Stanley Cole, the African American former boyfriend of missing JSU student Latasha Norman is now in Jackson Police custody after leading authorities to her decomposing body in the woods off a quiet street in Jackson, Mississippi.The discovery of Latasha Norman's body was a tragic ending for an accounting major who worked on the school newspaper and ended up the focus of a story that grabbed national attention.
Norman's ex-boyfriend, Stanley Dwayne Cole of Greenville, was charged with murder after being interviewed by detectives. Investigators were able to locate the body based on information developed in the course of that interview.
Friends described the 20-year-old Norman as a quiet and serious student. She was last seen alive after leaving an afternoon class Nov. 13.Her body was found Thursday off Brown Street in north Jackson near some old tires and a faded blue tarpaulin, callously discarded among empty beer bottles and other road side trash. Brown Street is a sparsely populated road about a mile west of Intestate 55 near Tougaloo College, a historically black private school in this capital city. It was not clear how long the body had been there.
Norman, who is also from Greenville in the Mississippi Delta, had been the target of attacks in the weeks before her disappearance, authorities said. Cole had been charged with simple assault for allegedly hitting Norman. And someone had slashed Norman's car's tires and removed the vehicle's license plate. Authorities identified Norman's body "based on evidence recovered from the crime scene and from forensic evidence," Scott said.
Cole, 23, was arrested earlier this month for assaulting Latasha. After the court appearance he was turned over to Jackson Police. This tragic story is disturbing on so many levels and words can't express how much we feel for Norman's family and loved ones. Developing...