The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for a fugitive who led lawmen on an hourlong, multi-county automobile chase and then eluded them on foot during a July 10 manhunt in the rugged hill country of southeastern Tallahatchie County.
One week later, the wanted man, Sam Seymore, 49, of 2738 Highway 35 S., Holcomb, is no longer believed to be in the local area, Tallahatchie County Sheriff Jimmy Fly said Tuesday.
“We feel like he’s gone, not in this area at this time,” Fly noted. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to come back at some time.”
Fly said it is possible that Seymore fled in a blue 2001 Dodge Ram pickup truck registered to him that had been parked at his mother’s house in the area but is no longer there.
The sheriff said Seymore and a description of the missing vehicle have been shared with other law enforcement agencies via the National Crime Information Center’s federal database.
Seymore is wanted in Yalobusha County on a bevy of charges including grand larceny, attempted aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a vehicle, felony fleeing, and felon in possession of a firearm, and in Tallahatchie County for burglary of a commercial building and petty larceny. He is on probation for an earlier felony conviction that landed him in state prison, according to Fly.
The latest search began after Yalobusha County deputies attempted to box in Seymore’s black 2022 Dodge Ram pickup in the Tillatoba area of Yalobusha County on the morning of Thursday, July 10.
According to an account in the North Mississippi Herald, officials had received “precise information” about Seymore’s location at around 8 a.m. last Thursday.
“We knew he would try to flee because we tried to stop him earlier in the year and had a similar experience,” Yalobusha County Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch told the Water Valley newspaper.
Seymore, accompanied in the vehicle by his girlfriend, Emily Cockerham, 37, of the same address, reportedly led pursuing lawmen down a twisted maze of back roads and highways from Yalobusha County into Grenada County and, finally, Tallahatchie.
Tallahatchie County deputies found Seymore’s truck abandoned on Ascalmore Creek Road near Smith Road at 9:43 a.m., Fly noted. The couple had fled into adjacent woods.
Officials found shotgun shells in and around the truck, and a bulletproof vest, blue lights and a security officer badge were discovered in the truck, Fly said.
Seymore is known to have made statements to the effect that he is "not going back to prison,” so Fly said a large-scale search for the pair ensued with caution.
Among other agencies reportedly participating in the manhunt were the Mississippi Highway Patrol and Grenada County Sheriff’s Office; K-9 units from Batesville Police Department, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office and the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman; a helicopter and drone teams from DeSoto County; and a contingent from the U.S. Marshals Service who were in Oxford on another matter when they learned of the search and offered their services, and others.
The organized search was called off about 9:45 p.m. due to darkness and the fact that “the K-9 trail ... had went cold,” Fly said, noting that the last K-9 indication of Seymore’s presence was in the area of Pressgrove Road near Poplar Springs Cemetery.
Fly said officials did find a “loaded shotgun and pistol in a culvert” where Seymore and Cockerham had been. He identified the weapons as a Browning Buck Mark .22 automatic pistol stolen from Greenville and an AR-style Centurion 12-gauge shotgun.
Fly said 12-gauge shotgun shells were among the ammunition found in Seymore’s abandoned truck.
On Friday morning, Cockerham surrendered to law enforcement and was arrested at 5:55 a.m. at a residence near Ascalmore Creek Road and Mississippi Highway 35, Fly noted.
“She showed up at the house and told them she wanted them to call us, and she wanted to turn herself in,” noted Fly, who said it is believed the homeowner was a friend of Cockerham.
Fly said Cockerham did not say why she chose to turn herself in, but he noted that she had made “a pretty good trek” from the abandoned truck through the woods, fighting thick kudzu and other underbrush in 90-something degree weather and it took a toll on her.
“She had scratches, and it looked like she had been in the woods for a good while. She was starting to get dehydrated,” he said. “I feel she just felt like it was in her best interest to go ahead and give up.”
Tallahatchie County lawmen transported Cockerham to the Tallahatchie County Jail in Charleston and held her until Yalobusha County deputies came to move her to the Yalobusha County Detention Center in Water Valley.
In Yalobusha County, she was charged with resisting arrest, aiding escape and possession of a stolen firearm. Cockerham also faces Tallahatchie County charges of burglary and petty larceny in the same case as Seymore, Fly said.
Cockerham posted bond of $7,500 in Yalobusha County and was released Monday afternoon, said Fly.
"If anyone has any information, please contact the Sheriff's Office at 662-647-5511 or 662-647-3700," Fly noted.
