Coast man admits killing girlfriend in Harrison County, authorities say

A Saucier man is being held on a murder charge in the alleged shooting death of his girlfriend at her Hayley Road home, Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson said in a press release.

Neshoba County sheriff’s deputies first arrested Jeremy Childress on Friday after deputies there responded to a domestic disturbance that resulted in a brief standoff, the release said.

Afterward, Childress told Neshoba County deputies he had shot and killed his girlfriend, identified as Michelle Hester, 52, at her home in Saucier.

Harrison County deputies found Hester dead of an apparent gunshot wound in her home.

Childress was in custody in Neshoba County on Monday pending extradition to Harrison County on the murder charge, the release said.

Judge Melvin Ray has set his bond at $1 million.

Harrison County sheriff’s investigator Nicholas Pennington is heading up the murder investigation.

This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 2:02 PM.

Margaret Baker

Sun Herald

601-909-0541

Margaret is an investigative reporter whose search for truth exposed corrupt sheriffs, a police chief and various jailers and led to the first prosecution of a federal hate crime for the murder of a transgendered person. She worked on the Sun Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina team. When she pursues a big story, she is relentless.