The suspect in the June 12 murder of a Webb teenager apparently committed suicide Tuesday morning after being cornered by agents with the U.S. Marshals Service at a house in St. Louis, Missouri, according to Tallahatchie County Sheriff William Brewer.
Officials identified the deceased man as Christopher Logan, 44, of 229 Laura St., Webb, Brewer learned in a telephone call from federal authorities about mid-morning Tuesday.
Logan had been wanted in connection with the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend in Webb nearly one week earlier, and Brewer said U.S. marshals were searching for Logan when they entered the Missouri residence early Tuesday.
“When they went in, he ran into a rear room out of sight, and they heard a couple of gunshots,” the sheriff noted. “At that point, they withdrew from the house to wait for a SWAT team. When they re-entered later, the suspect was found deceased in the back room with what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Brewer said the weapon found at the scene will be analyzed to determine whether it is the same firearm that was used to kill Dontrenecia “Chyna” Byrd, 19, inside a mobile home at 850 Chickasaw St. in Webb at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12.
Webb Police Department spokesman officer Marvin Pryor said Logan was a native of St. Louis and investigators suspected that he might go there after fleeing Mississippi last week.
Pryor, who also was contacted by the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday, said it was not immediately known whether there was a family connection between Logan and the house in which he was found.
Pryor added that he asked federal officials “to send a photo or some other form of proof to confirm that [Logan] is really deceased.”
Logan allegedly shot Byrd last Tuesday night after forcibly gaining entry to the house where she lived with her mother and 9-year-old sister, Pryor said. The officer said Byrd and her sister were home alone at the time.
Pryor said Byrd and Logan “were boyfriend/girlfriend and had broken up about a week or so [before the shooting]. She supposedly had papers, a restraining order, filed against him in Sumner.”
Pryor said Byrd’s sister told investigators that after Logan came inside their Webb home, “she heard [Byrd and Logan] arguing, then she heard some shots being fired.”
The officer said Byrd’s shooting occurred in a back bedroom of the residence.
When Pryor responded to a 10:08 p.m. call about the shooting, he found Byrd unresponsive on the floor of the bedroom. Paramedics were unable to get a pulse, the officer explained, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
“I can’t really say how many times she was shot,” Pryor noted. “I can’t say just once, because there were several casings on the floor.”
No weapon was recovered at the scene, he added, and authorities are awaiting the results of an autopsy.
Pryor said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation assisted the Webb Police Department with the murder case.
The feds got involved shortly after Logan went on the lam.
A Facebook account registered under the name of “MrsLogan TooBe” was still active the day after Byrd’s murder. A Dec. 28, 2017, post on that page featured photographs of Byrd and Logan together under the headline, “Got Engaged to Christopher Logan.”
Pryor said Logan was a convicted felon, most recently serving about three years of a four-year sentence following his 2014 conviction in Tallahatchie County Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to sell cocaine and sale of cocaine.
“It hadn’t been too long since he got out,” Pryor said.
IN THE PHOTO: Christopher Logan
