head contributed to his own death by participating in a riot or committing a crime.

Henderson wrote “unknown,” about Mayfield being a person of interest and Head’s participation in a riot, according to a copy of the insurance claim investigation shared with Mississippi Today.

Mayfield said she was never questioned as a person of interest and she was not in Lexington the night of Head’s shooting. She doesn’t understand how police could say her son was participating in a riot because there was not one happening when he arrived at his girlfriend’s house.

For the last question, Henderson hand wrote that Head was a “felon in possession of (a) firearm/possession of (a) controlled substance (felony).”

Mayfield was told by police that drugs were found in a bag in her son’s car and a gun was recovered from a shirt pocket. But she notes that the insurance company’s question wasn’t what was in his possession or his criminal history, but whether Head was committing a crime or fleeing the police at the time of his death.

Days after Henderson provided those answers, Mayfield received a letter from the insurance company saying the accidental death benefit was denied based on information from the police.

Henderson did not respond to a request for comment about the information he provided.

Mayfield reached out to Lexington City Attorney Katherine Riley and Mayor Robin McCory about revising and resubmitting the information provided to the life insurance company. They have not responded to her or Missisisppi Today’s request for comment.

Seth Pounds, director of risk management and insurance at Mississippi State University’s College of Business, said once someone dies, insurance companies often seek information such as police reports or medical records to see if the death is covered under the beneficiary’s policy.

“Any time there’s a homicide and a life insurance claim, usually the law enforcement will have the most relevant investigative (information),” he said.

Pounds said it’s common for insurance companies to rely on law enforcement reports because of the assumption that they are trustworthy or unbiased.

Mayfield also applied to the state’s victim compensation program. Under state law, compensation is not available under several circumstances, including if the victim has a previous conviction or is under supervision by the Mississippi Department of Corrections within five years prior to death or injury.

Mayfield said Head’s prior convictions are why her application was denied.

Of the $3.66 million in compensation funds distributed in 2022, only 7.8% of all claims were denied because the victim or person who applied on the individual’s behalf had a previous conviction, said Debbee Hancock, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, which oversees the compensation program.

In the almost six and a half months since his death, Mayfield has gone through a variety of emotions: anger, sadness, disbelief.

Head’s daughters, age 11 and 8, understand that their father is gone and are holding up the best they can, she said.

Recently, one of the girls woke up in the middle of the night screaming for her father, and asked her grandmother to “go undead my daddy.” Another time, one of the girls said she wanted to be dead like her father so she could see him again, Mayfield said.

Mayfield said she had a special bond with Head because she had him at 16, so they grew up together. Head was also close with his mother’s siblings because he and Mayfield lived with them and his maternal grandmother.

August was difficult because Head would have celebrated his 32nd birthday. Last week, people showed love for him on Facebook and some visited his gravesite to leave balloons, Mayfield said.

His death magnifies another loss. Mayfield’s former partner, Milton Mayfield Jr. – whom Head called daddy – was shot and killed in 2002 in Lexington. To date, his case has not been solved, Tracie Mayfield said.

“It hurts 21 years later to see the same thing happening,” she said.

Mayfield knows her problems with the Lexington police go beyond her son’s homicide investigation and life insurance.

She is aware of concerns expressed by Black residents about policing in the city and ongoing legal action against the city and police department.

In June, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clark of the Civil Rights Division visited Lexington to meet with residents and talk about the Justice Department’s commitment to addressing civil rights issues, including law enforcement accountability.

“The Department of Justice is taking what is happening in Lexington very seriously,” Jefferson said.

Mayfield knows her son is gone, but she still finds herself waiting for him to call just like he did multiple times a day or walk through her door.

Holiday family gatherings are coming up and Mayfield is usually the one who hosts. She doesn’t know how to feel about celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas without her son.
“I don’t even know how I am going to put up decorations,” she said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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15 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi Today

With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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15 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi Today

Court to rule on DeSoto County Senate districts with special elections looming

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15 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:06:00

by Taylor Vance, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

A federal three-judge panel will rule in coming days on how political power in northwest Mississippi will be allocated in the state Senate and whether any incumbents in the DeSoto County area might have to campaign against each other in November special elections.  

The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials last week to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state’s prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice. 

The latest map proposed by the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners tweaked only four Senate districts in northwest Mississippi and does not pit any incumbent senators against each other. 

The state’s proposal would keep the Senate districts currently held by Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando and Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, in majority-white districts. 

But it makes Sen. David Parker’s district a slightly majority-Black district. Parker, a white Republican from Olive Branch, would run in a district with a 50.1% black voting-age population, according to court documents. 

The proposal also maintains the district held by Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, as a majority-Black district, although it reduces the Black voting age population from 61% to 53%.  

Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch comprise the State Board of Election Commissioners. Reeves and Watson voted to approve the plan. But Watson, according to meeting documents, expressed a wish that the state had more time to consider different proposals. 

Fitch did not attend the meeting, but Deputy Attorney General Whitney Lipscomb attended in her place. Lipscomb voted against the map, although it is unclear why. Fitch’s office declined to comment on why she voted against the map because it involves pending litigation. 

The reason for redrawing the districts is that the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters in the state sued Mississippi officials for drawing legislative districts in a way that dilutes Black voting power. 

The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, are likely to object to the state’s newest proposal, and they have until April 29 to file an objection with the court

The plaintiffs have put forward two alternative proposals for the area in the event the judges rule against the state’s plans. 

The first option would place McLendon and Blackwell in the same district, and the other would place McLendon and Jackson in the same district. 

It is unclear when the panel of judges will issue a ruling on the state’s plan, but they will not issue a ruling until the plaintiffs file their remaining court documents next week. 

While the November election is roughly six months away, changing legislative districts across counties and precincts is technical work, and local election officials need time to prepare for the races. 

The judges have not yet ruled on the full elections calendar, but U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick said at a hearing earlier this month that the panel was committed have the elections in November. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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