POPLARVILLE, Miss. (KRDO) — Police have located two people in connection with the disappearance of 37-year-old Stephen Walker.
According to the Pearl River County Sheriff's Department Facebook page, Johnny Morris and Hailey Cole were found in Mississippi around 8 a.m. MST.
The couple is believed to have ties to cases in Colorado; an ongoing missing person case in El Paso County and a homicide in Park County.
According to the Mississippi Sheriff's Office, a concerned citizen called 911 dispatch because they said someone had broken into a car early Monday morning and the man matched Morris' description.
Pearl River County officials searched the area and said they found Morris and Cole camping in a shed.
Surveillance camera video shared with KRDO13 appears to show Morris at a shed, walking through another person's backyard.
Lucretia Harrell tells KRDO13 she called 911 after motion sensors went off and checked her security cameras.
“When I called 911, my immediate response was, I think this is Rankin Morris that you all have been looking for,” Harrell said.
Harrell says she knows the Morris family.
“He actually did some fencing work for me a few years ago. So I knew Rankin,” she said.
According to the sheriff's office, Morris and Cole were booked into the Pearl River County Jail on outstanding warrants from the Mississippi Department of Corrections for failure to appear, Lamar County (Mississippi) for receiving stolen property, and Wiggins (Mississippi) for contempt of court/failure to appear appear instructed.
Investigations by the Pearl River County Sheriff's Office at the scene of Morris and Cole's arrest resulted in charges against Pearl River County of commercial burglary and attempted residential burglary.
KRDO13 is waiting to hear whether arrest warrants will be issued from El Paso or Park Counties in Colorado. So far, the two have not been officially classified as “suspects” in a missing person and murder case, but have been identified as “persons of interest”.
Meanwhile, the man they are believed to be connected to – Stephen Walker – is still missing and members of his community in Colorado Springs, Colorado have organized a search party.
Walker went missing on Dec. 19 and officials said large amounts of blood were found in his sober home.
“So that [search party] means everything to me… We want to find him. We have to find him. And we’ll keep going,” said Stephen Walker’s mother, Judy Waggoner.
Friends say Walker was a shining light who often helped others on their journey to sobriety.
“He is an inspiration. He sobered up. He actually helped me get sober. We were sober together in Arizona for a while. He was just a great inspiration,” said a friend.
Members of the public who may have information related to the investigation in Park County or El Paso County are asked to call the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Regional Communications Center non-emergency telephone number at 719-390-5555.
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