“Dateline,” a long-running crime show, will be featuring an episode focusing on the 2022 disappearance and murder of former Ole Miss student Jimmie “Jay” Lee.
The episode will also discuss details about the murder trial of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who was sentenced for killing Lee.
The episode titled “Bringing Jay Home” will air at 8 p.m. CT Friday, Jan. 30, on NBC with reporting by Blayne Alexander.
In a press release, the network described the episode story as, “Jimmie ‘Jay’ Lee, a popular and beloved student at the University of Mississippi, vanishes from his apartment early one July morning and is never seen again. Blayne Alexander speaks exclusively with Jay’s grieving friends and family, whose deep faith sustains them as they worry that Jay’s identity as a Black gay man in Mississippi might complicate the search for answers.”
Some of those exclusive interviews, according to the network, include Lee’s sister Tayla Carey, Lee’s parents Stephanie and Jimmie Lee, University of Mississippi Police Capt. Jane Mahan, Oxford Police Detective Ryan Baker and Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen.
A sneak peak of the episode can be found on NBC News website.
Herrington, 25, received a sentence of 40 years in prison in connection with the 2022 death of Lee. Inmate records show Herrington entered into the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections on Jan. 8, 2026, at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. He is currently housed in Unit 42, a 56-bed hospital on the sprawling 18,000-acre complex in north Sunflower County.
Herrington’s tentative release date is Sept. 24, 2064.Background on case
Lee, a 20-year-old beloved member of the Oxford LGBTQ+ community and a Jackson native, disappeared on July 8, 2022. His mother reported Lee’s absence to local authorities. Lee disappeared on his mother’s birthday.
A few weeks after Lee’s disappearance, Herrington was arrested and charged with killing Lee, allegedly to conceal a romantic relationship between the two. Herrington’s Jackson-based attorney Aafram Y. Sellers disagreed with the state’s narrative of the case.
Herrington was a 22-year-old Ole Miss graduate from Grenada at the time of the alleged offense.
Herrington was tried for capital murder in December 2024. That trial ended in a mistrial. After a new indictment in the case was returned against Herrington, a second trial was set for 2025.
The whereabouts of Lee’s body were previously unknown at that time, with a judge previously declaring Lee legally dead in October 2024 — a couple of months before Herrington’s first trial in December 2024.
On Feb. 1, 2025, human remains found by deer hunters off a dirt road and down by a gully in Carroll County were confirmed by the Mississippi Crime Lab to belong to Lee. A new indictment was then returned to try Herrington again.
Lee’s remains were found about 90 minutes south of Oxford and about 35 minutes south of Grenada. It was revealed in the first trial that Herrington’s family lives in Grenada.
Herrington pleads guilty
Herrington initially maintained his innocence by pleading not guilty in the case. His plea was changed roughly three hours after jury selection began for the murder retrial. Herrington entered his guilty plea to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther sentenced Herrington to 40 years in prison. Herrington received 40 years on the second-degree murder charge with 10 years suspended, and he also received 10 years on a tampering with evidence charge. The sentences will run consecutively.
Following that 40-year sentence, Herrington will also serve 10 years of post-release supervision.
At the Dec. 3 sentencing, Luther said Lee “lived a lifestyle that was different from most people in Mississippi.” Because of that, Luther assumed that many people in the nation thought there would not be justice in Lee’s murder. Instead, Luther said, “Mississippi got it right this time.”
Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore and Hinds County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Gwen Agho, who was appointed as a special prosecutor to assist in the trial, said that new details would have been revealed if the retrial had taken place.
Lee’s parents worked tirelessly to seek justice for their son’s disappearance and death previously expressed gratitude for the case’s resolution while also voicing frustration over delays caused by technology companies in releasing information in a timely manner.
Lee Sr. said the family is working with law enforcement to advance a bipartisan bill that would make it illegal for phone, social media or communication companies to withhold usernames and passwords from law enforcement as well as parents or guardians of missing individuals under 21. It’s called the “Jay Lee Information” bill.