The Nightmare On Highway 61: Who Killed Karitha and Jamaya?

September 2009,  in the small Mississippi Delta town of Kerry, another day was just beginning. But inside a home along Highway 61, something unimaginable had already happened. 31-year-old Kareth  Carol and her three-year-old daughter, Jamaa, had been brutally murdered. Someone had entered that home.

 Someone had taken their lives. And more than 16 years later, one question still remains. Who killed Kartha and Jamaiah? On this episode of Black Girl Gone, I tell the story of Karetha and Jamaiah Carroll, who were murdered inside their home in Kerry, Mississippi in September 2009.  Despite years of investigation and multiple arrests, their family is still waiting for justice.

This is their story. In 2009, fewer than 300 people called Kerry, Mississippi home. Nestled in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Kerry is the kind of town where people know one another by name. Families have lived there for generations, neighbors look out for each other, and news doesn’t stay quiet for long.

 It’s the kind of place where a violent crime doesn’t just affect one family, it affects an entire community. So, when word spread that a young mother and her three-year-old daughter had been found dead inside their home, the shock rippled far beyond the walls of that house. For the people who knew Kartha Carol and her daughter Jama, it was almost impossible to comprehend.

 And as investigators began searching for answers, they found themselves trying to solve a case that would prove to be more complicated than anyone initially imagined. But to truly understand the weight of what was lost in that home on Highway 61, you have to understand who Kartha Carol was before that Tuesday night. In a small town like Kerry, Mississippi, with a population that barely scratches a few hundred people, everyone has a reputation.

 And Kar’s reputation was written in her work ethic and her devotion as a mother. Her mother, Verda Carol, always described Karita as an incredibly easygoing person. She wasn’t someone who looked for trouble or held grudges. She was the kind of person who naturally got along with everyone she met. But beneath that gentle demeanor was a fiercely responsible, independent woman.

 She raised her three children with a protective strictness that defined her life. Her youngest, Jamaa, was just 3 years old, affectionately called China by her family. And she was described as a sweet, smart little girl. Now to support her family, Kartha worked at the Doublequick Convenience Store in nearby Rolling Fork.

 Kar’s deep roots in Cherokee County meant that she knew how the Delta operated and she knew the risks of living along a major transit vein like Highway 61. Family members also mentioned one critical detail about her personality. Ktha was cautious. She didn’t take chances with her safety and she absolutely would not open her door for just anyone, especially late at night.

 Now, while much of Kar’s personal life remained private, a few details have been shared by those who knew her. According to her best friend, Ktha was dating a man named Kevin at the time of her death. Beyond that, little has been made public about their relationship. Reporting also indicates that Ktha co-parented with Jamaia’s father who lived nearby.

 Now although the two were no longer in a relationship, they remained involved in raising their daughter together. By all accounts, Kareth’s life in September 2009 was simply centered around work, raising her children, and the people closest to her. Nothing suggests that those who knew her believed that she was in any immediate danger or that anything out of the ordinary was happening in the days leading up to her death.

 Now, on the night of Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009, the lights over the South Delta Middle School football field burned bright. The air was thick with Delta humidity and the collective roar of a tight-knit community. And up in the sands, said Kartha. She wasn’t just watching. She was cheering at the top of her lungs for her son out on the field.

 And that evening, Kartha and her daughter returned to the home on Highway 61. Her two older children happened to be staying nearby with their grandmother, and so it was just Kareth and Jamaica alone in the house that night. To her family and friends, Kartha was a constant anchor. She was reliable, hardworking, a woman whose life centered entirely around her three children.

 And if you knew Kartha, you knew that she didn’t cut corners, and she absolutely did not miss work. And so when Kar failed to report for her shift at the DoubleQ convenience store the following morning, people noticed. According to those who knew her, that simply wasn’t like her. And as the morning went on and no one was able to reach her, concern quickly turned into alarm.

 By midm morning, Kar’s uncle, Tony Stamps, drove over to her home along Highway 61 to check on her. And when he arrived, the house was quiet. He knocked on the door, but no one answered. And when Tony went inside, he was met with a scene that no family member should ever have to witness. On the bedroom floor lay kara.

Her body showed signs of a violent struggle. And nearby on the bed was 3-year-old Jamaia. The mother and daughter had both been killed. Only hours earlier, Kartha had been in the stands cheering for her son at his football game. And now her family was left trying to comprehend the unimaginable. As news spread through Carrie, investigators converged on the home, hoping that the scene inside would reveal who had taken the lives of a young mother and her daughter.

 But as investigators began to process the scene, one detail immediately stood out. There were no signs of force entry. The doors and windows were intact, and nothing suggested that someone had broken into the home. To investigators, that raised an immediate and troubling question. If no one had forced their way inside, then how had the killer gotten in? That led investigators to consider a possibility they often face in homicide investigations, that the person responsible may have been someone Karan knew and trusted. From the very

beginning, detectives believe that the answers to what happened inside that house likely lie within Kareth’s own family circle of friends or acquaintances. The first hours of a homicide investigation are often the most critical. Investigators work carefully to document every detail of the scene before anything can be disturbed.

 Every footprint, every fingerprint, every strand of DNA has the potential to answer a question or raise an entirely new one. And once that evidence is lost or contaminated, it may be impossible to recover. And according to Kareth’s family, and those critical first hours, they were marked by mistakes that would cast a shadow over the investigation for years to come.

The family members say that before the crime scene had been fully processed, multiple people, including civilians and local officials, were allowed to enter and move through the home. And if that’s true, it meant that the scene was no longer preserved the way investigators ideally want it to be in a homicide investigation.

For detectives, protecting a crime scene isn’t simply about keeping people out. It’s about preserving every possible piece of evidence that was left behind. Once additional people began walking through a home, distinguishing what belonged to the killer from what was introduced afterwards becomes significantly more difficult.

And Chery County is a small rural community and murders of this magnitude were extraordinarily rare. And so whether those early decisions ultimately affected the investigation is impossible to know. But from the family’s perspective, they believed that the case began at an immediate disadvantage when they feared investigators would spend years trying to make up for.

Now, when the autopsies were completed, they revealed the sheer violence of the attack. Karol had been stabbed 17 times. According to the autopsy, she suffered two deep slash wounds to her neck, two additional superficial cuts, and 13 stab wounds to her chest. Investigators also noted signs that Kartha had fought for her life.

 A lamp was found shattered on the floor beside her, suggesting that a violent struggle had taken place inside the bedroom before she was killed. and the evidence painted the picture of an attack that was both personal and relentless. Now, what investigators learned about 3-year-old Jamaiah’s death was in many ways even more heartbreaking.

 According to the autopsy, Jamaa suffered a single fatal slash wound to her neck. The injury was so severe that it transected the major structures in her neck and left marks on her cervical spine, underscoring the extraordinary force used in the attack. Jamaa was just 3 years old. The brutality inflicted on such a young child shocked even seasoned investigators and devastated the small community of Kerry, where many struggled to comprehend how anyone could commit such an unimaginable act against a defenseless little girl. Now, with no

signs of force entry, investigators quickly turned their attention to the people closest to Kartha. Detectives began identifying and interviewing those who knew her best in an effort to understand who may have had access to the home or a reason to harm her. Among the first people they spoke with were Kar’s boyfriend, Kevin, and Jamaya’s father.

 Both men cooperated with the investigation, and after their alibis were verified, neither remained a focus of the investigation. With those early leads exhausted, detectives were left searching for another explanation and another suspect. But with no signs of a break-in, and the people closest to Kartha no longer considered viable suspects, investigators found themselves back at the beginning.

 The evidence suggested that whoever killed Kar had likely been allowed inside the home. But if it wasn’t someone in her immediate circle, then who was it? As detectives continued retracing Karita’s life, they searched for anyone who may have had a grievance against her, any interaction that had gone unnoticed,  or any connection that could explain why a hardworking mother who was known for getting along with everyone  had become the target of such a brutal attack.

Now, with the people closest to her ruled out, investigators were left with little to work with, no obvious motive, and no clear suspect.  And for Kartha’s family, the question only continued to grow. Who had  walked into that house? Who had killed Kartha and Jamaia? And why had they been targeted? And would anyone  ever be held accountable? Those questions would linger for years.

 On September 23rd, 2009, 31-year-old Kartha Carol and  her three-year-old daughter, Jamaa, were found murdered inside their home in Kerry, Mississippi. In the days that followed, investigators searched for the person responsible, but the case quickly reached  a standstill. In the weeks and months that followed the murders, the investigation began to lose momentum.

 Detectives continued pursuing leads, conducting interviews, and searching for evidence that could identify the person responsible. But despite those efforts, no arrests were made, and the case gradually grew cold. For Korea’s family, each passing day without answers made it harder to believe that justice would come. As months turned into years, many began to wonder whether the person responsible for murdering Kartha and little Jamaa would ever be identified or if they had gotten away with it.

 Then almost exactly one year after the murders, the investigation took a stunning turn. In September 2010, investigators publicly raised the possibility that Kara and Jamaiah’s deaths had been the result of a murder suicide. According to that theory, Kara had killed her daughter before taking her own life. The suggestion shocked Karetha’s family and made very little sense to the people who knew the details of the murder.

 and the family rejected the theory outright, insisting it was inconsistent with both the evidence and the woman that they knew. Family members pointed to Kareth’s defensive wounds and the extent of her injuries, arguing that the physical evidence simply did not support the conclusions that investigators had come to.

 To the Carol family, the announcement felt less like a legitimate investigative theory and more like an attempt to explain a case that had gone unsolved for a year. Instead of providing answers, it deepened their frustration and strengthened their belief that the investigation had gone off course. And then just one month later in October 2010, the investigation took another unexpected turn.

 This time, investigators focused their attention on Karetha’s uncle, Tony Stamps, the same man who had discovered the bodies after Kareth failed to report for work. And during an interview with investigators, authorities alleged that Stamps had not been truthful about the condition of the home when he entered it that morning, and ultimately he was placed under arrest.

 Antony Stamps was not charged with the murders of Kartha or Jamaa. Instead, he was charged with obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence for the Carol family. The arrest was yet another blow. Because after spending a year waiting for answers, investigators had first suggested that Ktha had killed her own daughter before taking her own life.

 And now they had arrested the very family member who had discovered the crime scene. To many, the investigation appeared to be moving further away from identifying the person responsible for Karetha and Jamaiah’s murders rather than closer to solving them. Now, what happened to those charges against Tony Stamps is difficult to determine.

 Despite a search of records and news reporting, there appears to be no publicly documented resolution to the case. Now, it’s unclear how the charges were ultimately resolved or whether they were later dismissed, but what is clear is that Tony Stamps was never charged with the murders of Karetha or Jamai. But for the next 2 years, the investigation remained at a standstill.

The murder suicide theory continued to loom over the case, a conclusion that Ktha’s family steadfastly rejected. They never believed that Ktha was responsible for her daughter’s death, and they continued to push for investigators to look elsewhere. Then in 2012, after more than 3 years without an arrest in the murders, the investigation took a dramatic turn.

 It was the break Ktha’s family had been waiting for, but it didn’t come from newly discovered DNA or a forgotten piece of physical evidence. Instead, it came from inside a Mississippi prison. In November 2012, investigators interviewed a woman named Josephine Warren, who was an inmate serving a six-year sentence on an unrelated burglary conviction.

 And during that interview, Warren claimed that she had been involved in the murders of Kartha and Jamaia. She didn’t stop there. Warren also identified two other people that she claimed had participated in the killings, Sha Waller and Stephanie Anne Smith. According to Karita’s mother, Verda, Warren’s confession was remarkably detailed.

Verda later recalled that Warren apologized directly to the family for her role in the murders, a moment that left a lasting impression on them. And for Korea’s family, the confession felt genuine. After more than 3 years of unanswered questions, they believed investigators had finally uncovered the truth.

 Law enforcement appeared to reach the same conclusion, and before long, Warren’s confession would lead to arrests in the case. Now, although Warren’s confession appeared to give investigators the breakthrough that they had been searching for, there was an immediate challenge because based on reporting, investigators did not have any physical or forensic evidence linking Josephine Warren, Shaun Waller, or Stephanie Anne Smith to the murders.

Instead, the case appeared to rest largely on Warren’s account of what had happened. Meanwhile, both Waller and Smith vehemently denied any involvement in the killings. But despite those challenges, prosecutors believe that there was sufficient evidence to move forward. In April 2013, prosecutors took the next step in the case against Josephine Warren, Shawn Waller, and Stephanie Anne Smith by taking it to a grand jury.

 At the center of the state’s case was Warren herself. Her confession had become the foundation of the prosecution’s theory of what had happened to Kartha and Jamaia. And prosecutors expected her to repeat that account before the grand jury. But that’s not what happened. When Josephine Warren appeared before the grand jury, she did the exact opposite of what prosecutors expected.

 Instead of repeating the confession that she had given investigators months earlier, Orin receded. Under oath, she withdrew her previous statements and admitted that the account she provided to investigators was false. In an instant, the foundation of the state’s case collapsed. The confession that had led to the arrests of Josephine Warren, Shaun Waller, and Stephanie Anne Smith could no longer support the prosecution’s theory of the case.

Without Warren’s testimony, prosecutors were left trying to prove a double homicide with no evidence tying any of the three defendants to the murders. As a result of Warren’s recantation, the grand jury returned a no bill for Shaun Waller and Stephanie Ant Smith. A no bill means that the grand jury declined to issue an indictment, finding that there was insufficient evidence to move the case forward.

 In the aftermath, Shy County Sheriff Lindseay Adams told WLBT News that he did not know why Warren had suddenly changed her story. But whatever the reason, the impact on the case was immediate. With no indictment, Shaun Waller and Stephanie Anne Smith were released from the county jail. Josephine Warren, meanwhile, was transported back to the Hines County Detention Center to continue serving her sentence on the unrelated burglary conviction.

And just as quick as investigators believed that they had solved the murders of Karetha Carol and Little Jamaiah, the case had once again unraveled. When the prison transport van drove Josephine Warren back to her cell in 2013, a heavy, suffocating silence settled back over Kerry, Mississippi. The police tape on Highway 61 was long gone. The flashing lights had faded.

 But in a town with a population of barely a few hundred people, a double homicide doesn’t just fade away. It transforms. It becomes part of the local folklore, discussed in hush tones on front porches and whispered across the counters of local shops. When a case has no force entry, no surviving forensic tracks, and a collapsed prosecution, people start looking for a motive.

 Why Kareth? Why Jamaia? And that’s when the rumors begin to circulate. For years, a persistent rumor has floated through Sharky County. Locals whispered that shortly before her death, Kartha had suddenly come into a substantial sum of money. In a rural economy, word travels fast. The theory suggests that someone in her extended social circle or someone locally who kept close tabs on her routine caught wind of this cash.

 They knew her two older children were staying with their grandmother that night and they knew that she was alone with a toddler and they knew that if they knocked Karetha trusting to a fault with people she recognized would turn the deadbolt. So, was it a robbery that had gone horribly wrong? Did a confrontation over cash escalate into a frenzy 17 stab wound attack to silence a witness followed by the unspeakable murder of a three-year-old child who could identify the visitor? Well, investigators have never publicly confirmed if a large sum

of cash was ever missing from the home or if the rumors hold any truth. But to Karita’s family, the monetary rumor is secondary to a much more painful conviction. Kar’s surviving children, including her daughter, Kenisha, have spent nearly two decades carrying a haunting certainty. They don’t believe that a stranger walked off of Highway 61.

 They believe that the monster who did this was someone close. Someone who knew her habits. Someone who might even have sat with the family offering hollow condolences while hiding the blood of a mother and child on their hands. Today, the double murder of Karetha and Jamaiah Carol remains an unsolved case. The Sharky County Sheriff’s Department still holds the file open, but the trail is freezing over.

 But cases like this don’t stay cold because there are no answers. They stay cold because people are afraid to speak. In a town this small, someone knows exactly who knocked on that door. Someone knows who came home that night covered in blood. Someone has been keeping a secret for a generation. Now nearly 17 years have passed since Kartha and her daughter were murdered inside their home in Kerry, Mississippi.

Over the years, the investigation has taken extraordinary turns. Investigators explored multiple theories, arrested three people, watched the case unravel inside a grand jury room, and were ultimately forced back to where they started. Today, no one has been convicted of Kartha and Jamaiah’s murders. For Ktha’s family, the years have been marked by unanswered questions and unimaginable loss.

 A mother was taken from her children. A little girl affectionately known as China never had the chance to grow up. and the people who love them have spent more than a decade waiting for the one thing they still don’t have. Justice. If someone knows what happened inside Karita’s home that night, they have carried the truth for more than 16 years.

Memories fade, loyalties change, and the weight of keeping secrets only grows heavier with time. Even the smallest piece of information could be the one detail investigators need to finally bring this case to a close. If you have any information about the murders of Karita Carroll and Jamaa, please contact the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation or the Sharky County Sheriff’s Office.

May Kartha and Jamaiah Carol rest in peace. A lot of you have asked where I share my thoughts  after the episode ends. And that happens on Afterthoughts, our audio only companion show where my husband Jason and I  unpack the cases, talk through what didn’t sit right, and answer your questions.

  Think of it as part two of select episodes where you hear my unfiltered thoughts about  the case. If you listen on Apple Podcast or Spotify, search Black Girl Gone Afterthoughts and  follow the show so new episodes show up automatically. If you want to know what I really think, join us.