Police Chief Tyler Winter and Investigator Tony Dunn with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations spoke to the Duck Hill Board of Aldermen at the Dec. 13, 2021, meeting regarding the case of Michael Ringold, a Duck Hill man that was murdered in October.
Winter said that he’s been working and he’s progressing, but didn’t go into any detail. Dunn said they couldn’t go into details because it would jeopardize the case. He explained that when MBI is called in, they take over the investigation, go over everything Winter presented them with a “fine tooth comb” to ensure nothing has been missed.
“We want to be sure that when we get the person who did this, we get a guilty verdict,” Dunn said. Winter said he’s still awaiting a search warrant from MBI. Dunn said right now, they have evidence that’s being processed at the crime lab, which is backed up.
“Things are moving slow, but we want you to know that Chief Winter is working and we’re working. We’re doing everything that we can,” Dunn said.
Winter said he knows people have questions, but he can’t answer them right now. However; he wants people to know that he hasn’t forgotten about the case, they are working to resolve it and to bring the person who killed Ringold in and get justice for Ringold’s family.
Also, Kimberly Cooley asked Winter if it was possible to have more than one officer on duty.
“This Duck Hill is not the Duck Hill that I grew up in, it’s different,” she said. Winter agreed that one officer on duty wasn’t enough but he didn’t have the money in his budget to have more than one officer.
“If I could have more than one officer on duty, then I would,” he said. “I wish I could.”
Aldermen Chris Caldwell asked if there was a way to inform residents to begin to call 911 instead of calling the duty phone.
“One person may have had the phone on duty but they forgot to leave it and took it home. Then, it takes like two hours to track down someone,” Caldwell said.
“It’s easy to call your buddy on the force and tell them what’s going on, but the calls really should be going to 911,” Board Attorney Adam Kirk said.
“Every call should be logged,” Fire Chief Michael Woods added.
Also, a resident asked about the progress of the Binford School. Alderwoman Shernell Everett said by telephone that the Town of Duck Hill was actually awarded the $650,000 Brownfield grant. However; the town holds the deed to the school and would have to sign it over to a non-profit.
Caldwell said because there was not a lot of time given for the town to transfer the deed to a non-profit, they decided to wait until next year. However, Everett said because Duck Hill didn’t move on it this year, they don’t know if they’ll be even considered next year.
“So, we’re back to square one and the responsibility is still on the town,” Everett said.
“But, one thing you have to know is that NMCUP [North Montgomery County United for Prosperity] is not a 501c3 and the non-profit had to have been a 501c3,” Mayor Al White said.
“It can take up to a year to become a 501c3 because you have to go through the IRS,” Kirk added.
Alderwoman Linda Bennett said there was an alumni group working to restore the building, but they only wanted to restore the gymnasium.
“Shernell and her group came on board and they were talking about restoring the entire thing but I think that group only wanted to restore the gymnasium. So, I don’t know what’s going on with that group.”
