District Attorney Seth Edwards says 27-year-oldk Jeffrey Todd Ward of Wiilliamston pled guilty Tuesday to two counts of first degree murder...
Investigators with Martin County and the State Bureau of Investigation learned that Jeffrey Ward was the estranged husband Ward, and that Jeffrey and his brother, Jarrett Ward, had stolen a vehicle in Pitt County and were headed to Texas.
On November 29, 2016, an officer with the Meridian, MS police department spotted the stolen vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. Both Ward brothers were located inside.
According to statements from Jeffrey Ward and other evidence, Jeffrey Ward and Dawnn Ward involved in an argument on the night of November 27 or early morning hours of November 28 at Dawnn's residence on Robert Taylor Road in Williamston.
Both Wards proceeded out in the yard when Jeffrey stabbed Dawnn once in the chest with a knife, killing her. Jeffrey then stabbed his step-daughter, Taylor, multiple times with a knife. Jeffrey admitted to striking Taylor in the head with an air soft pistol.
Jeffrey Ward then transported both bodies about 7 miles away to his grandmother's residence on McCaskey Road in Williamston, where he eventually dumped both bodies into an underground well on the property.
Their bodies were discovered a few days later with the aid of canines. Autopsies confirmed that each died due to stab wounds, and in addition Taylor suffered blunt force trauma to her head.
