On the evening of May 15, 2019, 73-year-old Margaret Victoria Pierce was shot multiple times inside her home on Myrtle Street in Jackson’s Belhaven neighborhood and did not survive. Pierce lived with her longtime boyfriend, Hugh McLaurin; he was the only other person in the house that night and was taken into custody at the scene. Investigators and local reports described the killing as an intimate-partner shooting and charged McLaurin with murder the next day. Bond was set at $200,000 at his initial court appearance.

Friends and neighbors remembered Pierce as sweet and caring, retired from State of Mississippi employment, with ties to Tunica High School and Belhaven College, and someone who looked after stray animals and people in need. Public coverage documents the shooting, arrest, and early court appearance, but does not clearly report what happened afterward in court.

If anyone knew Margaret Pierce or has information about her death, please share what you can.