Mississippi man accused of 2015 capital murder will be released on bond

A man imprisoned since 2015 will be released on bond days before his capital murder trial was to begin.

New evidence has surfaced indicating Jonathan Shumaker, 28, may not have been involved in the shooting death of a Macon, Miss., gas-station attendant, Kristopher Haywood, in March 2015.

Four people were charged in the case: Shumaker and his girlfriend Elizabeth Reed, and brothers Justin and Joshua Williams. Shumaker and Reed are from Shuqualak, and the Williams brothers are from Macon. Shumaker allegedly pulled the trigger.

Haywood was found shot multiple times on March 2, 2015, at about 10:30 p.m. at a Local Express gas station in Macon. He died of his wounds two days later.

Among the new evidence are voice recordings putting all four of the accused 13 miles from the scene of the shooting just minutes after the 911 call came in reporting it, reports The Dispatch newspaper. The accused are heard making music with a fifth individual, Freddie Hill. Shumaker’s attorney, Shane Tompkins, said the recordings were uncovered by the Capital Defense team, which focuses on death penalty cases.

District Attorney Scott Colom.

In a press conference Thursday, Nov. 14, in Noxubee County, District Attorney Scott Colom announced the case against Shumaker will be continued, and he is recommending that Reed and the Williams brothers also be released on bond. As a condition of his release, Shumaker will be wearing a GPS tracking device.

The DA said the recordings had been analyzed by two experts.

“These audios were concerning to me because of the timing,” Colom told the paper. “… The 911 call was reported at 10:37. The first recording is at 10:42 p.m., five minutes after the 911 call, which means five minutes after (the murder) was reported, Freddie Hill had Joshua Williams’ phone and Freddie Hill said the four of them were together making music. That’s not consistent with the statements any of the witnesses said that led to the arrest of these four people. That’s extremely inconsistent with what they said.”

Colom indicated that the investigation into the Haywood murder will continue, and said that his office will hire a private investigator to concentrate solely on this case. He did not speculate on whether any of the accused would be exonerated.

“The investigation’s not over until it’s over,” he said.