Before a full retrial could be carried out, Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. pleaded guilty Monday in connection with the disappearance and death of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee.
Herrington pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. The guilty plea came hours into jurors being selected in Madison County and set to be transported to Lafayette County for his second trial.
Herrington will be sentenced in Oxford on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Lee went missing on July 8, 2022, and weeks into his disappearance, Herrington was arrested and charged with killing him. According to prosecutors, Herrington murdered Lee, a member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community, to conceal a romantic relationship the two were having at the time.
Herrington was first tried in December 2024, but a lone dissenting juror prevented him from being convicted. The main holdup was Lee’s body had not been discovered. Lafayette County Judge Kelly Luther deemed the jury “hopelessly deadlocked” and declared a mistrial. The second trial was scheduled for October 2024, but a postponement requested by both the prosecution and the defense resulted in Dec. 1 being set as the new date.
Between the first trial and what would have been the second trial, human remains were discovered in a rural part of Carroll County – a neighboring county to Herrington’s parents’ home in Grenada – in February. The Mississippi Crime Lab confirmed through DNA analysis that the remains belonged to Lee. A necklace Lee once worn was also found near the remains.
During the first trial, it was revealed that Herrington searched on his computer moments before Lee came to his apartment on July 8, 2022, “How long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito [sic]” – referring to the high-profile case of a New York 22-year-old being killed by her fiancé in 2022.
Video surveillance presented by prosecutors showed Herrington jogging from an apartment complex where Lee’s car was found before being picked up by a friend at a nearby gas station. Additional video showed Herrington retrieving a shovel and wheelbarrow from his parents’ home and loading them into a moving truck that belonged to the family’s company.
Social media messages were also recovered and provided by prosecutors to prove the two were romantically involved.
