Man faces manslaughter charge after woman’s body found over the weekend

OKTIBBEHA, Miss. (WCBI)- An arrest is made in Oktibbeha County after a woman was found dead this past weekend.

The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s department says evidence found at the scene led to the arrest, but investigators are keeping many details under wraps.

Townsen Road is a dead-end and gravel road in a rural part of Oktibbeha County. So many people are wondering why Kimberly Belk might have been walking down that road early Sunday morning because she didn’t live near-by.

“We don’t know. And we haven’t had anybody, you know, tell us, So you know, like I said, this is this is only day three, I guess. You know, we mostly are receiving information and going through and gathering information,” said Gladney.

Investigators spent hours collecting clues at the scene. However, what evidence deputies found is being kept quiet.

Sheriff Steve Gladney says this protects the investigation.

“Through our investigation and evidence collected at the scene and information that we had received yesterday, we were able to arrest Joseph Donnell Gibson 24 years of age from Starkville. He is charged with manslaughter and leaving a scene of an accident,” said Gladney.

That manslaughter charge has a lot of people asking why wasn’t Gibson charged with Murder.

Basically, it comes down to what investigators believe they can prove in court. Gladney says it’s possible the charges could be upgraded.

“It could, you know, again, depending on, you know, the results of what we found out through our investigation and through the crime lab and that type of thing,” said Gladney.

On Tuesday, WCBI talked with one of Belk’s sisters. She believes there may have been a party that night on Townsen Road. Law enforcement wants to confirm when and where it may have been.

“We’d like to know,” said Gladney.

Our sources say Belk may have been run over and also dragged down the road.

Gladney says 2010 Kia Soul is involved in the case, but other pieces of evidence are still being processed.

“Well we continue to work, like I said, we had the crime scene unit and now process and the vehicle. And we still have a lot of things to do,” said Gladney.

Gladney says Gibson should make his first court appearance tomorrow. If you have any information that could help investigators call Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers.