True Crime Mississippi / Book 2

The Gulf Coast Files

By J.R. Stranahan

The Mississippi Gulf Coast is a narrow region joined by highways, ports, shipyards, casinos, bayous, and municipal boundaries. In The Gulf Coast Files, J.R. Stranahan follows seven carefully documented cases across Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties. The record includes the renewed investigation of the deaths of Janie Sanders, Debra Gunter, and Clara Turk; the kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter; the identification of Clara Birdlong; the murders of Jeannette Holden and Dorothy Tassin; the killings of Vincent and Margaret Sherry and the federal Dixie Mafia prosecutions; the death of Michelle Lynn Craite; and the unresolved killings of Rong Chen, Mei Rong Li, and Mei Jin Li. Drawing on court opinions, government records, public archives, and responsible reporting, this account explains what investigators alleged, what juries found, what appellate courts changed, and what remained unresolved as of September 2, 2026.