A man who pleaded guilty to killing an openly gay University of Mississippi student has learned his fate.
Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr., 25, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the killing of 20-year-old Jimmie “Jay” Lee, a beloved member of Ole Miss’s LGBTQ+ community. Herrington pled guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence charges. Prosecutors say Herrington was attempting to conceal a relationship with Lee, though Herrington’s lawyers dispute that notion.
According to the Associated Press, Herrington, an Ole Miss graduate, was previously charged with capital murder but had the charge reduced by prosecutors.
“All of this happened to cover something up, and everyone found out anyways,” Gwen Agho, the deputy chief assistant district attorney at the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office, said. Investigators claimed they found sexually explicit messages exchanged between the two and at one point, Herrington searched “how long it takes to strangle someone” after Lee had visited him and then returned to his apartment.
Lee went missing in August 2022, and his decomposed remains were found by deer hunters in February 2025. According to the Clarion-Ledger and WREG, Lee’s body was so decomposed that investigators were unable to determine how he was killed.
Herrington’s first trial, held in 2024, ended in a mistrial. He was set to be tried again over Lee’s death before pleading guilty. At sentencing, Lee’s father faced his son’s killer and remarked on how difficult his loss had been for everyone.
“I knew from the beginning that you did this, and I believe your family knew,” Jimmie Lee Sr. said, according to WLBT. “I had to witness my son’s skeletal remains. I touched his skull; no father should have to go through that. No family should have to go through that.”
The case was recently featured on a two-hour episode of “Dateline.” In it, Lee’s mother, Stephanie, remarked that her son disappeared on her birthday. “He would call me and sing happy birthday,” she said.
