On a rural stretch of Dixie Road in Clay County, Mississippi, the quiet of March 14, 2017, was broken by a grim discovery. Inside a parked vehicle, law enforcement found the bodies of 23-year-old Kentario Lashon Boyd, a Black male from Woodland, and Kenya Campbell. Both had been shot multiple times in what investigators would later describe as a drug deal that had turned violent.
The initial shock within the community soon gave way to a determined investigation to find those responsible for the double homicide.
As detectives began to piece together the events leading to the deaths, their focus narrowed in on two individuals, Shundray Johnson and Tabarrius Coffey. A critical piece of evidence emerged from Boyd's own cell phone. The last person to contact him was traced to a phone number belonging to Johnson, who was on parole at the time for prior convictions of aggravated assault and statutory rape. This connection provided investigators with a direct link to a primary suspect and led to the arrest of both Johnson and Coffey in connection with the murders.
The path to justice proved to be complex. Shundray Johnson's trial commenced in December of 2019, but it came to an abrupt halt when a mistrial was declared. The prosecution's introduction of Johnson's previous felony conviction, without having the admissibility of that evidence determined by a judge beforehand, was deemed potentially prejudicial to the jury. This procedural error forced the court to grant Johnson a new trial, leaving the final resolution for the families of Kentario Boyd and Kenya Campbell waiting.
