A Mississippi man was arrested in connection to the deaths of a 7-year-old boy, his mother and stepfather, after their bodies were found Monday.
Jaidon Hill, 7, Atira Hill, 30, and Laterry Smith, 34, had been missing since Friday. They were last seen driving in their vehicle, which was found burning and upside down in a ditch near Carpenter, in the central part of the state.
An ensuing investigation led Copiah County Sheriff's deputies to 42-year-old Timothy Lydell Burns, who was arrested in Jackson on Tuesday, WAPT reports. The man reportedly led authorities to the bodies, found in an old house near the car's location. All three had been shot. Police wouldn't provide a connection between Burns and the deceased family.
On Monday, investigators were seen collecting items -- including bloody clothes and Hill's ID badge from her job at the University of Mississippi Medical Center -- from a Dumpster at a Shell gas station in Jackson, Yahoo! News reports.
Penny King, a relative of Atira Hill, spoke through tears when she told ABC News about the family. She described Jaidon as an "energetic, all-American boy."
"He's full of energy and full of life. He worked in the church," she said.. "He just didn't deserve this at all."
Police didn't immediately release more information about the bodies or the suspect.
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