1835
Board Town was established in 1835 as the county seat of Oktibbeha County.
about 0:07:19Spoilers are covered until your reading preferences load.
FILE 677 / 26 February 2026 / 180 MIN / full
James says the episode is Starkville, Mississippi, in northeastern Mississippi, and names Oktibbeha County. about 0:04:57
Board Town was established in 1835 as the county seat of Oktibbeha County.
about 0:07:19It was renamed Starkville in honour of Revolutionary War hero General John Stark.
about 0:07:31A log court house and a one-room jail house were built in 1835.
about 0:07:49The jailhouse had no doors or windows; prisoners climbed a ladder to the roof and were lowered through a trap door on a rope.
about 0:08:42Board Town was established in 1835 as the county seat of Oktibbeha County.
about 0:07:19It was renamed Starkville in honour of Revolutionary War hero General John Stark.
about 0:07:31A log court house and a one-room jail house were built in 1835.
about 0:07:49The jailhouse had no doors or windows; prisoners climbed a ladder to the roof and were lowered through a trap door on a rope.
about 0:08:42In 1875 a fire destroyed 52 buildings, most of the town, including the whole business district.
about 0:09:03A man named McLaughlin served as the local head of the Freedmen's Bureau, helped establish Black Methodist churches and set up a cooperative store for black people at his house.
about 0:09:19The Ku Klux Klan attacked McLaughlin's store and tried to burn it down.
about 0:09:28A yellow fever epidemic in 1898 led West Point, Columbus, Artesia and Casacusco to quarantine Starkville's railroads.
about 0:09:54The quarantine caused a shortage of medical and other supplies, and the state had to intervene.
about 0:10:1648.8%
Biggest faith: Baptist, 27%
about 0:15:16White 57.5% · Black 36.1% · Asian 3.3% · Hispanic 1.5%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▲ about 25% over the national average
Violent crime
▼ about one quarter below the national average
Two-bedroom, two-bathroom house, 899 square feet
about 0:17:09Three-bedroom, three-bathroom brick house, 1,480 square feet
about 0:17:40Three-bedroom, three-bathroom house on 25 acres, 2,328 square feet
about 0:18:46"24,578"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:13:51
"49.7%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:14:04
"27"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:14:46
"37.8%"
Comparison: "lower than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2026 about 0:14:50
"23%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:14:50
"57.5%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:03
"36.1%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:03
"3.3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:03
"1.5%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:03
"48.8%"
Comparison: "below the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:16
"27%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:23
"0.0%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:33
"about average"
Direction: about the same.
As told in 2026 about 0:15:55
"$34,391"
Comparison: "about half the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2026 about 0:16:02
"81 out of 100"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:16:10
"$228,100"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:16:13
"$790"
Comparison: "$500 under the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2026 about 0:16:35
"$120,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:17:09
"$226,900"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:17:40
"$1,000,000"
Comparison: "$950,000 price cut from $2,025,000". No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:18:46
"about 25% over the national average"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2026 about 0:21:24
"about one quarter below the national average"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2026 about 0:21:43
2.6 / 5 · average of 5
“Loves living there and the kids love it, but the police are bad and will pull you over for anything.”about 0:10:41
“Loves the hometown hospitality and the community welcome, except the cops; wants the roads fixed because there are so many students and so many potholes.”about 0:11:12
“Lots of bad neighbourhoods, lots of robberies and some shootings.”about 0:11:51
“Grew up there and there are many genuinely nice people and a few good local restaurants, but no entertainment, little shopping, the Noxubee refuge now charges five dollars and the trails are overgrown; nothing like Las Vegas.”about 0:12:01
“Hard to imagine a worse place to live; the only good thing is Mississippi State University, and the landscape architecture department has marred the town.”about 0:13:21
They bonded over their broken homes, and she treated him as a little brother twelve years younger.
Joey worked at a local car dealership with his brother Shannon and served in the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Armoured Brigade. People described him as steady, reliable and not flashy. Joey said it did not matter and that he would raise her.
By 2002 she was seeing Kyle Harvey and also Kyle's best friend, Chris Kelly. In March 2002 she moved out of the marital home with the three children and went to live with Kyle in Jackson. In November 2002 she wrote Kyle a letter complaining that they were $600 in debt, that she was sick of being broke and that she would do anything to keep from struggling. In early 2003 she was trying to reconcile with Joey while still seeing Kyle, and she told Kyle she was about to inherit $300,000 from her grandmother. In the first week of May she and the children moved back in with Joey, and she said it was permanent.
On Friday 9 May 2003 Joey cashed his pay cheque, about $1,020, and put the money in his wallet. Late that night or early on Saturday morning Joey was shot once in the back of the head at close range. The medical examiner later put the time of death at 36 to 48 hours before the body was found and said he never moved.
They drove on to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the Mother's Day weekend. Kyle noticed that she had a large amount of cash and paid for food, a hotel room and souvenirs with it.
At about half past eleven that morning Shannon Fulgham rang Joey about an air show they had planned to attend. Joey did not answer. Shannon called again and went to the house around noon, knocked and got no reply. On Sunday 11 May he still could not reach his brother, so at about half past five in the afternoon he cut the screen on the living room window, climbed in and found Joey face down on a bed in a pool of blood.
Investigators found a gunshot entrance wound at the back of the head and recovered a small .22 calibre bullet, which had travelled down towards the left eye. There were no shell casings and no weapon. Joey's wallet was missing, the computer tower was gone although its monitor and keyboard remained, and there was an outline in the carpet where it had stood. Drawers were open and the house looked ransacked. Four security light bulbs around the perimeter had been unscrewed so that the lights would not come on.
She was cooperative, agreed to a polygraph and wept for her husband. She said the gun had been thrown into a ditch on the drive to the coast and it was never found. She signed a two-page statement, which was not recorded.
He said she ran a bath and rubbed his back, that she put her hand over his on the trigger and that they fired together, and that she took the computer and gave him Joey's wallet to put in the glove box. On 14 May he telephoned his friend's father, Marcus Sullivan, and said yes, sir, he had done it.
Bail was refused, although his lawyer argued that he had no record and nowhere to run. Sharon liquidated her 401k, sold her house and went into debt to pay for his defence, hiring Jim Wade, a well known north Mississippi defence lawyer.
He was fourteen.
He had spent about five years in custody.
He had left Mississippi, qualified as an EMT, worked for the Department of Defense in Arizona, was treated for cancer in his leg and went into remission, ran a tobacco shop in Columbus and later started an embroidery business in Florida. He became an advocate for juvenile justice reform, arguing that no child should be questioned by police without a lawyer present.
May 2003 / his home in Longview, outside Starkville, Mississippi
As told in the episode, on 26 February 2026.
Accused
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 0:44:54home
about 0:52:45home
about 1:02:42police
about 1:02:54church
about 1:34:44school
about 0:11:32landmark
about 0:19:14business
about 0:20:40landmark
about 0:12:25landmark
about 0:53:06