Former resident found dead; autopsy indicates homicide

Published 11:56 pm Friday, July 15, 2011

The death of a former Vicksburg resident and St. Aloysius High School graduate is being investigated as a homicide, Hattiesburg police said Friday night.

Lance Logan, who was 24 and a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi, died Thursday in Hattiesburg at the Point O’Woods apartment complex in the 500 block of 38th Avenue, not far from the campus.

“He was brilliant,” said Allie Barfield, who dated Logan for five years. “He always did everything 110 percent. He went above and beyond what was required. He had such passion for everything he did, and put his whole self into it.”

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Hattiesburg police released few details about Logan’s death, declining to say how he died and whether a weapon was found, but it had been initially reported as a suicide by the person who discovered the body, said Lt. Eric Proulx, public information officer.

Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict, who pronounced Logan dead at the scene, said Friday that something in the autopsy made investigators change their minds about a suicide ruling. He would not give details.

Proulx, reached by phone Friday night, echoed Benedict.

“We received the preliminary report from the autopsy, and at that time the investigation was reclassified as a homicide,” he said.

Barfield, who also rents an apartment in the Point O’Woods complex, said she has been working this summer in Vicksburg and became concerned when her calls to Logan went unanswered. She asked a friend to check on him, and it was then that the body was discovered, she said.

Logan was due to graduate from USM in December with a major in international business and a minor in German, said Barfield. He had recently purchased a ring and the couple planned to become engaged soon, she said.

At USM, Logan had been vice president of the Student Government Association during the 2010-2011 school year, and prior to that was the director of campus development for the SGA.

Logan was born in Memphis and spent his childhood in West Memphis, Ark. After his family moved to Vicksburg, he attended St. Aloysius for several years, graduating in 2005.

He was a U.S. Army veteran and former West Point Military Academy cadet, receiving an honorable discharge to return home when his father, the late Hubert Logan of West Memphis, Ark., became ill, Barfield said.

Logan also attended Louisiana State University before enrolling at USM in 2008, she said.

Survivors include his mother and stepfather, Judy and Jim Ward of Columbia, his brother, Jared Myers of Baltimore, and his stepmother, Sandy Logan, of West Memphis, said Barfield. Hubert Logan died in West Memphis in 2010.

Funeral arrangements for Lance Logan are pending, Barfield said.