Home of accused killer Willie Cory Godbolt destroyed in Sunday fire
Published 7:59 pm Sunday, June 11, 2017
Fire marshals could take up to two weeks to determine a cause of a fire that destroyed the Bogue Chitto home of a man accused of killing eight people in a Memorial Day weekend shooting spree.
Authorities are not saying yet whether arson is expected in the blaze.
Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said his office received a call at 4:24 a.m. about a house on fire at 377 Brister St., the address of Willie Cory Godbolt.
The Bogue Chitto Volunteer Fire Department and other Lincoln County volunteer departments responded to a structure fire, he said. No one was home at the time of the fire. The mobile home was completely destroyed. The fire even scorched parts of the yard.
Emergency crews arrived at about 4:35 a.m., Bogue Chitto VFD Chief Blake Wallace said. It was a total loss.
Wallace said he was unsure if Godbolt’s wife and children had lived in the home recently.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office fire investigator responded to the scene and the Mississippi Fire Marshal’s Office has been contacted to try and determine a cause of the fire, he said.
The Mississippi Fire Marshal’s Office declined to comment on the current investigation.
Rushing said it could take a week or two for the fire marshal to make a determination.
Godbolt has been charged with one count of capital murder and seven counts of first degree murder. He is being held while he awaits his next court hearing. A judge denied bond for Godbolt at a hearing in Copiah County.
The capital murder charge is for the death of Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy William Durr, 36.
The first degree murder charges are for the deaths of Barbara Mitchell, 55, her daughter, Toccara May, 35, and Mitchell’s sister Brenda May, 53, all of Bogue Chitto; Austin Edwards, 11, and his cousin, Jordan Blackwell, 17, of Brookhaven; and Ferral Burage, 45, and Sheila Burage, 46, of Brookhaven.