Victim In Hammer Attack Is Improving
Victim In Hammer Attack Is Improving
By David Howell
Editor
WATER VALLEY – The victim in a violent hammer attack on January 31 is improving in the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, according to Sheriff Lance Humphreys.
William Ray Martin of Batesville was seriously injured in a dispute with John Paul Keel, Jr., on County Road 35, near the Enid Lake levee. Keel is charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder and remains incarcerated in the Yalobusha County Jail. Humphreys said deputies traveled to Memphis Tuesday afternoon to get a statement from William Martin. Jessica Lynn Martin, also of Batesville, was injured during the dispute that occurred in the early morning hours and ended in a standoff after Keel barricaded himself in a house.
In other law enforcement news:
• Three people face drug charges following a traffic stop at 3:45 a.m. Monday morning. The sheriff said Jessica Rusoe of Mantachie was initially stopped for careless driving by deputy Thomas West at the intersection of Hwy. 32 and County Road 223. Kandy Hughes, Cody Myrick and Jesse Wortham were also in the vehicle. After waiting for Water Valley police officers for assistance, Rusoe gave consent to search the vehicle.
“During the search a bag of methamphetamine was discovered where Myrick was sitting and a second bag of methamphetamine was found where Wortham was sitting,” Humphreys told the Herald. Officer also found a glass pipe allegedly used for smoking methamphetamine.
All four were transported to the Yalobusha County jail and deputies received consent to search Myrick’s residence on Grafton Drive in Water Valley. At the residence, scales, paraphernalia used for injecting methamphetamine and a firearm with a tampered serial number were found.
Myrick and Wortham are charged with possession of methamphetamine and bond was set at $3,500 each. Rusoe was charged with careless driving and possession of paraphernalia and her bond was set at $850. Hughes was charged with possession of paraphernalia and her bond was set at $650. The sheriff also said possible weapon charges for the firearm have been turned over to another agency.
• Humphreys reported Henry Corderella was charged with burglary of a shed and petty larceny after allegedly stealing tools from a shed in the Water Valley Boat Landing community. Corderella was arrested last weekend after an alert sheriff’s department employee noticed him driving erratically on Hwy. 32 and notified dispatch.
Humphreys said EMA Director Frank Hyde was monitoring radio after the initial report and saw the vehicle pass his house.
“Hyde followed the vehicle, keeping visual contact until a deputy caught up with him,” Humphreys said.
Corderella was stopped on County Road 54 and told deputies that he had stolen items in his vehicle. He was also charged with driving with a suspended driver’s license.
• Investigator Jerimaine Gooch apprehended a man charged in connection with a home invasion on County Road 224 on Dec. 26.
Humphreys said his officers had been searching for Warren Draper, who is charged with burglary, aggravated assault and grand larceny.
Humphreys said Gooch saw Draper walking down Markette Street in Water Valley Sunday and took him into custody without incident. Thomas Christopher Jackson and Courtney Pigee were also charged in the home invasion, but were taken into custody shortly after the incident.
• Humphreys reported on Tuesday that 36 people including seven females are incarcerated in the new county jail, the largest number since he has served as sheriff.
