HATTIESBURG, Miss.- Police have a man in custody after one man is dead in the first homicide case of 2015 in Hattiesburg. They arrived on the scene in a wooded area behind Our Place Bar & Grill on Lincoln Road Thursday afternoon to find 56-year-old William C. Allbritten with what appeared to be a stab wound in the upper left side of his chest.
Police then quickly made the arrest of 55-year-old James Price in connection with the stabbing. Detective Sgt. Branden McLemore told WDAM that the original charges were manslaughter and homicide without malice, but Friday morning the charges were upgraded to murder.
Allbritten died from the injuries shortly after being transported to Forrest General Hospital. Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict confirmed that the cause of death was from the stab wound, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
The body is on the way to Jackson for an autopsy.
