Town note
The first settlement in the Edwards area was known as Amsterdam.
about 0:04:48Spoilers are covered until your reading preferences load.
FILE 630 / 12 September 2025 / 73 MIN / express
We're going to Mississippi this week... Mississippi, Edwards, Mississippi, to be exact. This is in Hinds County. about 0:03:04
The first settlement in the Edwards area was known as Amsterdam.
about 0:04:48The town was big in the 1830s and then faded away until it no longer existed.
about 0:05:14A cholera epidemic in about 1832, plus the railroad being put further away than the town wanted, killed it off.
about 0:05:21A yellow fever epidemic in 1897 decimated the town again.
about 0:05:34The first settlement in the Edwards area was known as Amsterdam.
about 0:04:48The town was big in the 1830s and then faded away until it no longer existed.
about 0:05:14A cholera epidemic in about 1832, plus the railroad being put further away than the town wanted, killed it off.
about 0:05:21A yellow fever epidemic in 1897 decimated the town again.
about 0:05:34During the yellow fever outbreak whole families were ill at once and people were buried without their families finding out.
about 0:05:41Bail
$4,000
DNA match frequency
one in 276 billion
People on death row in Mississippi
36
Years since Mississippi last executed anyone
13 years
"about 1,060"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:09
"$28,688"
Comparison: "well under half the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:19
"$102,900"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:32
"$4,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:22:41
"one in 276 billion"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 1:05:40
"36"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 1:12:00
"13 years"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 1:12:00
3.0 / 5 · average of 3
“Quiet and calm without all the noise that the city makes.”about 0:06:00
“The world's only cactus plantation is still open but hurry: John, 81, has had three major surgeries and is looking for a buyer; he used to have ten greenhouses and now has two, one about a quarter full of Easter lilies.”about 0:06:09
“A small town several miles east of Vicksburg, normally overlooked by travellers, with only a preschool and a handful of convenience stores, a population under two thousand and on the downslope for 60 years.”about 0:07:34
Born on 7 June 1971, he was raised by an abusive alcoholic father and a mother with untreated bipolar disorder and substance problems. His stepfather Larry Jones beat him badly enough that he missed two weeks of school, and he said he was sexually abused by several relatives, including his aunt and grandmother Virginia Fay Rarden. At seven he went to the police about the beatings and was sent away with a sweet. He was never treated. His marriage to Catherine, with whom he had three children, ended.
On 10 September 2010 he paid 800 dollars cash for the Camaro in Jasper and drove three and a half hours to Clinton to see his ex-girlfriend Sherry Lawson at the Comfort Inn. On Monday 13 September the car broke down and was towed. Ethel Winsted Simpson, 81, arrived at 3.30 for her regular workout. She was a vivacious woman with bright red hair, a member of the First Baptist Church Bible study and the Red Hat Society, who lived in Clinton with her brother Thomas. Her husband had died of lung cancer in 2005.
Ethel drove him to the Comfort Inn, went home briefly, then collected him again. At 8.36 that evening her silver 2002 Mercedes was caught on traffic cameras heading towards Vicksburg. At 8.45 it parked at the River Walk Casino and the pair went in. They gambled and ate dinner, with Ethel paying the 40 dollar bill, and left at 11.24. Four minutes later he left in a different shirt, and at 12.51 he drove off alone. At 1.15 he was at a Vicksburg casino playing slots, cashing out 47 dollars and leaving at 2.11. At 3.07 a licence plate reader on I-20 in Rankin County recorded the Mercedes heading east at 75 mph with one person aboard.
At 7 that morning Ethel's brother Thomas found she had not come home. Her son Ken was called at 8.30 and by 10.15 he had contacted Clinton police, who quickly learned she had left the gym with an unknown white man in her missing car. On 17 September a farmer feeding his hogs off Highway 22 in Edwards found her body partly covered by hog feed in a metal grain bin 200 yards from the road, with blood on the rim and handprints in it. Dental records were needed to identify her. The autopsy found a skull fracture from ear to ear, a broken neck with a severed spinal cord, a crushed windpipe and defensive wounds; she had been beaten to death and was conscious during the attack.
On 16 September he rang the house claiming to be in Panama City, asked for Fay, laughed and hung up. Lois found Fay's bedroom locked; firefighters broke in and found the 68-year-old beaten to death. On 17 September, near Auburn, Alabama, he met Mark Cox, 56, at a convenience store and stabbed him repeatedly in the neck and torso after Cox mentioned land for sale. Cox survived and called 911.
He gave three interviews. In the first he blamed Mark Cox, whose alibi was proved by phone, card and work records. Mark Cox testified. DNA matching Ethel's blood on his flip flops had a frequency of one in 276 billion. Investigators believe he may have killed other elderly women, and several missing-person cases are being reviewed.
September 13-14, 2010 / Clinton and Edwards, Mississippi
As told in the episode, on 12 September 2025.
Accused
September 2010 / her home in North Birmingham, Alabama
As told in the episode, on 12 September 2025.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
home
about 0:44:31business
about 0:32:57school
about 0:32:43business
about 0:31:28church
about 0:36:26business
about 0:39:26business
about 0:42:42body found
about 0:49:54crime scene
about 0:45:22business
about 0:52:28crime scene
about 0:52:52road
about 0:54:16police
about 0:44:11