Man pleads guilty to murder of gay University of Mississippi student Jimmie 'Jay' Lee

A man has pleaded guilty to the murder of out gay University of Mississippi student and prominent figure in the local LGBTQ+ scene Jimmie "Jay" Lee.

Sheldon "Timothy" Herrington Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday, over three and a half years after Lee went missing from his student housing complex in Oxford early on the morning of July 8, 2022. He is set to be sentenced on Tuesday.

Lee was a pillar in Ole Miss' LGBTQ+ community, known for his creative fashion and makeup, and for performing as drag queen Jay Divaa in Oxford’s drag night. At just 20 years old, he had already graduated from the university and was pursuing a masters degree.

Police believed that Lee, who was 20 at the time of his death, was murdered, but the whereabouts of his body were unknown. A judge declared him legally dead in November, 2024, before his skeletal remains were found by deer hunters in a forest in Carroll County in February this year. No cause of death was able to be determined due to the decomposition.

Lee was involved in a secret sexual relationship with Herrington, who was in the closet, and an active member of the Abundant Life Assembly, an Apostolic Christian church where his father was an assistant pastor. Herrington became an immediate suspect in the case, and was arrested and charged with capital murder two weeks after Lee's disappearance.

Snapchat messages contained in court documents reportedly show Herrington lured Lee to his death on the evening of July 7 with the promise of reciprocating oral sex. Lee had suspicions about Herrington’s intentions, writing that he was “just tryna lure me over there to beat my ass or something,” to which Herrington replied, “you trippin.”

Lee was messaging another friend about the conversation at the time, though he did not specifically identify Herrington. Lee was never heard from again, and the friend contacted law enforcement.

Surveillance footage showed a person matching Herrington’s description jogging away from Lee's last known whereabouts. Herrington was later seen on security cameras buying duct tape and driving to his parent’s house with a company truck to pick up a wheelbarrow and a shovel. Police found that he had also made an internet search for “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito," referencing the high-profile case of a young woman killed by her boyfriend.

Prosecutors allege Herrington strangled Lee because he feared their relationship might become public, theorizing that Herrington strangled Lee in his apartment, jogged from the scene, and later used his company’s truck to dispose of Lee’s body.

Herrington admitted to a casual relationship with Lee when police questioned him, but denied knowledge of his whereabouts. K-9 dogs trained to detect the presence of cadavers alerted four times in Herrington’s apartment: once in the living room and three times in the bedroom.

A mistrial was initially declared last year after jurors remained deadlocked after nearly ten hours of deliberation, unable to find Herrington guilty on either capital murder, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter by culpable negligence — nor could they find him conclusively not guilty. The second-degree murder plea is slightly lower than the initial charge of capital murder, though it still carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.