Tennessee man convicted of killing 2 people in Mississippi

Published 2:53 pm Friday, June 7, 2019

(AP) — A Tennessee man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted in the killings of two people in northern Mississippi.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports 21-year-old Kedarius Hamer, of Bolivar, Tennessee, was found guilty Thursday of two counts of capital murder.

Investigators said 51-year-old Paul Joel Koster and 29-year-old Ayla Roxanne Hopper were found dead July 6, 2017, in their home near Walnut. The town is about 25 miles south of Bolivar.

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Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, so Circuit Judge Kelly Luther sentenced Hamer to the only other option for a capital murder conviction in Mississippi — life without parole.

Three people await trial in the case. Two are charged in the killings and one as accessory after the fact.