Man gets life in prison for 2020 grisly death of Mississippi woman he reportedly beat, stabbed, cut in half

Published 1:17 pm Tuesday, May 31, 2022

A man who reportedly cut his victim in half, slashed her and stabbed her multiple times was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

A jury in Laurel returned the guilty verdict after a two-day trial that included a review of the grisly crime scene in photos, body-cam footage and autopsy documents, according to the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper.

Adam Mills was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Ashley Pearson, 28, on June 4, 2020, at 20 Powers Drive, where deputies found Mills in the street naked and covered in blood.

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Deputies used tasers to subdue Mills, who was reportedly dating and living with Pearson at the time of her death.

Deputies found the horrific crime scene inside the house on Powers Drive.

Mills was arrested and charged with Pearson’s murder. He pleaded “not guilty” before trial.

During the trial, The Leader-Call reported that Assistant District Attorney Kristen Martin said that only the Helter Skelter killings by Charles Manson compares to what happened to Pearson, saying that autopsy results indicate that Pearson had blunt-force and sharp-force injuries to her head, chest and abdomen. Records indicate that Pearson had been stabbed in the heart multiple times and that her torso was completely separated from her lower body.

Officials say Pearson was stabbed so many times that pathologists could not count the wounds, the Leader-Call reported.

The trial took two hours to deliberate before returning a guilty verdict.