Autopsy rules out homicide in death of Coast man found in marsh after police chase
An autopsy by the state’s chief medical examiner Dr. Staci Turner ruled out homicide in the death of Corri Howard, a 36-year-old tattoo artist from Moss Point.
Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. told the Sun Herald that the autopsy, conducted Tuesday morning, has determined Howard’s death was not caused by another person.
“There was no evidence on scene to indicate that there was a homicide of any sort,” Lynd said.
Lynd said the cause and manner of death will not be conclusively determined until toxicology and histology results come back in several weeks. Histology is the study of tissues at the microscopic level.
Howard’s body was found in a marshy area near Howze Street in Moss Point on Thursday. In the early morning hours of the previous Saturday, he had jumped from his vehicle nearby while being pursued by police. They followed him but ended their search that night without finding him.
His fiance, brothers, and close friends have asked why police did not continue looking for him the next day, and how several searches by law enforcement and community members turned up no trace of him until Thursday, five days after he disappeared.
Howard regularly took medication for a condition that caused seizures.
Howard’s fiance, Anissa McGary, previously told the Sun Herald she would obtain a second autopsy regardless of the results of the state autopsy.
Howard was well-known across the Coast for his work as a tattoo artist. He had two children, a daughter and a son.
Cause of death refers to the specific mechanism that causes someone’s death, such as a heart attack or gunshot wound. There are five manners of death: homicide, suicide, accidental, natural, and undetermined.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation into Howard’s death, according to a Moss Point Police Department press release issued Friday.
This story was originally published January 18, 2022 at 1:41 PM.
