On January 16, 2020, Sherry Ingold, a dedicated rural letter carrier for the United States Postal Service since 1994, was diligently delivering mail along Highway 35 North in Attala County, Mississippi. Her routine day took a tragic turn when she was shot in the head. The community was shocked and saddened by the violent act, rallying around Ingold and her family by organizing prayer vigils and adorning her mail route with purple bows, her favorite color. After fighting for her life for over a week, Sherry Ingold succumbed to her injuries on Friday, January 24, 2020, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. She was a wife, a mother to three adult children, and a grandmother to eight.
The investigation into the shooting quickly led authorities to a suspect, 28-year-old Roland Mitchell Dampeer. On the day of the attack on Ingold, Dampeer had reportedly attempted to kidnap a woman from a grocery store in Kosciusko before encountering the postal worker. After the shooting, a state trooper shot Dampeer, who was then hospitalized before being released into federal custody. Due to Ingold's status as a federal employee, Dampeer faced federal charges, which were initially attempted murder and assault on a postal worker.
Following Sherry Ingold's death, the legal proceedings against Roland Dampeer continued. In April 2022, after a non-jury criminal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Dampeer was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of Sherry Ingold. This verdict brought a conclusion to the criminal case, though it was met with disappointment and anger from Ingold's family and friends.
