In the quiet town of Oxford, Mississippi, the life of 32-year-old Dominique Clayton, a Black mother of four, was tragically cut short on May 19, 2019. Her body was discovered in her home by her 8-year-old son, who had returned from a weekend with his uncle. Clayton had been shot in the back of the head while she was sleeping. The initial investigation quickly focused on a surprising suspect: a local police officer with whom she had been romantically involved.
The man at the center of the
investigation was Matthew Kinne, a 38-year-old officer with the Oxford Police Department. Evidence revealed that Kinne and Clayton had been in a long-term affair, a relationship he desperately tried to conceal from his wife. On the night of her death, Kinne, while off-duty, drove his patrol car to Clayton's residence. He entered her home and shot her once in the head as she slept. He then attempted to cover his tracks by sending a text message to her phone after the murder and discarding the shell casing from his service weapon.
The day after Clayton's body was found, Matthew Kinne was arrested and subsequently fired from the police department. He was charged with capital murder. The investigation revealed that the motive behind the killing was Clayton's threat to expose their affair. As the legal proceedings unfolded, the community was left reeling from the betrayal of a sworn officer of the law.
In July 2021, to avoid a trial and the possibility of a death sentence, Matthew Kinne pleaded guilty to the murder of Dominique Clayton. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the wake of the criminal case, Clayton's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Oxford and the police department, arguing that they were negligent in hiring Kinne, who had a troubled past at a previous law enforcement agency. The lawsuit was ultimately settled, with a federal judge awarding Clayton's children over two million dollars.
