A safe stolen from a George County home was found — underwater— in Biloxi

A safe stolen from a George County home has turned up in an unlikely place — in the Mississippi Sound.

How it got there hasn’t been explained, but one teenager has been arrested on a residential burglary charge and another has turned himself in, George County Sheriff Keith Havard said Wednesday.

The burglary was reported Aug. 21 at a home in the Merrill community, an area east of the Pascagoula River in the north part of the county.

Items reported stolen were a Liberty safe, firearms, electronics and jewelry, Havard said.

Investigators gathered evidence pointing to suspects and a possible location for the safe, he said.

Officers with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and E & M Towing pulled the safe up from waters at the old Broadwater Marina, a west Biloxi boating area destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The safe appeared to be intact when it was retrieved.

Deputies first arrested Ashton Lee Menefee, 18, of Saucier on a charge of burglary of a dwelling. He was being held in George County on a $20,000 bond.

Kelien Andreus Hawkins, a 19-year-old Biloxi resident, turned himself in Wednesday. Havard had released a picture of him and Menefee on Monday and asked for tips to help find Hawkins.

Hawkins also has a $20,000 bond.

Anyone with information about the burglary and acts that followed is asked to call the George County Sheriff’s Office at 601-947-4811 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-877-787-5898. Or tipsters can give a tip online at mscoastcrimestoppers.com or at GeorgeCountyMSSheriff.com.

Tipsters can remain anonymous while contacting Crime Stoppers, even while collecting a reward.

This story was originally published September 25, 2018 at 6:00 AM.