On a November night in Neshoba County, Ozie Mcbeath was killed in his home. He was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun pressed directly against him while in bed. The sequence of events was reconstructed largely from testimony by his son Demonta.

Earlier that night Victor Mcbeath had been out with friends and returned home. Demonta later arrived to find Victor acting erratically; Demonta locked his door and later ran out after hearing a gunshot and a scream around 3:30 to 4 a.m. He saw Victor with a shotgun and, after a frantic search, found blood in Ozie’s bedroom and then Ozie’s body on a living room daybed. A struggle followed in which Victor armed himself with a rifle; Demonta disarmed him and fled to call for help. Investigators found an intentionally set fire in the dining room.

At trial, experts testified that shotgun hulls in the bedroom matched the shotgun Victor had been holding and that Ozie’s DNA was on the shirt Victor wore. Victor Mcbeath was convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree arson and received life plus twenty years, to be served consecutively. Does anyone have additional information about the family or that night that could illuminate what led to this killing?