The family of a Greenwood mother who was found dead early this month is looking for answers about her death.
Ginger Renee Phillips, 43, died at her residence on Jan. 4.
Leflore County Coroner Debra Sanders said autopsy results are not yet complete. A toxicology report also is pending.
Phillips’ stepfather, Donald Smith of Greenwood, said he was told twice by the county Sheriff’s Department that someone had been arrested in the death, but Sheriff Ricky Banks said Friday he had no current information about an arrest.
Her stepfather remembers her as “the closest thing I would have to a daughter.”
“When she was good, she was really good,” he said. “She was very witty. She was funny.”
Smith said he was married to Phillips’ mother, Debbie Creekmore, for 25 years.
Though the marriage ended, Smith maintained a good relationship with Phillips over the years.
“She brought me a Christmas card last Christmas that said ‘to the best stepdad in the world,’” he said. “Those are the things that I want to remember.”
He said that he and the rest of Phillips’ relatives were stunned by her death.
“This was just a sudden thing,” he said. “Trying to pull the family together and hold them together. It’s just been hard to deal with, like it would be for anybody.”
Since Phillips’ death, he said, they have been looking for closure more than anything else.
“We want just the truth of whatever it is,” he said. “That’s it. We just want, like anybody would want, to put it to rest and accept the facts as they are. That’s what we need.”
Phillips is also survived by her children, Jacob Phillips, Cain Grippi and Sarah Stubbs; and brother, James Douglas Phillips.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
