Mississippi Authorities Identify Black Man Whose Body Was Decapitated

Police offered a $20,000 reward on Tuesday in connection with the death of a black man whose decapitated body parts were found in Mississippi’s capital.

Authorities believe the severed head and a headless body found in two separate places not far from each other in Jackson on Saturday belong to 30-year-old Jeremy Jerome Jackson.

Due to the brutality of the crime, Jackson police called in the FBI to assist the department.

The severed head was found first, on the steps of a home in the city and the badly burned headless body was discovered in field about a mile away a few hours later, according to police.

“Shocking, brutal [and] bizarre,” is how Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance on Monday described the discoveries, adding at a press briefing that the city’s residents are “in a state of shock.”

It took police considerable time to identify the victim due to the poor condition of the remains.

“Someone’s sending a message,” a local resident told The Clarion-Ledger. “Why else do you do that?”

Police said they had questioned residents of the house, but they were not yet commenting on what, if anything, they had learned from them.

“You would think perhaps an intimidation intention was there, but we got to go by the basics first,” Vance said.

Vance said police would “leave no stone, no leaf unturned until we find out who is responsible.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jackson Police Department at 601-960-1234 or Crime Stoppers at 601-355-TIPS.

David Lohr covers crime and missing persons. Tips? Feedback? Send an email or follow him on Twitter.

This article has been updated with new details, including the identity of the victim and the police reward offer.