True Crime Mississippi / Book 3

The Hattiesburg Files

By J.R. Stranahan

Hattiesburg sits at the center of Mississippi's Pine Belt, where rail lines, universities, hospitals, courts, and law-enforcement jurisdictions meet. In The Hattiesburg Files, J.R. Stranahan follows seven carefully documented cases across Forrest and Jones counties. The record includes the lynching of Howard Wash, the prosecution and exoneration of Clyde Kennard, the murder of Vernon Dahmer, the wrongful convictions of Larry Ruffin, Bobby Ray Dixon, and Phillip Bivens in Eva Gail Patterson's case, the killing of Rhonda Hatten Griffis, the murders of Vernon Hulett and Linda Heintzelman, and the deaths of Hattiesburg police officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate. Drawing on court opinions, government records, archives, and responsible reporting, this account explains what investigators alleged, what juries decided, what later evidence changed, and what the public record showed as of September 2, 2026.