19-year-old Alicia Benefield was last seen with her ex-boyfriend at his house on Old Town Road in Elysian Fields around 3:30 A.M. Friday. Benefield had been escorted away from a party earlier that morning. Deputies say she had been asked to leave. Her car was found about 4 hours later, parked at DeBerry Baptist Church. “The window was down, and her purse and her phone were there, but her keys were not” according to the mother of the missing teenager. Alicia was reported missing when she failed to show up for work on Friday evening in Carthage. Investigators were called to the Food Mart / Burger King off of I-20 in Waskom Sunday morning, after family members say they found the former boyfriend’s soaked and muddied hoodie in the dumpster with Benefield’s keys in the pocket.
Ly. Floyd Duncan confirmed that the former boyfriend’s vehicle was found left on the side of I20 nearby. Her reportedly told them he left it there after it got stuck in the mud. The Harrison County deputies are interviewing a person of interest in the case, but at this time police have not arrested this person, nor have they confirmed that the person is a suspect. Benefield’s family members claim that information led them to the Food Mart where the missing teenager’s keys were found. Alicia Benefield is a white female, 5 foot 4 inches tall, weighs about 100 pounds, with brown eyes, dark colored hair, wears braces and has a tattoo on her right forearm saying “Wanda Ree”. Alicia was last seen wearing brown tights and a white sweater.
Authorities have not confirmed that the ex-boyfriend is a suspect in this case, but the evidence surly leads one to believe he is guilty. With his car being abandoned full of mud, with the muddy hoodie being found in a dumpster with his ex-girlfriend’s keys in the pocket, and motive to possibly kill her, the old adage goes. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is more than likely a duck, and Harrison County will more than likely find that they have the offending duck in their sights when they slap murder charges on him for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. At this time they are utilizing K-9 dogs and other resources to help locate the body of this missing girl.