18-Year-Old Murdered in Rosedale

By David Johnson
The Leader

Rosedale awoke Saturday morning to its first homicide since October of 2006.

Eighteen-year-old Travis Horsley died of a gunshot wound to the chest, en route to the Bolivar Medical Center in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday.

Law enforcement officials say that Brian Bean, exact age unknown, has been charged with murder in Horsley's death and is currently behind bars at the Bolivar County Regional Correctional facility in Pace.

The Rosedale Police Department received an anonymous call at 1:57 a.m. Saturday. The caller informed police that a man was on the ground in the middle of Levee Street, behind the Rosedale branch of the Bolivar County Library. Rosedale police and EMS units were immediatley dispatched to the scene.

According to Rosedale police chief Isaac Morris, Horsley was alive when authorities reached the scene.

"He was able to talk, and he named a suspect," Morris said. "Horsley died en route to the hospital."

Bolivar County deputy coroner Murry Roark said that Horsley was shot three times with what appeared to be a handgun.

"He died of a gunshot wound to the chest," Roark said. "He was also shot once in the left arm and once in the left leg."

Roark said Horsley's body would be transported to the state medical examiner's office in Jackson on Monday for autopsy.

The Rosedale Police Department and the Bolivar County Sheriff's Office apprehended Bean at approximately 5 a.m. Saturday morning without much incident. Bean was found in the bed inside his girlfriend's home on Fifth Street in Rosedale.

"We do have who we believe to be the shooter in custody," said criminal investigator Dasel Moorhead of the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department. "We knocked on the door to the home, but no one would answer. We were able to obtain a key to the residence, and when we went inside, Bean was in the bed."

Moorhead said authorities would not likely interrogate Bean until Monday, as he sits behind bars.

"The sad thing about it is that law enforcement knew both of these kids very well," Morris said. "Horsley had just got out of jail two weeks ago. He had been in the system since he was nine years old. Both of them had been in trouble before."

"It's horrible to see what little value some people have for human life," Roark lamented.

"It's really a shame."