Skip to main content

User account menu

  • Log in
  • Rss
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Shopping cart 0
Cart

Search

Search
Home starherald.net • The Star-Herald • Kosciusko, Mississippi
  • Post
    • Leaderboard
    • Post Dashboard
    • Payment Settings
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Monthly Website Statistics
    • Our History
    • Our Staff
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submit News
  • Most Read
    • Most Read This Week
    • Most Read This Month
    • Most Read This Year
    • Most Read All Time
  • Most Recent
  • More News
    • Cartoons
    • Crime
    • Documents
    • Lifestyles
    • Politics
    • Public Notices
    • Videos
    • Attala County
    • Central Holmes Christian School
    • Public Notices
    • Videos
    • Attala County
    • Central Holmes Christian School
    • Ethel
  • Sports
  • E-Edition
  • Advertising
    • Ad Staff
  • Calendar
  • Social
    • Anniversaries/Birthdays
    • Engagements/Weddings
    • Submit a Wedding
    • Submit an Engagement
    • Submit an Anniversary
    • Submit a Birth
    • Submit School News
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
      • Joseph Brown
      • Local Columnist
      • Stan Beall
    • Submit a Letter to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Polls
    • Comments
  • Subscribe
  • State
  • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary

Domain menu for The Star-Herald (mobile)

  • Post
    • Leaderboard
    • Post Dashboard
    • Payment Settings
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Monthly Website Statistics
    • Our History
    • Our Staff
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submit News
  • Most Read
  • Most Recent
  • More News
    • Cartoons
    • Crime
    • Documents
    • Lifestyles
    • Politics
    • Public Notices
    • Videos
    • Attala County
    • Central Holmes Christian School
    • Ethel
    • McAdams
    • French Camp
    • Holmes CC
    • Kosciusko
  • Sports
  • E-Edition
  • Advertising
  • Calendar
  • Social
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
      • Joseph Brown
      • Local Columnist
      • Stan Beall
    • Submit a Letter to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Polls
    • Comments
  • Subscribe
  • State
  • Obituaries

Roland Mitchell Dampeer, shown in this file photo taken at the time of his arrest, has been indicted on kidnapping charges in relation to incidents involving Andrea Goss starting at the Sunflower supermarket. He has also been indicted at the federal level for the murder of postal worker Sherry Ingold.

Breaking their silence - Part Two - Earlier victim shares her story for the first time

READ MORE > 48,449 Reads
On Wed, 10/14/2020 - 09:37 AM

Before Roland Mitchell Dampeer allegedly shot Sherry Ingold on Jan. 16 – causing her death days later — he reportedly terrorized another local woman during two separate incidents earlier that day.

Attala County District Attorney Doug Evans said in March that Dampeer had been indicted on kidnapping charges after Dampeer allegedly assaulted Andrea Goss of Carmack in the Sunflower supermarket on Highway 12 in Kosciusko.

Goss has never publicly discussed her experience before, but agreed to an interview with The Star-Herald this week. She said she speaks now to quell rumors that ran rampant on social media following the incident and to remind people that Dampeer had more than one victim.

“I guess I just want to help people understand how bad he (Dampeer) really is,” she said.

It all started when Goss went to Sunflower to pick up lunch from the deli counter. She said she had just turned around from the counter when she came face-to-face with Dampeer.

“I turned around from the cashier at the deli and he was right there in my face, and he said, ‘Hey, come with me.’ I told him no, that I didn't know him and then that's when he grabbed me and started pulling me. That’s all he said to me,” said Goss. “It just felt like I was in a horror movie. You just don’t ever expect anything like that to happen.”

When she continued to fight him off, Dampeer picked her up from the ground.

She remembers loudly saying, “’Let me go. Please put me down. Please, somebody help me,’ trying to get somebody's attention.”

Goss said she still cannot understand why no one helped her.

“A lot of people thought me and him were together. Even if that were the case, I don't see how people would not step in to help. Nobody came to help me and in the video there were men standing at the end of the aisle … just looking into the aisle,” she said. “When he carried me down the aisle and threw me in the meat cooler, they were just, just looking. They never even tried to help me.”

Goss said everyone thinks they know how they would react in such a situation, but they do not know until something life-threatening happens to them.

“My mind kind of went away from my body, because I've always thought if something ever happened like that, I'm going to do this and this, but I just lost all of all of that,” she said. “I couldn't even think of what to do but to try to get away.”

Goss said she does not understand why Dampeer carried her toward the back of the store instead of out the closer front doors.

“I really don't know. I don't understand. I think he could have just carried me outside or whatever when nobody really came to try to help me. I don't know why he went to the back of the store. Maybe he thought there was a back entrance, but it was all workers where they cut meat up. Maybe he saw that and thought, ‘Okay, I can't go out.’”

Dampeer dropped her into one of the meat coolers, warned bystanders away, and walked back to the front of the store, where he exited the building.

After speaking to police called to the scene, Goss returned to work at Central Tire Service and waited for her father to arrive to accompany her home.

In what she describes as something like a scene in a horror movie, she came face-to-face with her assailant a second time.

As she drove up Highway 35 toward home, her father following behind in his truck, a vehicle coming from the opposite direction came to a stop near the home of Pearline Cummins.

“It’s just like a very scary movie where you can't get away from the bad guy. I was going downhill and he was going the opposite way down. I saw him pretty much stop in the middle of the road. And I was thinking, he must not be paying attention; they might be wanting to get into this driveway; they're just, they're not thinking,” she said.

She said that she had not heard a description of his vehicle and did not realizer her situation at first.

“But he immediately knew that it was me, because then he got into my lane. We were bumper-to-bumper and he smiled and waved at me. I immediately knew it was him.”

She put her vehicle in reverse and her father then followed suit, each backing up the hill they had just descended. Dampeer’s vehicle continued forward, she said, remaining nearly bumper-to-bumper with hers.

Goss said her father attempted to warn Dampeer away, despite Dampeer having a firearm.

“He (Goss’s father) holds his gun out his window and shows the guy like, ‘Hey, I got a gun!’” she said. “So, that made him (Dampeer) kind of pause for just a second and I had just a little bit of space to get around his bumper.”

She said she rapidly drove up the next hill and saw Dampeer’s vehicle pull toward the side of the road, possibly intending to turn around. As she crested the hill and lost site of the scene, she called her father.

“When I couldn't see him anymore, I called and asked him what was going on because I was afraid for my dad,” she said.

Her father told her he was calling law enforcement and hung up. When she arrived at her home she waited, relieved when her father arrived minutes later.

It was only later that Goss said her father recalled seeing what he now believes was Sherry Ingold’s vehicle in his rearview mirror, turning on to Highway 35 North from Highway 440, headed toward Pearline Cummins’ house to deliver mail — the location where she was allegedly shot by Dampeer.

“We didn't know if that guy got turned around and followed us, so my dad was just trying to get to me as fast as he could, to make sure that if (Dampeer) did, my dad would be there,” she said.

But Dampeer had not followed them.

Minutes after her father arrived at Goss’s home, shaken but uninjured, Goss’s father-in-law showed up and told them that Sherry Ingold had been shot.

Roland Mitchell Dampeer, the man Goss is “100% sure” is her assailant, has been indicted on attempted kidnapping charges locally. Kosciusko Police Chief Herbert Dew has indicated the case will not be pursued in local courts until federal charges in relation to the Ingold murder are resolved.

Goss said it doesn’t matter which charges Dampeer is convicted of — as long as he is never released from custody.

“I am heartbroken for Mrs. Sherry’s family and if we can get justice for her, then that is justice for me, as well. I pray justice will be served,” she said. “I hope that he gets charged fully and that he can never get out.”

Goss admits that since her attack, she struggles to live the kind of life she had previously. She spends the vast majority of her time at home with her husband of five years, Cody,  raising their two little boys, aged 3 and 2.

“I’m just taking it day-by-day. I have anxiety and I’m still very cautious about where I go. I don’t get out much unless I really have to, and, if I do, I carefully watch every surrounding,” she said. “I tried to go back to work. I thought I had relaxed a bit, but those memories all crammed back in. I just can’t be out and go through that area a lot.”

The thought that Dampeer might someday be free is almost unimaginable to her.

“I’m hoping that is not the case,” she said. “If there is a chance that he could get out, I’m going to have to live in fear for the rest of my life.”

‹ PreviousNext ›

Lifestyles

RELIGION COLUMN: Are you a trustworthy person?

Trust is described in Webster’s dictionary as …a firm belief or confidence in the honesty,… READ MORE

The Church Bulletin 123120
The Church Bulletin 122420
Helping Hands and Lions Club contribute during season of giving
Memories of special family Christmases
Hot glue gun incident won’t be soon forgotten

Social

RELIGION COLUMN: Are you a trustworthy person?

Trust is described in Webster’s dictionary as …a firm belief or confidence in the honesty,… READ MORE

The Church Bulletin 123120
The Church Bulletin 122420
Helping Hands and Lions Club contribute during season of giving
Memories of special family Christmases
Hot glue gun incident won’t be soon forgotten

Sign Up for Notifications of Local Breaking News

Start E-mail NotificationsStop E-mail NotificationsStart Mobile NotificationsStop Mobile Notifications

Obituaries

Helen Black Smith

Helen Black Smith, 97, of Kosciusko, passed away January 25, 2021, at Baptist-Attala.

Leroy Cain
Daisy Belle Nash Jackson
Doug ‘Mole’ Hutchison
Doyce Parish
Harold Lee Martin

Most Recent

Whippets' soccer season ends in opening round of playoffs

Kosciusko soccer came to an end for the season in losses by the boys and girls teams Tuesday… READ MORE

Hyde-Smith: CPB issues $21.2 million contract for border security helicopters build in Mississippi
‘Unpredictable and limited’: Dobbs urges patience with COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Gov. Tate Reeves’ issues second State of the State Address - Full 2021 Address
Helen Black Smith
Weekly Newsletter - From the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus

Most Read News Article

  • Week
  • Month
  • Year
  • All Time

Person ‘wanted for questioning’ in murder case

The Newton County Sheriff's Department is assisting the Scott County Sheriff's Department in… READ MORE

Detour implemented from Milepost 115 to 135 of Natchez Trace on January 25, 2021
Marshall Ramsey: Session
Mayor Cockroft recovering from COVID
Congressman Guest Announces New Committee Assignment
MSDH partnering with Mississippi Public Librarys to offer free radon home test kits

Where does entitlement begin?

My wife and I enjoy traveling and when we do, we eat at many type restaurants. On one particular… READ MORE

Mississippi’s Moment
Martha Golden Loftin Ables
Library flooded again
Person ‘wanted for questioning’ in murder case
HOSEMANN: Our 2021 Goal: Investing in Mississippi’s Greatest Asset, Our Citizens

Welcome to the Brave New World; The devastating effects of Section 230 on America

Kudos to Mississippi U. S. Senator Roger Wicker for sponsoring a bill to amend Section 230 of the… READ MORE

Breaking their silence - Part Two - Earlier victim shares her story for the first time
Late football great Robert "Gentle Ben" Williams honored by State Senate
Kosciusko High class quarantined due to COVID-19
Big Tech eroding freedoms
Most state agencies requesting slight increases in appropriations for next fiscal year

Welcome to the Brave New World; The devastating effects of Section 230 on America

Kudos to Mississippi U. S. Senator Roger Wicker for sponsoring a bill to amend Section 230 of the… READ MORE

George Sharp
Breaking their silence - Part Two - Earlier victim shares her story for the first time
Late football great Robert "Gentle Ben" Williams honored by State Senate
Kosciusko High class quarantined due to COVID-19
Big Tech eroding freedoms

Opinion

Our View: Don’t make a year of grace a waste

The chief of Mississippi’s public schools wants to give them a “year of grace” and not hold them… READ MORE

The Old Sports Dude The path to a career has many road signs along the way
This is a recipe that’s even better then next day
The Church Bulletin 012121
Our View: Unacceptable in our democracy
Cold weather brings want of comfort foods

Sports

Whippets' soccer season ends in opening round of playoffs

Kosciusko soccer came to an end for the season in losses by the boys and girls teams Tuesday… READ MORE

Lady Warriors' home opener postponed
McAdams girls’ basketball team in quarantine, games postponed
McAdams boys take two 5-1A victories
Kosy soccer teams grab region championships, head to playoffs
FCA basketball teams suffer through rough week

Weddings & Engagements

Welch and Arrington to wed

Welch and Arrington to wed Welch and Arrington to wed

Lancaster-Sanders marry at romantic waterfall setting
Caroline Kelsoe and Stacy Jones to wed
Jodi Crowson to wed Kaleb Gibson
Jordan Pratt to wed Andrew Trehern
Mary Nelson to wed Gregory Culpepper

Editorials

Our View: Don’t make a year of grace a waste

The chief of Mississippi’s public schools wants to give them a “year of grace” and not hold them… READ MORE

Our View: Unacceptable in our democracy
Our View: Elvis and the polio vaccine
Unacceptable in our democracy
The Church Bulletin 122420
OUR VIEW: State fails to solve voting risk

Copyright 2020 • The Star-Herald • 207 N. Madison St. • Kosciusko, MS 39090 • (662) 289-2251

Emmerich Newspapers proudly serve the following Mississippi communities:

Click on the city name to visit its website.

ACKERMAN • CARROLLTON • CHARLESTON • CLARKSDALE • COLUMBIA • EUPORA • FOREST • GREENVILLE • GREENWOOD • GRENADA • HATTIESBURG • JACKSON • KOSCIUSKO • INDIANOLA • LOUISVILLE • MAGEE • MENDENHALL • McCOMB • NEWTON • PETAL • QUITMAN • SENATOBIA • WINONA • YAZOO CITY

As well as: DUMAS, Ark. • TALLULAH, La • FRANKLINTON, La.

For more information on how to extend your advertising message to these communities, click here.