A Lafayette County grand jury indicted three former Ole Miss students on capital murder charges in connection to the the Dec. 18, 2013, shooting of first-year MBA student Zach McClendon, 25, of Gulfport. According to circuit court documents, the grand jury filed the indictment charges against Derick Boone, Joseph Lyons and Steven Wilbanks on Feb. 19, 2014.
Boone, 23, of Laurel, Joseph Lyons, 20, of Houston and Wilbanks, 22, of North Carolina, were arrested and charged with capital murder shortly after the shooting.
At the time of the incident, both Wilbanks and Boone were enrolled in school at The University of Mississippi; Lyons was a former student. The three men also lived next door to McClendon.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department found McClendon’s body just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, after responding to a welfare concern call at an apartment in the College Hill community. McClendon was found with a single gunshot wound.
The three suspects stole three textbooks and McClendon’s car. Video surveillance from a nearby gas station of where they parked the SUV allowed authorities to identify the three men, according to authorities.
As of now, Boone, Lyons and Wilbanks are being held without bond in the Lafayette County jail.
— Caty Cambron
thedmnews@gmail.com
