Deputies Find Body of 21-Year-Old Ole Miss Student, Suspect Foul Play

Deputies Find Body of 21-Year-Old Ole Miss Student, Suspect Foul Play
A stock photo of police tape. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Simon Veazey
7/22/2019
Updated:
7/23/2019

The body of a 21-year-old female student was found by law enforcement during a routine patrol in a small Mississippi community south of Memphis.

According to local reports, deputies in Lafayette County said that foul play appeared to be involved in the death of Alexandria “Ally” Kostial, whose body was found in Harmontown on July 20.

Police have started a homicide investigation, according to her father.

No other details are being released as to how she died, according to The Oxford Eagle, as the investigation is still active.

Kostial had been attending summer school and teaching a fitness class at the University of Mississippi, her father wrote in a post on Facebook.

“Yesterday, Saturday afternoon, we were visited by the Sunset Hills MO Police who communicated to us that our beautiful dear Alexandria (Ally) Kostial was the victim of a homicide. As of now, it is believed the crime happened in Lafayette County, MS.”

He said she graduated in 2016 from Lindbergh High School in St. Louis in the neighboring state of Missouri.

According to her Facebook profile, Kostial had been studying business and marketing at the University of Mississippi, affectionately known as Ole Miss.

The university campus is located in Oxford, about 15 miles from where her body was found.

“We are truly saddened by the death of Alexandria Kostial,” Ole Miss interim Chancellor Larry Sparks said in a statement, according to The Eagle. “Ally was a valued member of our campus community. We extend our deepest sympathy to her family, friends, and classmates and stand ready to support them during this time.”

Alan Wilburn of Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department said deputies discovered the body of a white woman while on routine patrol, which was later identified as Kostial, reported USA Today.
“The Sheriff’s Department and Mississippi Bureau of Investigations are following several leads at this time,” Wilburn said. “We will release more information at the appropriate time.”

Missing Pregnant Mississipi Woman Found Dead

Authorities in Mississipi are still investigating the death of another 21-year-old woman, nine months pregnant, who was found dead in Mississipi last month, just a few days before she was due to give birth.
Makayla Winston was found dead in Holmes County about three days after she was reported missing, reported WLBT.

The report said Winston was nine months pregnant.

Officials suspect foul play in the case, WCSC reported, which added that she was due to give birth on July 4.

Investigators said there might have been a white vehicle parked behind the woman’s car at one point, but details are not clear.

“Kind of like an SUV. But no one knows who was driving the SUV,” March told the station. “The cellphone was cleaned up so we’re also doing an investigation on the cellular phone, trying to find out what was erased,” added the sheriff.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has interviewed several people about her disappearance, according to People magazine.

Before she was found dead, “I just want my baby home,” Yvetty Brown, her mother, was quoted as saying by WBLT.
“Let my baby go,” she told WJTV. “Let her come home and enjoy her first child because we love her… and we’re going to take care of the baby no matter what. So I just want my baby to come home.”

“She was a quiet person. She didn’t hang out. Mostly, she was around family,” added Brown to WCSC.

Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Simon Veazey is a UK-based journalist who has reported for The Epoch Times since 2006 on various beats, from in-depth coverage of British and European politics to web-based writing on breaking news.
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