Thirty years after the disappearance of Petal resident Angela Freeman, law enforcement officials continue to work on leads and evidence to put the case to bed – although the end may or may not be in the near future.
On November 22, Perry County Sheriff Mitch Nobles said the case was turned over almost three years ago to Lin Carter, who has served since 2020 as district attorney for Forrest and Perry counties. The sheriff said his agency – along with other cooperating agencies – has narrowed the case down to one suspect, and he believes the evidence is sufficient for indictment.
However, without the discovery of a body or other physical evidence, the DA may be hesitant to bring the case forward because of the risk for a “no bill,” which means the evidence is found insufficient by a grand jury, and prosecutors would essentially need to start over from scratch, as another indictment would not be possible without new evidence.
“I don’t want anybody to think that there’s going to be an indictment tomorrow or anything like that; there’s not,” Nobles said. “But we wouldn’t have turned it over to the DA’s office if we didn’t think there was enough evidence to indict.
“(We) gave it to DA Carter, but so far they’ve determined there’re not comfortable with bringing it forward yet, and honestly, no DA in the country would want to do it without a body and just circumstantial evidence.”
Officials turned the case over to Carter after former DA Patricia Burchell left office, following her decision to not run for another term.
Carter said no new evidence has been turned over in the case, and as much as he would like to close the case and give closure to the Freeman family, as far as his office is concerned, a single suspect has not been nailed down.
“At the current time, there’s (no likelihood of indictment); there’s no new evidence or anything that’s been presented,” he said. “They basically just turned in the file with what has been shown the entire time.
“I think I’m the fourth or fifth DA since the tragedy occurred, and it’s basically the same stuff that has been presented. The last time we looked at it, there was probably four different suspects – two that you could go either way with.”
Freeman, who was 17 years old and four months pregnant at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at approximately 1 a.m. September 10, 1993, at the Pizza Hut on Central Avenue in Petal. According to witnesses, she was seen in the parking lot of the restaurant at that time arguing with her ex-boyfriend.
Her disappearance was reported shortly after, when she failed to show up at her morning work shift at the Krystal’s restaurant on Hardy Street in Hattiesburg. A few days later, her 1984 silver Honda was found by a family member at the Mahned Bridge in Perry County, just outside of New Augusta and north of the Mahned community.
A small puddle of liquid that was found outside of her car – which was initially assumed by authorities to be transmission fluid – was later confirmed to be Angela’s blood. In addition, both of her shoes were found a short distance away from the car.
Her keys and purse, along with her body, have never been found.
Angela’s mother, Debra, has contended that Angela was not drinking or using drugs at the time, particularly because of her pregnancy. Angela also gave her mother money for a car payment shortly before her disappearance, and left behind a paycheck at her place of employment.
Nobles first began working the case in 2007, after coming to the Petal Police Department following a 10-year stint as a deputy at the Perry County Sheriff’s Office. He served as a school resource officer at the Petal School District from 2013 to 2015, and was elected in 2016 as Perry County Sheriff.
In addition to Nobles, other law enforcement agents who have handled the case include Rusty Keyes, who now serves as chief of the police department at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Jamie Humphrey, who is currently the chief deputy at the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office. In particular, Keyes began a cold case unit at USM before his appointment as chief, where he was one of the leaders in the case of Freeman’s disappearance.
“Nobody wants to see closure brought to this family, to this mother, more than I do,” Nobles said. “I’m from that area and I’m very close to the family.
“The case has not been presented to a grand jury and I am not sure if it will be presented or not. I can only speak for my office that we believe we have the correct suspect involved in her disappearance, and we would love to see it go before a grand jury, but that is left up to the district attorney’s office. They have not told us that it was about to be presented.”
All officials involved in the case welcome any tips, hints or information in the case, which is still considered open and active. That info can be provided to the Perry County Sheriff’s Office at (601) 964-8461, the district attorney’s office at (601) 545-1551 or Metro Crimestoppers at (601) 582-7867.
“Obviously, if someone came along and confessed or something like that, then it would be a whole new deal, or if we found the remains,” Carter said. “When we heard about the bones (that were recently found) in Camp Shelby, I kind of perked my ears up at first, but to my understanding talking with the Forrest County sheriff, those remains at Camp Shelby were only three to five years old.
“If we get tips we’ll go out and look, but nothing’s come of it at this point. We’re always here if new evidence or new tips come about, and we’re always willing to listen. The family is hurting, and I’ve talked to the mom on numerous occasions and would like to give closure to her. But we don’t have anything new than what we had years ago.”
