Casey Lawhorn
A dead body found Monday in a wooded area in Mississippi is thought to be the remains of 23-year-old Casey Lawhorn suspected of killing his mother and friend -- then detailing the murder in a Facebook post. The two were shot and killed at a house on John Ross Road in East Ridge early Sunday morning.
East Ridge Police said 24-year-old Lawhorn called at 5 a.m. to report the shootings. The victims were identified as Lawhorn's mother, Vi Lawhorn, and a friend, Avery Gaines, 22, of Ringgold, Ga.
In a bizarre development, Lawhorn gave a long statement on his Facebook page on Sunday afternoon on why he carried out the killings and how he did it.
A vehicle Lawhorn was driving was found on I-59 near the Vossburg exit in Jasper County, Miss., on Sunday night, but Lawhorn was not located.
The sheriff of Jasper County said, "Lawhorn was not in the vehicle but is still presumed to be in Jasper County. Jasper County Sheriff's Department, MHP, MBI. Jones County Sheriff's Department are all on scene. Lawhorn is armed and considered very dangerous. Please DO NOT approach but contact the Jasper County Sheriff's Department 601-764-2588."
Lawhorn wrote on Facebook: (details of the gruesome killing are summarized here but not given as he wrote)
"Since so many people keep trying to reach out to me on Facebook, I figure I can just say my piece once here and be done with it. Before I start, I need to emphasize that I take full responsibility for my actions. Nothing anyone has or hasn't done to me caused this, my decisions and my failures are my own."
He said the shootings happened around 1:30 a.m. with a stolen .22 LR. He said his friend was staying the night to go with him to Epikos Hixson to play MtG as they often did. He said the friend fell asleep on his living room floor around the time he went to pick up his mother at Bud's Sports Bar on Brainerd Road. He said his mother was drunk.
Lawhorn said when they returned home he went to his room and grabbed the gun. He said, "I nervously paced for a few minutes, playing the coming events out in my head, which were vastly different from what actually happened."
He said he first shot his friend as he slept, then he said he fired several shots before killing his mother. He told of that in great detail, including his mother screaming at him.
Lawhorn said, "The whole event took probably 3 or 4 minutes. I had hoped both were going to be quick and efficient. I didn't want my mom to suffer, to die in horror, to die with the knowledge that her son did it (I didn't hurt our dog or cat, in case anyone was wondering about the animals)."
He said, "People keep saying that suicide isn't worth it, that it isn't too late, that I should turn myself in instead. Well, friends, it is too late. Has been for more than 12 hours now, not to mention I've been suicidal since late high school. And it's my opinion that I've been heading to unavoidable tragedy since I started at MTSU. I'm not saying the university made me do it, but that the chain of events that I initiated by going there led me here, to inevitable suicide. Let's think critically for a minute. Ignoring everything about why I hate myself and why I'm suicidal from before midnight this morning, just looking at today's events, how should I be expected to not kill myself? Surely any normal person would wish death on themselves after doing what I did, seeing what I saw, and hearing what I heard. And all that's waiting on me is life in prison, or maybe the death penalty. If I would get the death penalty, then I should definitely kill myself, otherwise I'm just wasting tax dollars on lengthy legal processes. Even without being executed, just wasting away in prison sounds awful, and also a horrible use of state money. And who would look forward to life in prison? I'm almost 24, that's a crazy amount of time behind bars. And it wound be so lonely. I'm sure most of my friends would want to visit me at least once, if for no other reason than to try to understand what I did. But after that first year, I can't imagine I'd have any weekly visitors. Not even family, or perhaps especially not family. I'm not trying to say people don't care about me, I know a lot of you do, it's just that people in general don't keep up a habit of going to visit a friend in prison. Life carries on for everyone else. And the sooner this is all over, then the sooner everyone can move on. If I'm dead by the time you are reading this, you can heal faster than if I'm still around and in court, and in prison.
"Don't give me or my family your thoughts and prayers. No one will be hurt by this more than my brother (Chad Lawhorn). He will probably need a lot of help getting through this, and if you think you are helping him just by talking to the sky, you're f---ing wrong. If you want to help him in this insanely difficult time I'm putting him through, actually do something, don't just think about it. I'm sorry to him more than anyone. That said, I don't want or need forgiveness from anyone. What I did is unforgivable. And prayer is a waste of time, nothing happens after death, but if there is a hell, I'm going to be in the lake of ice at the bottom. Betrayal of family and betrayal of guests are two of the worst sins. However, as I sit here in Mississippi, writing this on the side of I-59 south after my car broke down, what I look forward to is the nothingness after death. I've spent a lot of time thinking about murder, wondering what it feels like. But I've barely felt anything."
Lawhorn did not turn himself in, saying he was going to a remote location to kill himself. On Sunday afternoon he was still at large, and East Ridge Police said they believe that he had fled the state possibly headed southwest through Georgia. He is still believed to be driving a gold Ford Taurus with Tennessee license tag W0327L.
After getting the call from Lawhorn, police went to the house and could not get anyone to the door. When officers went inside they found two people dead. They had been shot in the head.
Lawhorn was initially believed to be driving a 1993 white Chevrolet Lumina. That car was located in a repair shop. He now is believed to be in the gold Ford Taurus, a car that belonged to one of the victims.
Lawhorn is white, 5'5" tall, and weighs 108 pounds.
Police were tracking his cell phone. There was a ping near Cloudland Canyon State Park earlier in the day. At that time, he was believed to be somewhere in Dade County, Ga.
Anyone seeing the suspect or the vehicle should notify police immediately. He should be considered armed and dangerous.
East Ridge Police said they had alerted authorities that Lawhorn might be broken down along I-59 in Mississippi in the gold Ford Taurus.