Vigil for slain man held Friday night on third anniversary of death
Published 12:20 am Sunday, March 31, 2019
People stand together and light candles at a prayer vigil for Duell Moreland at Lone Pine Cemetery in Monterey. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
Kim Thompson stands at her son's grave and talks about how his death has changed her life Friday at Lone Pine Cemetery in Monterey. "When something happens to you like this… if you’re a weak person you won’t make it,” Thompson said. This past Friday marked the third year since Kim Thompson’s son, Duelll Moreland went missing in 2016. She said the tragedy of her son has completely reshaped her life. Moreland’s death is still being investigated while Thompson believes her son was murdered. “It uproots your whole life I know it’s changed me I know I’m a different person but when you go thought what my family has gone through… its going to change you.” Thompson said she now carries a gun, she has several deadbolts that lock her door at night, and said she lives looking over her shoulder. “I’ve had to reroute my life and take precautions but I’m not afraid of them,” Thompson said. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
People stand together and light candles at a prayer vigil for Duell Moreland at Lone Pine Cemetery in Monterey. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
People stand together and light candles at a prayer vigil for Duell Moreland at Lone Pine Cemetery in Monterey. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
A program from Duell Moreland's funeral is taped inside his mother's bible Friday during a prayer vigil for Moreland at Lone Pine Cemetery in Monterey. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
Duell Moreland's photograph sits surrounded by candles, during a vigil for Moreland was found dead in 2016. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
People use their hats to shield the wind from blowing out their candles during the candle lit vigil for Duell Moreland, who was found dead in 2016. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
Rufus Tiffee uses his hat to shield the candle for his grandson's vigil at Lone Pine Cemetery in Monterey. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
Josephine Hill sits with her great grandson, Trace Hill, 7, at the candle lit vigil for Photo Gallery: Prayer Vigil for Duell Moreland, who was found dead in 2016. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
Kim Murrell, begins to weep Friday during the vigil for her son Duell Moreland, who was found dead in 2016. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)
MONTEREY — Kimberly Tiffee Thompson’s tears reflected the light of a candle she held Friday night during a vigil at the Lone Pine Cemetery.
The vigil was held exactly three years from the day Thompson’s 26-year-old son, Duell Moreland disappeared.
Thompson said time has not diminished her son’s memory, adding she could recount every hour of what happened up until Moreland’s body was found a month later near Peale Cross Road in Monterey.
After the discovery, Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators charged Moreland’s distant cousin, Hartwell Layne Tiffee, 37, of Monterey with second-degree murder in the case, but later the parish grand jury filed a No True Bill in the case and Tiffee was released.
“I know the truth,” Thompson said, adding she believes more people were involved in the suspected homicide, including Tiffee. However, no one has been convicted nearly three years later.
Determined that justice would be served for her son, Thompson said she continues to call on the local media and support from others in the community once a year to ensure that her son’s death is remembered so that whoever was involved in his murder would be prosecuted.
Approximately 50 people gathered around Moreland’s grave, including several women from a halfway house in Jonesville, La., called Almost Home Behavioral Health Ministries. The ladies got up and led the gathering through three verses of “Amazing Grace,” while dozens of Moreland’s friends, family and neighbors lit candles.
“I don’t know if, on this side of eternity, we’ll ever know the 100-percent truth,” said Debbie McClure, who runs the ministry. “But you know, God is not going to be mocked in this. … We feel like nothing’s happening, but whoever did this — they know it, and they’re having to live with their own guilt.”
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