Three Holmes County residents charged Tuesday by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department with burglary in a May break-in at a hunting camp near Vaiden also were charged with capital murder in mid-June in the death of an Ocean Springs man.
Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said that Kyle Craig, 26, of Ocean Springs was killed June 2 and found dead in West after attempting to meet up with a seller through Facebook Marketplace to purchase a four-wheeler.
March said his department’s investigation led to three suspects: Montavius Landfair, 20, Darius Erving, 17, and Parveion Harris, 17.
Holmes County authorities attempted to apprehend Erving the day after Craig was killed, but he fled in a car, resulting in a high-speed chase. March said Harris was in the vehicle during the chase.
Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker said the chase started in Holmes County, proceeded through Carroll County and ended back in Holmes County, where Erving and Harris were apprehended and taken into custody in Greenwood.
March said Erving and Harris were eventually taken to the Holmes County Regional Correctional Facility and charged in late June with murder in Craig’s death.
Erving is also charged with felony fleeing.
March said Landfair was apprehended by U.S. Marshals in Durant, picked up by Holmes County Sheriff Department and taken to the Holmes County Regional Correctional Facility, where he has been held since mid-June.
Walker said that those three also have been charged with burglary in an earlier incident at the hunting camp.
Walker said officers responded to an alarm that had gone off at the camp on the night of May 27. He said the three men came in on an ATV that had been stolen from a hunting camp in Holmes County and allegedly took guns from the camp near Vaiden.
He said they almost took another ATV that was inside that camp but were unsuccessful.
After hearing the alarm from the camp, neighbors drove there, and shots were fired at them, Walker said. The three men did not attempt to leave the camp until they saw the headlights from the car of the neighbor who had driven there.
No one was injured, but the three suspects fled on foot before officers arrived, the sheriff said.
“I just want to emphasize that these guys were dangerous, and we really appreciate the neighbors looking out for each other, and thank God nobody got hurt,” Walker said.
March said that it was unclear whether there is a connection between the guns stolen from the Vaiden hunting camp and the weapon used to kill Craig.
- Contact Drew Richardson at 581-7233 or drichardson@gwcommonwealth.com.
