Suspect admits to killing girlfriend after massive
manhunt leads to his arrest
Those were the words of murder suspect Marty Breazeale, 38, as he was being escorted to his initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court on Wednesday for the death of girlfriend Brittany Holifield.
“I was high on drugs, and didn’t know what I was doing,” Breazeale said when a reporter asked why he did it. “I miss her very much, and I’m very sorry to her family.”
Judge Sonny Saul ordered that Breazeale be held in the Jones County Adult Detention Center with no bond. Nearly 36 hours after Holifield’s body was discovered floating face down in the Leaf River, Breazeale was captured at Bok Homa Casino after reportedly drinking cranberry drinks.
He led 13 agencies on a five-hour manhunt through the woods of northeastern
Jones County after he was identified as a suspect in Holifield’s death. The two had a “violent” two-year on-and-off dating relationship, said Investigator J.D. Carter of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.
“From what family and friends told us, there was violence between the two, mostly him against her,” Carter said.
Brent Holifield, the victim’s ex-husband and father to their two children, said he worries about his two children and their little hearts.
“He hurt my little girls,” he said. “They don’t know the details. I just said she was sick and her heart gave out. They don’t know what happened or anything like that. It just hurts me because my 17-year-old doesn’t understand why her momma isn’t here anymore.”
Bok Homa Casino workers spotted Breazeale in the casino “talking to guests, looking at women and drinking cranberry drinks like he had not had anything in days,” sources with knowledge of the case said.
Casino security was notified and watched Breazeale walk into a pine thicket, where JCSD personnel took him into custody at 1:04 a.m. Tuesday.
Two boaters discovered Holifield’s body in the Leaf River a quarter of a mile from the Highway 590 boat ramp on Sunday afternoon. Her body was sent to the Mississippi Crime Lab in Gulfport, where she was identified and the family was notified.
“After we notified the family, leads were developed through the insistence of family and friends of Marty Breazeale,” Carter said. “Investigator Jardian McDonald was able to obtain an arrest warrant for Breazeale, and he was captured later Tuesday morning.”
The Mississippi Crime Lab was able to determine that this was a homicide with blunt-force trauma to the head, Carter said.
“There are several pieces of this we cannot release at this time, but as of right now, Marty Breazeale is being charged with one count of first-degree murder,” Carter said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Water was in Holifield’s lungs, which would indicate she was alive when she went into the river. It had not been determined if she was thrown from the bridge and drowned or if she was struck with a bad enough blow to the head to cause her death before being left in the Leaf River, sources with knowledge of the case said. The crime lab is still completing the autopsy report.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Brittany Holifield, and we would like to thank the assistance of the agencies and volunteer fire departments that assisted throughout this investigation,” Sheriff Joe Berlin said. “Marty Breazeale will now face justice for the heinous crime he is accused of committing.”
Late Monday afternoon, shortly after Breazeale was identified as the suspect, JCSD Investigator Patrick Oster saw him in a white Ford F150 and attempted to stop him. But Beazeale went down a logging road, crashed into an object that disabled the pickup and he bailed out into woods off East Radio Road. Officials quickly set up a perimeter and a command post on Jennings Masters Road.
K9s, drones, off-duty and on-duty deputies, volunteer firefighters, troopers from the Mississippi Highway Patrol and conservation officers with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks participated in the search, and several responded to possible sightings all in the area. Paul Sheffield and Rodney Parker of the Jones County Emergency Operations Center set up at the scene and used the HyperReach system to alert 212 residents in a two-mile radius to shelter in place and be on the lookout for the suspect.
Breazeale did not have prior violent offenses, but he did have a burglary charge in Wayne County and several drug-related charges in Jones County. If found guilty of first-degree murder, Breazeale could face a sentence of life with or without parole. There were no domestic violence calls between the two before the death of Holifield, JCSD officials noted.
“We have two victims’ advocates that work with the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, so any time anyone has any kind of domestic violence issue, please reach out to the sheriff’s department and speak with our advocates,” Berlin said.
The Domestic Abuse Family Shelter in Jones County has a 24-hour crisis line available to victims at 1-800-649-1092. In an emergency situation, call 911.
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