Itawamba County man facing capital murder charge after body found in well

ITAWAMBA COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) – A missing Itawamba County man was found dead in an abandoned well.

Deputies made an arrest, charging another man with capital murder.

Dylan Cayson was reported missing by his family on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Lee County deputies contacted the Itawamba County Sheriff’s Department, with a possible lead in the case.

“This case got us there pretty quick, we went from a reasonable suspicion to probable cause to a search warrant real quick, in just a matter of hours,” said Sheriff Chris Dickinson.

The tip led Itawamba County deputies to a property on Ritter Road.

Investigators and a Tupelo Fire Department team found Cayson under debris and water, at the bottom of a 30-foot well.

Sheriff Dickinson said the suspect, 25-year-old Mitchell Shumpert was already in custody, at the property when Cayson’s body was discovered.

Investigators believed Cayson had been shot, and that robbery may be the motive.

The sheriff said Shumpert lived in a trailer, about 75 feet away from the well where Cayson’s body was found.

Sheriff Dickinson said the victim and suspect knew each other, and investigators are working now to tie everything together.

“We are working on prior, what brought us to the crime, we need to understand every element of that to get us there, the crime itself, forensics of that, and since we had a body that was disposed of there is another investigation we have to do in that,” said Dickinson.

The sheriff said he should have more information to release on the capital murder case in a couple of days.

Sheriff Dickinson said he will request that Shumpert be held without bond.