April Marie Fulton Tucker, a 39-year-old female, was found dead in her Meridian, Mississippi, home on December 22, 2020. The tragic discovery was made by deputies from the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department during a welfare check after she and other family members did not show up for work. Inside the residence on Jeffery Acres Road, authorities also found the body of her 14-year-old son, Bryce Fisher Tucker.
Further investigation at the property led to the discovery of a third
victim, April's 64-year-old mother, Beverly Kaiser Fulton, whose body was found in a shed on the same property. The grim findings didn't end there, as the investigation led deputies to another home in the Vimville area, where they found the body of 90-year-old Virginia Jay, the grandmother of April's husband.
The suspect in the quadruple homicide was identified as April's 40-year-old husband, Matthew Jay Tucker. Investigators believe the murders occurred sometime between the evening of December 21 and the afternoon of December 22, 2020. After the killings, Matthew Tucker fled the scene. He was later located by law enforcement officers in Lamar County, approximately 90 miles south of Meridian. As authorities pursued him, Tucker died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Prior to the murders, there had been a history of domestic violence. Matthew Jay Tucker had been arrested on a domestic violence charge on October 23, 2020, though the case had not yet gone to court. In that incident, April had reported to officers that her husband had strangled her and threatened her with a knife, leaving visible cuts and bruises on her neck. Following this tragedy, the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department announced mandatory training for its officers on the legal and medical aspects of strangulation in domestic violence cases. No further arrests were made in connection with the deaths.
