Five Mississippi women were murdered last weekend

Reports of five murdered women within the same 24 hours have put Mississippi into the national spotlight.

Of the five, two knew their killers. The other three may have been victims of random violence, but all of the details have yet to be reported. What is known is that all five were shot to death.

Alexandria “Ally” Kostial and the man arrested for her murder, Brandon Theesfield, in a 2016 photo.

The Vicksburg Daily News reported this week of the murder of University of Mississippi student Alexandria “Ally” Kostial, 21. Deputies found Kostial’s body Saturday morning in Harmontown, Miss., about 20 miles from the Ole Miss campus, at a fishing camp on Sardis Lake. She had been shot eight times.

Authorities arrested Brandon Theesfield, 22, on Monday, charging him with Kostial’s murder. Theesfield was also a University of Mississippi student, and he and Kostial were studying at the university’s School of Business Administration. Two photos of them together in 2016 surfaced Wednesday, supplied by a person who did not wish to be identified, and were published by the New York Post.

On Tuesday, one of Kostial’s friends claimed on Twitter that Theesfield had harassed Kostial “for years.”

“I spent countless nights holding Ally close drying her tears about this monster for years,” she wrote. “You deserve hell you disgusting excuse for a human.”

But Kostial was only one of five women to die at the business end of a gun last weekend. Four of the women, including Kostial, were under the age of 22.

Arykah White, 16, was murdered Saturday. Photo from her Facebook page.

Arykah White, 16, was attending a sweet sixteen party in Columbus when she was killed on Saturday night, The Clarion Ledger reported. Police described White as an innocent bystander to an argument in the parking lot. Someone pulled a gun, and White was fatally shot. Tuesday, police arrested a 17-year-old for White’s murder.

The body of Hattiesburg resident Shayna Catherine Cline, 19, was found Sunday around 3:40 a.m. in a vacant lot. Police arrested her boyfriend, 31, across the street from the lot, The Clarion Ledger reports.

Zaria Newton, 20, died Saturday night. Photo from her Facebook page.

Zaria Newton, 20, was shot and killed in Brookhaven Saturday night during an apparent home invasion. Newton received an alert from her home surveillance system. When she and her boyfriend went to the house to investigate, three burglary suspects confronted them. They shot Newton, but not her boyfriend. Copiah County deputies killed one of the suspects during a shootout, and they arrested the two others, The Clarion Ledger reported.

“Zaria was on the path of doing amazing things,” her sister, Zshakira, told the paper. “She wasn’t ready to go so soon.”

Also from Hattiesburg, Lisa Nguyen, 59, was murdered during a robbery attempt at her family owned grocery store Saturday around 6 p.m., according to police. Police were still investigating as of yesterday. No suspects have been arrested.

Shayna Catherine Cline, 19, was found shot to death Sunday. Photo from her Facebook page.

Ally Kostial’s friend Anna Pasco wrote on Facebook what could be said of any of the murdered women who all surely have friends and family who will miss them sorely.

“You will be so so missed by everyone’s lives that were honored enough to know you,” Pasco wrote. “Thank you for being such an unbelievable friend and always lifting me up and sparking my spirits every time I was around you. There will never be another like you and I pray that justice is served.”

The New York Post contributed to this report.