OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – A woman was found dead in her home Tuesday morning, and sheriff’s deputies have located her missing teen daughter.
Deputies responded to a residence on A.W. Williams Road near Pheba at about 7 a.m. and discovered a deceased Black female with a single gunshot to her back, a sheriff’s department press release said.
Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt identified the deceased woman as Lou Anla Jones, 48. A family member contacted authorities Tuesday, according to Capt. Brett Watson with the sheriff’s office investigations unit.
Watson said the body is being taken to the state crime lab for autopsy. He didn’t know on Wednesday how long Jones had been dead before she was found.
“It had certainly been longer than a little while,” he told The Dispatch.
In a text message Wednesday afternoon, Watson said deputies had found Jones’ 13-year-old daughter, Lydia Flowers. She was last seen at the residence at about 9 a.m. Monday before being located Wednesday afternoon unharmed.
“We are working through the process to speak with her at this time,” Watson’s text reads. “… We are still working leads and doing all the normal investigative things.”
Watson told The Dispatch authorities aren’t prepared to call Flowers a “person of interest” and had just been considering her a missing person.
Anyone with information on the homicide is asked to call Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office at (662) 323-2421 or its investigations unit at (662) 324-8484.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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