Man indicted for murder of former state lawmaker Ashley Henley
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Jul. 8—WATER VALLEY — A former Yalobusha County man has been charged with first degree murder in the June 2021 shooting death of a former state lawmaker.
Billy Brooks, 43, was arrested July 5 by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office on a sealed indictment. He was transported to the Yalobusha County Detention Center around 7 p.m. Tuesday. He was arraigned Thursday in Yalobusha County Circuit Court and later released in lieu of a $250,000 bond.
Brooks is accused of killing former state Rep. Ashley Henley, 40, June 13, 2021, as she was cutting grass outside the burned out trailer where her sister-in-law's body was discovered six months earlier. Brooks was indicted for the arson of the trailer last summer.
The Yalobusha County Grand jury listened to the evidence against Brooks during the February 2022 term. On June 30, they handed down an amended superseding indictment, adding first degree murder to the previous arson charge. The indictment remained sealed until it was served Tuesday afternoon.
The deaths of the women and the arson of the trailer on the backside of Enid Lake drew the attention of the local and regional media.
The body of Kristina Michelle Jones, 33, was discovered Dec. 26, 2020, inside the trailer at 12 Patricia Drive at the Water Valley Boat Landing. Brooks lived across the road from the trailer. The nature of the relationship between the neighbors has not been released by law enforcement.
Henley and her husband, Brandon Henley, believed Jones died as the result of foul play and were critical of Yalobusha County authorities, especially coroner Ronnie Stark and the late Sheriff Mike Fulco, who died of complications from COVID-19 last August.
"My sister was murdered and her body was burned. We know she was dead before the fire and that the fire was arson," Brandon Henley wrote in an April 6, 2021, Facebook post. "And we didn't find out any of that information from the Sheriff's department."
The Henleys were further upset when the death certificate, issued May 21, 2021, listed the cause of death as "unknown" and the manner of death as "undetermined."
In the spring of 2021, the family erected a memorial on the Patricia Drive property. The memorial was a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood featuring pictures of Jones with the words "I WAS MURDERED" in nearly foot-tall letters.
Brooks was indicted for the arson of the trailer in June 2021. To date, no one has been charged with the death of Jones.
Henley, who lived about 75 miles away in Southaven, had traveled to Yalobusha County June 13, 2021, to do yard work at the Patricia Drive property, which is still owned by the family. She was reportedly running a string trimmer when she was shot a single time in the back of the head.
Yalobusha County deputy sheriffs found her body around 10 p.m. outside the burned out trailer.
Ashley Henley served in Mississippi House from 2016 through 2020. She represented District 40, which includes Horn Lake and Southaven in DeSoto County. In 2019, she lost her bid for a second term by just 14 votes.
