Georgia Cox places one of the 500 posters she made asking for leads in the death of her son Kevin Cox along Cemetery Road near Buck Reed Road in Edwards. (Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[1/22/05] EDWARDS The family of a Clinton man who died of a gunshot wound in November is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to arrest of those responsible for his death.

The body of Kevin Cox, 36, was found Nov. 20 on land he had leased near the intersection of Cemetery and Buck Reed roads here.

Authorities initially said the death was a suicide but made no official ruling. They later backed off that statement and the case remains open and under investigation. Hinds County Lt. Steve Pickett said investigators were awaiting lab results.

A representative of Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart’s office said that autopsy results would not be available for several months.

The family suspects foul play.

“He was the type person that would’ve left us a book” had he committed suicide, said his mother, Georgia Cox.

His mother believes that Kevin Cox, an avid hunter, was hanging signs showing the land’s boundaries before hunting season opened Nov. 20. The family is not sure if Cox died Nov. 19 or 20 and no official ruling has been made. A staple gun and several signs were later found on the land.

His wife, Susie Cox, said in an earlier interview that the facts surrounding her husband’s death don’t add up.

“He was doing things that day. He was making calls on his cell phone. We had plans for the weekend, the entire week,” she said. “There are too many unanswered questions.”

Hanging the signs on the land was something he did every year, Georgia Cox said. Kevin Cox had leased that particular plot of land for four or five years, she said, and often had problems with trespassers.

Family members will be going door-to-door in Edwards, Utica, Bolton and Clinton handing out fliers this weekend, she said.

Kevin Cox grew up in Vicksburg and has family ties here. He had lived in Clinton for the past 10 years, where he was a warehouse supervisor at Jitney Jungle Food Stores in Jackson. Kevin Cox also owned and operated Architect’s Choice General Contracting.

The family asks that those with information call 885-9440.