Jadyn Hamilton, Athens, Mississippi teen confesses to beating his grandmother, Ollie Hamilton to death at their local church in Monroe County.
Mississippi authorities have arrested a 17 year old alleged to have beaten his grandmother to death at a Monroe County area church where she was a beloved member and regular attendee.
Jadyn Hamilton of Athens is alleged to have confessed to the slaying after a family member called police Wednesday afternoon to say they found the ‘battered’ body of Ollie Hamilton, 73, near an outdoor area that led to the kitchen of her church.
Beloved church member killed in ‘tragedy of the worse kind’
The incident happened at Smith Chapel Holiness Church on Burr Road in the Athens community.
Evidence pointed to the grandson, with the boy shortly after being taken into custody admitting to killing his grandmother according to Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook.
‘The longer that investigation went, evidence started pointing in a certain direction. A young man had supposedly gone for help early on after the attack. We ended up bringing him [Jadynn] in last night, and he confessed to the crime,’ Sheriff Crook said according to a Facebook release.
Crook called the incident a ‘tragedy of the worst kind.’
‘This is a tragedy of the worst kind because you’ve got a beloved church member, family member and community member killed, and you come to find out within 24 hours she was killed by another beloved family member,’ he continued in his statement.
Adding, ‘If somebody is not able to control their impulses and they reach that point, I don’t think it really matters who the victim is at the time. If it got them to that level of anger, they’re going to lash out at whoever — it just happened to be his grandmother.’
Monroe County sheriff reflected on ‘missed opportunities’
Crook went on to urge members of the community to use the tragedy as a learning opportunity.
‘Try to learn from every tragedy. Were there signs? Were there things you can point back to and say, ‘Maybe we could have gotten this information to the right people.’ A lot of stuff happens among our youth that isn’t communicated a lot of times,’ he said.
Sheriff Crook described Hamilton as an outstanding person according to The Monroe Journal.
‘She was a pillar of the community, a pillar of the church and somebody a lot of people counted on and depended on and was faithful to serve in that community for a long time. It was obvious she was well-loved,’ he said according to the outlet.
Authorities had yet to say what led up to the boy killing his grandmother.
The teen had no prior run-ins with law enforcement.
Jadynn remains held on a $500,000 bond.
