The case of a woman accused of killing a Vicksburg college student nearly eight years ago will head to trial Monday in Lamar County Circuit Court in Purvis.

Jennifer Wardle, 29, whose last known address was 126 Old Highway 49, Brooklyn, is accused of killing James Neal May, who was 22 and a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi.

May was found May 1, 2002, in his home with a gunshot wound in his head. His death was initially ruled a suicide, and Wardle was not indicted until more than five years later.

Parents of the slain man, Vicksburg residents James and Peggi May, will attend the trial along with family members and friends, his father said Friday. He would not comment further so as not to jeopardize the prosecution’s case.

At the time of Wardle’s arrest, James May said he was thankful to the Attorney General’s Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation for pursuing the investigation.

Though the case is being heard in Lamar County, the state attorney general’s office is handling the prosecution.

The MBI is the investigative division of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and its detectives are often asked to probe cases in which local investigators fail or in which there is a potential conflict.

Wardle’s trial initially was set for March 22, 2009 but was rescheduled because of the illness of Wardle’s attorney, James K. Dukes of Hattiesburg.

Circuit Judge R.I. Prichard III will preside, with jury selection to begin from a pool of at least 70 prospective jurors, a spokesman at the Lamar County Circuit Clerk’s office said.

The prosecution team includes Special Assistant Attorneys General Stan Alexander and Treasure Tyson.

Wardle was indicted by a Lamar County grand jury Oct. 26, 2007, and arrested 11 days later. Since, she has been out of jail on $100,000 bond.

Neal May was a 1998 graduate of Warren Central High School. He attended First Baptist Church, and was studying geographical information systems in college, his father said.