A man dubbed a “throat-slashing murderer” by Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens will spend the remainder of his life behind bars.
Ryan Christopher Hopkins was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of Celeste McDonald. A case the district attorney said, “revealed a calculated and deeply disturbing chain of events” spans back to 2019.
Just nine days before McDonald was killed, the victim had accused Hopkins of rape, providing motive for the violence. On March 31, 2019, Hopkins and his girlfriend, Yolanda Torns, drove to Forest to pick up McDonald. During the drive, the two openly conspired to kill her. After bringing McDonald back to a residence on Belvedere Drive in Jackson, Torns left to purchase bleach, plastic wrap, and detergent from a local Walmart.
Upon her return, Hopkins violently slashed McDonald’s throat, and Torns followed by taking a second knife and inflicting another fatal wound. The couple then wrapped McDonald’s body in plastic and drove across the Mississippi River into Louisiana, where they dumped her in a roadside ditch and covered her with bricks.
Less than 24 hours later, the pair returned to Jackson and got married. But the marriage ended in divorce.
“There are crimes that shake you. And then there are crimes that haunt you. This was both,” Owens said. “Celeste’s death was planned, executed, and followed by a wedding. That is evil. Today’s verdict proves that cruelty knows no limits, but justice trumps cruelty.”
Torns was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime last year, but had 15 years suspended on the condition that she would testify against Hopkins. In addition to the killing of McDonald, Hopkins was indicted in New Hampshire back in 2022 for allegedly kidnapping, beating, and raping a woman
