Oxford police officer Matthew Paul Kinne was on-duty and in full uniform when he shot and killed his mistress because she was possibly pregnant, according to the family of the victim who have filed a demand letter asking for $5 million in damages.
Dominque Clayton’s body was discovered by her 8-year-old son on March 19 at 2 p.m., just over 12 hours after Kinne is believed to have killed her.
Oxford police initially told the family that she had killed herself even though there was no gun in the house, according to Magnolia State Live.
Interim Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutcheon ordered Kinne’s arrest the following day on murder charges. He was fired a day after that on March 21.
Two other Oxford police officers, Collins Bryant and Ryan Winters, resigned to avoid termination on March 23 for “improprieties in relation to Ms. Clayton,” according to Carlos Moore, attorney for the Clayton family.
And on March 24, Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill asked the Mississippi Attorney General to conduct an internal investigation into the entire Oxford Police Department. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is already investigating the actual murder.
According to the Oxford Eagle:
“We want to be as transparent as we can be,” Tannehill said. “I felt like an outside organization doing an investigation just as the (Mississippi Bureau of Investigation) is handling the criminal investigation, the attorney general’s office is handling an internal investigation.”
Moore, the family attorney, suggested more cops are involved in the murder or its coverup:
“It’s very unfortunate that someone was given a badge, someone was given a gun to patrol the streets of Oxford and that man committed one of the most heinous crimes this community has ever witnessed,” Moore said. “I’m glad the MBI is investigating that and the attorney general’s office is investigating internally. But, we have discovered a lot of things, and there are several more individuals that have not resigned that are of interest to me and my team of investigators, and, at some point, we will be talking to them either voluntarily or involuntarily.”
Moore said his investigation so far has determined that Clayton may have been pregnant and that Kinne was on-duty and in full uniform when he pulled up to her house in his patrol car in the middle of the night as he had done so many times before.
He also stated in the demand letter that Kinne visited Clayton five days before the murder and forced her to get rid of her dogs, which he believes is a sign of premeditation.
And he said that Clayton expressed fear to her sister that Kinne might want to hurt her.
Kinne is being held without bond in a jail in a neighboring county after a previous judge attempted to seal his case and give him a “reasonable bond.”
But Circuit Court Judge Andrew Howorth recused himself after both Clayton’s family and Chief McCutcheon protested his decision to release Kinne on a reasonable bond.
Circuit Court Judge John Gregory took over and ordered Kinne to be held without bond where he has been for the past three weeks.
