In the small, close-knit community of Artesia, Mississippi, a triple homicide shattered the town's sense of peace. On January 15, 2019, 31-year-old Demario Snell was shot and killed in his own home. Two other men, Mauricio Nance, 22, of Columbus, and Tyshun Bernard Fields, 24, of Crawford, were also killed in the incident. Authorities were alerted to the scene at Snell's mobile home on Mobile Drive after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots around 4 p.m.
Upon arrival, law enforcement found two of the victims inside the residence and a third in the yard behind the home.
The investigation quickly led to a person of interest who had been a guest in Snell's home at the time of the shooting. Clark Allen Jr., 20, from the Sessums area of Oktibbeha County, was taken into custody shortly after the incident. Multiple witnesses provided investigators with a description that matched Allen. Two days after the killings, Allen was formally charged with capital murder for the deaths of Snell, Nance, and Fields.
During the investigation, authorities suggested the murders might have been drug-related. Court documents revealed that on the day of the murders, Allen had tried to get Snell to give him marijuana on credit. In May 2019, a Lowndes County grand jury indicted Allen on the capital murder charge, and he pleaded not guilty.
The case went to trial in June 2022. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence and witness testimony. Allen took the stand in his own defense, claiming he acted in self-defense after one of the men allegedly tried to take his gun. However, the medical examiner's findings indicated that all three victims were shot from a distance of three to four feet, with no signs of a struggle. The jury ultimately found Clark Allen Jr. guilty of capital murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the request of the victims' families, the death penalty was not pursued by the prosecution.
