Digital evidence and chilling searches revealed on day three of Herrington murder trial – The Oxford Eagle

A detailed web of digital evidence, social media activity and surveillance footage was revealed on the third day of testimony in the murder trial of Timothy Herrington, accused of killing University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee.

Herrington was arrested on July 22, 2022 and charged with Lee’s murder. He was charged with murder and has been free on $250,000 bail since December 2022.

Lee, 20, was last seen leaving his apartment at Campus Walk Apartments around 6 a.m. on July 8, 2022.

Lee’s body was not recovered.

On Friday, University Police Investigator Ben Douglas testified that he contacted AT&T to see if Lee’s phone was still active after police were unable to locate Lee following a welfare check. He was told this wasn’t the case and then requested historical pings from 12:17am to 7:28am

The last two ping locations for Lee’s phone were near Stone Park, across from the Oxford Police Department and Residential College South, according to Douglas.

Douglas said investigators also accessed Lee’s iCloud, Gmail and SnapChat accounts. At the state’s direction, Douglas read aloud a SnapChat conversation between Lee and Herrington.

The tense exchange took place in the early hours of July 8, the day Lee disappeared. The conversation was clearly sexual and Lee accused Herrington of fraudulent behavior by expressing distrust and suggesting he feared being lured into a dangerous situation; However, he agreed to visit Herrington.

At 6:03 a.m., Lee’s final message to Herrington was: “Open.”

Testimony then turned to Herrington’s search history.

According to Douglas, at 5:56 a.m. on July 9, Herrington googled “How long does it take to strangle someone, Gabby Petito.” Petito was killed by her fiancé, Brian Christopher Laundrie, while they were out together. Douglas said that’s the first suggestion when searching for “how long does it take to strangle someone?”

Herrington’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were also accessed using warrants.

According to Douglas’ testimony, Herrington searched “Ole Miss Police,” “Jimmy Lee,” “Oxford Mississippi Police” and “Find Jimmy Lee” multiple times between July 11 and July 15.

The trial continues at 9 a.m. Friday at the Lafayette County Courthouse.

Read more:

Day 2 story: https://www.oxfordeagle.com/2024/12/04/day-two-of-herrington-trial-focuses-on-timelines-video-footage-of-lees-car/

Day 1 Story: https://www.oxfordeagle.com/2024/12/03/trial-of-timothy-herrington-begins-in-oxford/