True Crime Mississippi / Book 4

The Oxford and Tupelo Files

By J.R. Stranahan

Oxford and Tupelo anchor a northeast Mississippi corridor of universities, courthouses, hospitals, highways, and small communities. In The Oxford and Tupelo Files, J.R. Stranahan follows seven carefully documented cases across Lafayette, Lee, Tishomingo, and Noxubee counties. The record includes the deaths of Paul Guihard and Ray Gunter during the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi, the disappearance of Leigh Occhi, the murders of Courtney Smith and Christine Jackson and the exonerations of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, the Edward Byrom prosecution, the fatal shooting of Sergeant Kevin Gale Stauffer Jr. and critical wounding of Officer Joseph Edward Maher during a multistate bank-robbery investigation, the murder of Ally Kostial, and the disappearance and death of Jay Lee. Drawing on court opinions, government records, public archives, and responsible reporting, this account explains what evidence proved, what later science changed, and what remained unresolved as of September 2, 2026.