Following his guilty plea, a man from Newton was given life in jail for the deaths of his fiancée and a Meridian police officer.
Dante Bender, who used to work as a police officer in Newton, was given his term on May 22.
On June 9, 2022, 30-year-old Meridian police officer Kennis Croom was killed while going to a call about a woman who had been shot and killed. Bender, who she is engaged to, was arrested on June 10 in Ackerman, Mississippi, which is 129 kilometers (80 miles) north of Meridian.
The shooting involving a police officer happened on 51st Avenue in the city borders of Meridian after 5:30 p.m. The Meridian Star said that the shooting happened after the cop, whose name was Kennis Croom, went to a call about domestic violence.
Clay Cobler, the coroner for Lauderdale County, says Croom was shot five times in the chest and once in the head. His body was taken to the State Crime Lab so that it could be examined by a doctor.
Croom is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and comes from a family with ties to Alabama sports. He used to work as a police officer in Jackson.
A plea hearing was held where Bender admitted that he had shot Croom and Jones while drunk. He admitted to killing someone and then putting them to death.
Bender was given a term of life in prison without the chance of parole.