A 35-year-old man from Mississippi will spend the rest of his life in prison for the cold-blooded murder of two men he shot inside their homes.
Matthew Brian Kidd was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Tuesday by Rankin County Circuit Judge Dewey Arthur for the murders of William Earl Morris and Christian Storey, both 31.
Arthur imposed the sentence after Kidd pleaded guilty to one count of capital murder in Morris’ death and one count of murder in Storey’s death, authorities said.
The Morris Murder
According to a news release, on Wednesday morning, Aug. 27, Rankin County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a deceased person in the 3300 block of Highway 80. When first responders arrived at the address, they discovered an adult male — later identified as William Earl Morris — who appeared to have multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Investigators said they had identified several suspects in the case, including Kidd.
According to Jackson ABC affiliate WAPT, investigators discovered that Kidd’s truck broke down on Morris’ property in the 3300 block of Highway 80 earlier in August. Kidd left the vehicle for a while, and when he returned, he accused Morris of taking items from the car.
Kidd allegedly threatened Morris’ life several times and attempted to fight the other man, who refused and ordered Kidd to remove the vehicle from his property within 24 hours. Morris was gunned down in his home before the end of the month.
During the investigation, Kidd’s ex-girlfriend allegedly provided police with text messages from Kidd expressing his anger toward Morris and indicating that he would be “trying to stir the pot” about the situation. She also confirmed that Kidd owned a 9 mm handgun, which matched the murder weapon.
The Storey murder
On the evening of August 28, the Brandon Police Department responded to a reported shooting on Gayden Street, stating that the circumstances “closely matched the shooting out in the country,” in reference to Morris’ murder.
“Information sharing and cooperation resulted in connecting the two murders,” according to the authorities. “Brandon Police Department and the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office worked together and developed evidence that Matthew Brian Kidd was the suspect in both cases.”
On the morning of August 29, a tipster recognized Kidd from the local news and called 911 to report seeing him check into a Brandon hotel. Brandon Police Department and Rankin County Sheriff’s Office SWAT teams responded to the hotel and executed a search warrant, allowing them to apprehend Kidd without incident.
Authorities are reportedly unaware of the motivation behind Storey’s murder.
