A man accused of killing a Starkville resident last month faces new charges after he and his girlfriend allegedly conspired to help him escape from jail.
Joshua Murry, 27, and his girlfriend Shanice Nottage, 25, both of Columbus, have been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, according to a Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office press release issued Tuesday.
Murry has been in Lowndes County Adult Detention Center for the murder of Starkville resident Jarrel Ward, 24, since early August. According to the LCSO release, he and Nottage conspired to break Murry out of jail by having Nottage impersonate a Mississippi Department of Corrections officer and pretend to take him into custody.
Sheriff Mike Arledge said Nottage and Murry were still in the planning stages of their escape attempt when investigators learned of it.
“We got some information that that was what they were trying to do,” Arledge said “… It never got that far. But they did conspire. We got with the District Attorney’s Office to make sure we were doing what we needed to do to present it to the grand jury.”
Murry was formally charged with Ward’s murder Aug. 14, though he had been in jail on an unrelated Columbus Police Department charge since Aug. 1.
Ward went missing July 27 and his body was found Aug. 1.
Murry is in Lowndes County Adult Detention Center without bond. Nottage has been released on $2,500 bond.
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