By Staff
Jan. 1, 2001
Peace was shattered on Oct. 3 in the quiet community of Bailey when the body of postal carrier Brenda Rogers was discovered in a home in nearby rural Kemper County.
Rogers' postal route took her from the Bailey community into the southern portion of Kemper County. After a neighbor witnessed her abduction on a narrow dirt road, residents began a door-to-door search for her. They found her the bedroom of a small home, shot nine times.
Authorities from eight law enforcement agencies banded together, solving the case in three days. The first suspect, Michael Sims, was taken into custody less than 24 hours after Rogers' body was discovered and charged with murder.
A second murder suspect, Thaddeus Brown, was arrested a day later. By Oct. 6, authorities had charged a third man, Lakendrick Brown, as an accessory after the fact.
By Oct. 7, deputies had located what they believed was the murder weapon used in the crime and stolen property from the home in which Rogers' body was found.
Officials say they believe Sims and Thaddeus Brown had been burglarizing a home in the area, ran out of gas and killed Rogers for the fuel in her car.
Customers and neighbors lined Bailey's roads with black ribbons tied to mail boxes in Rogers' memory. Her funeral was said to have been the most well-attended in the county. And family members and friends mourned her death in a special tribute by The Meridian Star.
In mid-December, both Sims and Thaddeus Brown were transported to a federal holding facility in Jackson after a federal grand jury returned indictments against them for capital murder.
Lakendrick Brown, whose bail has been reduced from $50,000 to $25,000, remains in the Lauderdale County Detention Facility.
No trial date has been set.