On March 27, 2015, Gilbert A. Woodis, 57, and his son Brandon Lee Woodis, 32, were found shot to death in their home in the County Line community near Union, Mississippi. Investigators identified a longtime family friend, 31-year-old Billy Jerald McLain of Crystal Springs, as the suspect. McLain had reportedly been employed by Gilbert Woodis and had been living in the Woodis home for a couple of weeks before the killings.

A relative in Oklahoma told the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department that McLain called and confessed to killing two people; McLain was later arrested by the Jackson Police Department the evening of the murders after abandoning his vehicle on a dirt road in Simpson County. He was charged with two counts of murder and with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and was denied bond at initial court proceedings. The sheriff described the apparent motive as McLain becoming paranoid and flying into a rage.

If anyone knew Gilbert or Brandon Woodis, or has information about McLain’s time living with the family, please share what you know.