Willie Ray Jones, 28, was last seen on July 6, 2020, in Pearl River County, Mississippi. His family reported him missing that day. Jones reportedly carried a large sum of cash, between $10,000 and $40,000, in a shoebox — a detail investigators say motivated the crime.

Authorities say Jones accepted a ride from longtime friend Dustin Gray, who allegedly arranged the meeting under the pretense of helping Jones buy illegal narcotics. Prosecutors contend Gray and his half-brother Austin Brookshire planned to rob Jones; investigators allege Jones was shot multiple times in the backseat of Gray’s car in a rural area of Pearl River County. Brookshire and Gray are accused of burying Jones in a shallow grave on Texas Flat Road in neighboring Hancock County. Employees at a car wash noticed blood in Gray’s vehicle, which employees refused to clean and which later became evidence.

The Grays fled to Pueblo, Colorado, where they were arrested on an unrelated firearms charge and returned to Mississippi; interviews with them led investigators to Jones’s remains. An autopsy identified Jones and found multiple gunshot wounds as the cause of death.

If anyone knew Willie Ray Jones, saw him on or after July 6, 2020, or has information about his movements that day, please come forward.