Staff Report

An Oxford Police Department officer remained behind bars Thursday at the Panola County Jail following his Monday arrest for the murder of a 32-year-old woman found dead in her home by her young son Sunday.

Matthew Kinne was formally charged late Monday afternoon after officers  from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation examined the evidence and conducted interviews that linked him to the crime.

It is not uncommon for some high profile suspects, including law enforcement agents, to be held at a separate location from the county in which an alleged crime was committed. Officials confirmed that Kinne has been interrogated and has retained counsel. A first appearance hearing was held Wednesday at the Lafayette County Courthouse.

Dominique Clayton died from gunshots to her head. Her mother has told investigators and media outlets that her daughter was romantically involved with the Kinne. Bessie Clayton and other family members were upset Wednesday when Lafayette County Circuit Judge Andrew Howorth said prosecutors and defense lawyers were negotiating a reasonable bail for Kinne.

The Associated Press reported Clayton said, “There is no justice for black people. They are allowing the killer to decide his bond. That man came through the bushes while he was on duty and walked in behind my daughter’s home, put a bullet in the back of her…head and executed her.”

Interim Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutcheon also opposed the possibility of bail. “We are with the Clayton family. We don’t support a bond. Matthew Kinne committed murder and we don’t want him out.”

Kinne has been an Oxford policeman four years and was one of the officers that patrolled the downtown area on horseback as part of the department’s mounted division.

The issue of bail was expected to be decided sometime Thursday or Friday. District Attorney Ben Creekmore and Kinne’s attorney, Tiffany Kilpatrick, agreed to a later date for a hearing that will determine bail and other issues surrounding the arrest.