Three years later, the Sharkey County Sheriff’s Department hopes it has its suspects. The arrests of a man and two women in the slaying of a mother and her 3-year-old daughter, we hope, will bring to a close a terrifying chapter for the residents of the small town of Cary.

Many “persons of interest,” as law enforcement calls them these days, had been mentioned over the three years since the brutal slayings in May 2009. Karitha Carroll, 31, and her daughter, Jamaya, were found in their home with their throats slashed. The mother had defensive wounds, and authorities had said they believed the killer was someone familiar to the mother.

Cary, a town of a few hundred about 8 miles south of Rolling Fork and 35 miles north of Vicksburg, certainly is not accustomed to a violent act of that magnitude. Add to that a sheriff’s department with limited resources and the case proved from the beginning that it would be tough to solve.

How authorities were led to arrest Stephanie Smith, Shaun Waller and Josephine Warren remains unclear. Nonetheless, we applaud Sharkey authorities for their diligence, not allowing this case to slip away.

Three years is a long time for a community to wait for the first signs of justice. And while a court of law will be the final arbiter in deciding the guilt or innocence of these three people, we hope that the arrests can bring a sense of relief to a community and a family still reeling from such heinous acts of violence.

No court decision will bring back Karitha Carroll or her daughter, but the wheels of justice took a turn for the better Monday with the arrests of these three suspects.

Good work by the Sharkey County Sheriff’s Office and all those who worked tirelessly over the past three years trying to solve such a difficult, delicate case.