In 2018, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was quick to write off the death of Rankin County jail inmate William Wade Aycock IV as an accident. But an investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times unearthed new evidence in the case that suggests Aycock was killed. With support from the Fund, the reporting found that state investigators ignored evidence suggesting that Aycock was murdered, and that guards at the jail destroyed evidence. In a series of interviews, Chancellor Berrong confessed to reporters that he orchestrated the killing. Berrong said he tried to confess to authorities on three separate occasions, only to be ignored. Another former jail inmate who said he witnessed the killing told reporters he also tried to report what he’d seen to the MBI and Rankin County investigators, but no one ever followed up with him. In response to the story, the MBI reopened the case and began gathering the evidence it ignored previously. The investigation is ongoing.
Grantee uncovers evidence of murder in a Mississippi jail; story leads state to reopen the case and launch new investigation
