Journalist reporting on murder in Mississippi realizes the victim is her relative
Covering crime is all in a day’s work for Mississippi freelance reporter Stacey Cato.
However, news of a woman’s murder early Tuesday in Bay St. Louis put her on the other side of the crime scene tape.
“I knew very few details about the incident,” Cato wrote in The Sea Coast Echo, recalling the day she learned she and the victim were family. “It is always heartbreaking to know someone’s life has just ended, especially so tragically, in a violent fashion.”
Cato arrived at the scene that morning and jumped into “work mode,” interviewing witnesses and authorities and snapping a few pictures.
Police said the victim was found just after 7:45 a.m. and had suffered a fatal gunshot wound, WXXV reported, citing Bay St. Louis Police Chief Gary Ponthieux, Jr. Authorities said her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Cato soon learned the woman found laying in the parking area was her ex-husband’s sister and aunt to her two children.
An investigator pointed out a tattoo on the woman’s foot of their family name — a clue that helped Cato make an immediate connection.
“They couldn’t pronounce it properly, but it was enough for me to know it was my last name,” she recalled, according to The Sea Coast Echo.
Cato wrote of the moment the mortician came to claim the body and how she was tasked with identifying the victim at the county coroner’s office. Though the woman was “hardly recognizable,” she said she knew it was her sister-in-law.
As she headed to the scene that morning, the seasoned crime reporter said she couldn’t help but wonder if the victim was someone she knew.
“The Bay St Louis community is tight-knit,” Cato wrote. “Everyone knows everybody. We expect the victim to be someone we know or know of. That’s just the reality of living in this small, coastal town.”
McClatchy News reached out to Cato for comment on Friday and is awaiting response.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information on the shooting is urged to contact Bay St. Louis police at 228-467-9222, or submit an anonymous tip at www.mscoastcrimestoppers.com.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 12:06 PM with the headline "Journalist reporting on murder in Mississippi realizes the victim is her relative."