Prosecutors make circumstantial case keeping the accused behind bars in death of pregnant Goodman woman while awaiting crime lab results
Despite a preliminary autopsy that is inconclusive on the cause of death and the absence of other state crime lab results, prosecutors made a circumstantial case against Terence Sample in the death of McKayla Winston, a pregnant Goodman woman, during Sample’s probable cause hearing in Holmes County Justice Court last Thursday.
As they presented their case, prosecutors were awaiting final autopsy results and other crime lab findings in the case. The evidence being analyzed includes blood found in Sample’s vehicle and on his clothing, as well as a determination of whether Sample was, in fact, the father of Winston’s unborn child.
It is that child that prosecutors say was Sample’s motive in killing Winston. According to District Attorney Akillie Malone-Oliver, Sample and Winston had at one point agreed to put the child up for adoption, but as her July 4 due date approached, Winston had changed her mind and wanted to keep the baby.
On June 28, Winston reportedly left her home to show a sonogram of her unborn child to its father, who prosecutors say is Terence Sample.
Malone-Oliver presented the state’s case, calling her husband, L.A. Oliver, a Mississippi Bureau of Investigations captain, as her only witness.
Oliver testified that law enforcement had collected video and witness testimony indicating that Winston and Sample had been together on the night of her disappearance. Reportedly, one witness told investigators that he or she had a cell phone conversation with Winston while the victim was with Sample that evening.
While searching for the missing woman after pinging her cell phone, law enforcement found Winston’s car near I-55 with the keys still in the ignition, her shoes outside the vehicle, and her cell phone on the ground nearby. Oliver said analysis of Winston’s phone, from which text messages had been erased, indicated she had plans to meet with Sample at that location.
According to Oliver, the findings at her car made it clear to investigators that there had been foul play.
“Based on the condition of the vehicle and the items found near it, wherever she was, she didn’t go voluntarily,” Oliver said.
Winston’s body was found by a relative os Sample’s alongside a rural Holmes County road several days later on July 1, a few miles from where her vehicle had been located. Her body was found barely clothed and badly deteriorated.
Defense attorney Richard Carter then questioned Oliver, bringing to light that some of the testimony provided had yet to be proven out.
“Have you been able to identify that vehicle in the video (as Sample’s)?” asked Carter. “You don’t have a statement saying ‘I saw Terence Sample,’ do you?”
“No,” Oliver replied.
Carter then asked about the testing of blood in Sample’s vehicle and on his clothing, as well as the preliminary autopsy results. Oliver answered that in each case, final results were not yet available from the state crime lab.
Oliver said that Winston’s body was “severely deteriorated,” making it impossible for investigators to make a visual determination regarding cause of death.
Sample’s paternity of Winston’s unborn child also awaits confirmation.
“This has not even been ruled as a homicide or a murder,” Carter told the judge. “There is no probable cause if they haven’t even declared this a murder. They are on a fishing expedition. There is not one lick of evidence.”
Malone-Oliver scoffed at Carter’s assertions.
“A perfectly healthy female is found on the side of the road after supposedly meeting him (Sample), with no articles of clothing on,” said Malone-Oliver. “She didn’t fall out of natural causes.”
Following the presentations, Warrington ruled there is probable cause to hold Sample in Winston’s murder and he again denied Sample bail.
In the meantime, the defense was pursuing another avenue on Sample’s behalf. On July 26, prior to the probable cause hearing, Carter and co-counsel Alton Peterson filed a petition with the Mississippi Supreme Court demanding their client be released on his own recognizance. They argued that release is warranted since — at the time of the filing — the Holmes County Circuit Court had “illegally” denied Sample bail and he had been held for 25 days without probable cause.
At The Star-Herald’s press time, the Supreme Court had yet to rule on that defense petition.
