Court officially declares University of Miss. student Jimmie ‘Jay’ Lee dead
by: Deja Davis, Brian Didlake
OXFORD, Tenn. — The University of Mississippi student, Jimmie “Jay” Lee, has officially been presumed dead by the court after a petition was filed for a declaration of death.
The document lists Jimmie Dale Lee III as a person who underwent a catastrophic event two years ago that exposed him to imminent danger which is expected to result in the loss of life.
This comes after Lee’s absence since the event and family, friends, and multiple law enforcement agencies still not being able to find him.
The court has ordered the State of Mississippi to now issue a certificate of death for Lee, according to a document filed Oct. 15.
“You let your imagination run wild,” said criminal defense attorney Blake Ballin. “There are many different ways that the state could still prove somebody is dead even though they can’t produce a body.”
On July 8, 2022, The University of Mississippi issued a missing student alert after Lee was last seen leaving Campus Walk Apartments in Oxford, Mississippi two days before. Officers believe Lee was visiting someone at Molly Barr Trails at the time of his disappearance.
Two weeks later, fellow University of Mississippi student Timothy Herrington Jr. was charged with murder in connection to Lee’s disappearance.
Investigators claim they connected Herrington to Lee after reviewing surveillance footage and found bodily fluids that might connect him to Lee.
Officers have previously described Herrington and Lee’s relationship as sexual.
In 2023, Herrington was indicted on capital murder charges.
Ballin said that the simple fact that a body has not been found will make it much more difficult for the prosecutors to prove their case but not impossible.
“You know these cases are unusual but not impossible,” Ballin said. “And the idea that you can’t prosecute a homicide case without a body is a fallacy.”
Ballin said with new forensic technologies, surveillance videos and digital evidence, it is possible to prosecute a case like this.
However, as a criminal defense attorney himself, he said it may be an uphill battle to prove Herrington killed Lee.
“You’re going to want to hammer home on the point that there is no body here,” Ballin said. “How do you know this person is missing? How do you know they don’t want to be found? What proof is there that this person is even deceased?”
Those are questions prosecutors might have to answer when this case goes to trial on December 2.
In the meantime, Herrington is out on bond.
His lawyers are asking for a jury from another part of the state, saying they can’t get a “fair trial” in county limits.
A decision has not yet been made on that motion.
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