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Man linked to Mississippi slaying spotted in Villa Rica
by Bennett Rolan/Times-Georgian1 hr 23 mins ago | 36 views | 0 | 2 | |
Police believe a person of interest in a slaying that occurred Nov. 12 in Ocean Springs, Miss., may be in or around the Villa Rica area. The man was seen in a Villa Rica bar, The Watering Hole, on Nov. 7 where he reportedly failed to pay his tab.
Police said the man was later spotted on Nov. 15 in Jackson, Miss. Though his whereabouts are unknown, he reportedly has Villa Rica ties, according to Villa Rica Police Capt. Keith Shaddix.
“Everything the Mississippi police are finding out about him leads back to this area,” Shaddix said.
The man was identified as Jericho Cooper, which police now believe may be a false name.
“He’s making a claim he’s with a recording studio,” Shaddix said. “All of the information we’ve received from people who have sighted him has been false.”
Shaddix said police want to question Cooper about the days preceding the slaying since he was the last person seen with the victim while he was alive.
A Nov. 10, surveillance video showed Cooper and the victim, Michael Surber, 54, leaving Skeeter’s Billiards in Gulfport, Miss.
Two days later, Surber’s friends said they became suspicious when Surber failed to show up for a billiards game even though his car was in the parking lot, according to The Sun Herald, a south Mississippi newspaper.
After they realized the car had been there since Nov. 10, Surber’s friends went to his Ocean Springs residence. The home was boarded up in preparation for tropical storm Ida, according to The Mississippi Press, so Surber’s friends removed one of the boards to look inside.
Once they did, they saw Surber’s lifeless body on the floor.
It wasn’t until after police received an official autopsy report that they were able to rule Surber’s death a homicide.
Cooper was described as being a white man, late 40s to mid-50s. He is about 5-feet, 9-inches tall and 180 pounds with dirty blond hair and a receding hair line. He was last seen with his hair pulled back into a pony tail just below the collar, wearing a blue dress shirt and dark slacks. Cooper is known to frequent bars and pool halls, police said.
Shaddix said anyone with information about Cooper’s whereabouts should contact the Villa Rica Police Department.
101 Main St.
Villa Rica, GA
30180
Phone: 770-459-5149
For Emergencies, Dial: 911
FAX: 770-459-7008
