Hinds Co. District Attorney assisting JSU, state agencies after student killed on campus

HINDS CO., Miss. (WLBT) - The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office is now working with state law enforcement to help Jackson State University with the homicide investigation of Jaylen Burns.

Burns was shot and killed at the University Pointe Apartment Complex on October 15.

District Attorney Jody E. Owens’ announcement comes days after 3 On Your Side was first to show you surveillance video of what’s believed to be the murder suspect, Joshua Brown, nowhere near JSU on the night of the killing.

Monday, Brown’s cousin shared what she claims is additional evidence of the 19-year-old’s location on the night of the killing.

“He’s the one I go to when I have problems or I need to talk to someone about something and vice versa,” Brown’s cousin, Shania Martin, said. “Not being able to help him really hurts.”

Martin says the last few weeks have been stressful because the frequent communication between her and Brown has come to a sudden stop.

More so, she says the last few weeks have been frustrating because, according to her, investigators with the Jackson State Police Department don’t seem interested in the alleged evidence of Brown’s location.

“I feel like it’s pretty sad that they aren’t taking the time to actually do their job because not only is our family not getting the justice that Josh deserves, but you have to think about [Jaylen Burns’] family is not getting the justice that their son deserves after this very sad situation that has ended up playing out,” she said.

Martin shared screenshots of Brown’s alleged location via a tracking app called Life360.

3 On Your Side then used those screenshots to retrace his apparent whereabouts on the night of the killing.

For clarity purposes, we’re going to break things down as though the app did, in fact, track Brown’s location, but keep in mind that has not been confirmed by investigators.

From 3:17 p.m. until 7:21 p.m. on October 15, Brown is shown at what we’re told is his girlfriend’s house in Columbia.

Those close to Brown say he then drove to a nearby Texaco, which is supported by alleged video evidence of the accused killer at a Texaco.

From there, Martin claims, and the tracking app supports, that Brown drove to a friend’s house just north of Hattiesburg in Rawl Springs.

He’s shown to have arrived there at 8:26 p.m., where he stayed for a few minutes before driving to Pitts Road Grocery and back between 8:44 p.m. and 8:50 p.m., which, again, is supported by the alleged video of Brown outside the store.

Life360 shows Brown stayed at his friend’s house until 9:38 p.m., right around the time shots rang out on JSU’s campus.

Family and friends say Brown then drove to a Krispy Kreme in Hattiesburg, which, once again, is backed up by his apparent location and the apparent video of his dad’s white truck in the business’ drive-thru line.

From there, we’re told Brown drove to Jones College in Ellisville, where the tracking app shows him arriving at 10:32 p.m., and alleged video evidence shows him pulling up in the same white truck two minutes beforehand.

Owen said his office is “monitoring the progress and developments of the investigation.”

The DA also mentioned other agencies that are a part of the efforts, including the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS), Capitol Police, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

Owens said he spoke to DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell about how to best utilize state resources to assist Jackson State University campus police.

See the full statement below.

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