Investigators say Terry Burrell Jr. and Khloe Hudson, both 16, were found shot on South Springdale Road, and no suspect or motive had been announced by Saturday.
HINDS COUNTY, Miss. — Two 16-year-old Jackson students who had been reported missing were found shot to death March 30 on a rural road in Hinds County, authorities said, leaving investigators with a double-homicide case and a city still waiting for answers.
Terry Burrell Jr. and Khloe Hudson, both students at Lanier Junior Senior High School, were found after sanitation workers came upon their bodies around noon on South Springdale Road, according to investigators. The deaths quickly became more than a crime story in Jackson. School officials brought in counselors for grieving students and staff, relatives began speaking publicly about the teenagers they lost, and city leaders moved toward a proposal to offer reward money for information. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones has said the killings did not appear random, but as of Saturday authorities had not named a suspect, described a motive or said whether the teens were killed where they were found.
The known timeline begins with two separate missing-person reports and ends, at least publicly, with a rural crime scene. Authorities said both teenagers had been reported missing to the Jackson Police Department within the previous 24 hours before sanitation workers discovered them in the 1700 block of South Springdale Road. Jones said deputies responded after the workers called in the discovery and confirmed that the two victims had been shot multiple times. He later said investigators believe Burrell and Hudson knew each other and were likely taken to the location together. “This does not appear to be a random act of violence,” Jones said as detectives began tracing the pair’s last known movements. Local television reporting described the area as a quiet stretch in the Pocahontas community, near a church and off a small dirt trail, a setting that deepened the shock for residents who said violence of this kind did not feel routine there.
Even with the rapid release of the victims’ names, much about the case remained unsettled through the week. Investigators said only that both teens were 16, both suffered multiple gunshot wounds and both attended the same school. Authorities had not publicly identified a suspect, released a suspect description or explained whether one person or more than one person may have been involved. Jones said detectives were still trying to determine whether the teenagers were brought to the roadside and shot there or killed elsewhere and left on South Springdale Road. He also said investigators had not yet established why that location was chosen. In public statements, the sheriff stressed the seriousness of the case and said detectives were following leads while trying to identify who was responsible. The open questions were basic but important: where the teens went after they were last seen, who they were with, how they reached the road and what events in the hours before the discovery ended in gunfire.
The deaths also rippled through Jackson Public Schools and the broader Jackson community, where the teenagers were known as more than names in a sheriff’s briefing. Jackson Public Schools said it was mourning the sudden loss of two Lanier Junior Senior High School students and said counselors were supporting scholars and staff as they grieved. Hudson had been part of the Living with Purpose Diversion Youth Program in Jackson, where founder John Knight said he had watched her grow over time. Knight remembered her as a quiet, ordinary teenager who showed up in a hoodie, joined in, laughed and answered questions. He said the loss was hard not only on her family but also on other young people in the program who now had to process another death close to home. In one of the sharper signs of the strain felt in the city, Knight said Jackson had lost several youths in a short span, turning this case into part of a larger ache already weighing on families and mentors.
Burrell’s relatives offered a similarly personal account when they began speaking publicly about the teenager they knew as TJ. In an interview with local television, his brother, Katerrius Burrell, recalled the simple routines that now carry the most weight, including going outside together to watch the sunrise. Family members described Terry Burrell Jr. as kind, grounded in faith and devoted to basketball. They said he talked often about the Bible and dreamed of one day reaching the NBA and making his mother proud. Those details did not change the facts of the case, but they gave shape to the loss in a way official statements could not. Katerrius Burrell also described the shock of seeing his own family become part of a local news story, saying the pain stretched through the home and through relatives already carrying grief from other recent deaths. The result was a portrait of two separate family tragedies now tied to one unresolved homicide investigation outside Jackson.
Procedurally, the case remained in an early stage as the week closed. Authorities continued to classify the killings as a double homicide, and no arrest had been announced by Saturday. Local coverage said multiple agencies, including the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office and Capitol Police, were involved in the investigation. In follow-up reporting, the sheriff’s department said there was no new information to release publicly at that time, a sign that detectives were still working behind the scenes on evidence, interviews and timeline reconstruction rather than presenting a clear theory of the crime. The next visible public step is set for Tuesday, when the Jackson City Council is expected to discuss a proposed $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible. Councilman Kenneth Stokes introduced the proposal, which would place City Hall formally behind an effort to generate leads while detectives continue trying to determine whether the teenagers were targeted and who last saw them alive.
At the scene and beyond it, grief and disbelief seemed to move together. One resident told local television it was tragic to see something like this happen in the city, while another described the road area as quiet and not known for trouble. Those reactions matched the contrast at the center of the story: a secluded rural roadside, two missing teenagers found dead in daylight hours and a public still struggling to understand how the case reached that point so quickly. Knight’s memory of Hudson as “just a normal kid” and Katerrius Burrell’s memory of mornings spent watching the sunrise each captured a different part of that same loss. One spoke to ordinary teenage life cut short, the other to the private rituals that survive after violence. Together, those voices added a human record beside the official one, showing a school community in mourning, mentors trying to steady other youths and families left to fill the silence while investigators search for answers.
As of Saturday, authorities had not announced an arrest or a motive in the killings of Burrell and Hudson. The next public milestone is the Jackson City Council meeting on April 7, when members are expected to take up the proposed reward as the double-homicide investigation continues.
Author note: Last updated April 4, 2026.