Published 4:39 pm Wednesday, October 9, 2024 By Jan Griffey NATCHEZ — Tayshon Holmes of Natchez pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to a charge of second-degree homicide in the 2021 death of Bill Calvin Jr. Holmes was 15, and Calvin was 19 in July 2021 when Calvin went missing. Adams County Sheriff’s deputies found Calvin’s body on Oct.
25, 2021, in a wooded area near Booker and Morgantown roads. Sheriff Travis Patten and his deputies worked with technology available through the Concordia Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff’s Office and cadaver dogs to locate Calvin’s body. They were then able to determine Holmes was the person who shot Calvin in the head, causing his death.
An Adams County Grand Jury indicted Holmes for that crime. In addition, Holmes also pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the carjacking of a Natchez woman outside Stanton Baptist Church on Jan. 8.
Holmes and two others — Jashon Jones, 15, and Robert Earl Smith, 16 — escaped from the Henley-Young-Patten Juvenile Justice Center in Hinds County overnight on Jan. 7 and, after stealing a van, made their way to Natchez. After terrorizing the city for almost four days, Natchez Police and Adams County Sheriff’s deputies, with the help of a multitude of law enforcement from surrounding agencies, apprehended the three.
Sixth District Circuit Court Judge Debra Blackwell sentenced Holmes to a 40-year sentence with 30 years to serve on the homicide charge and 10 years on the carjacking charge to run consecutively. Dis.