On September 14, 1987, Circuit Court Judge Vincent Jerome Vince Sherry Jr., 58, and his wife Margaret were shot multiple times at close range with a .22 caliber pistol fitted with a silencer and found dead in their North Biloxi home on September 16. The discovery was made by the judge’s law partner, Peter Halat.

A lengthy investigation exposed a prison-based conspiracy tied to Kirksey Nix of the Dixie Mafia. Nix allegedly ran a scam from prison; Halat is reported to have laundered proceeds and, fearing exposure, conspired with Nix. The plot reached outside prison walls when strip club owner Mike Gillich Jr. hired Texas hitman Thomas Leslie Holcomb to carry out the killings, and John Ransom supplied the murder weapon. Margaret Sherry is said to have been killed in part because of her political opposition to those involved.

Several defendants were later convicted on federal conspiracy and murder-related charges, including Halat, Holcomb and Nix. Does anyone have memories of the Sherrys or details about Biloxi in 1987 that could shed more light on these events?