SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — People in the Southaven area were on edge, thinking a serial rapist and murder suspect from Missouri could be in their midst.
James Barton Horn, Jr. is considered armed and dangerous.
He has a history of raping and kidnapping women, including two from the Mid-South.
Recently, he was accused of keeping his girlfriend locked in a wooden box for four months in Missouri.
She escaped, but she and her 17-year-old son’s bodies were found Thursday morning.
Police think Horn is the killer.
In Southaven, tips were coming in as police tried to protect Horn’s ex-wife and teenage son who lived there.
The victim in Southaven and her family were placed in protective custody, in case Horn tries coming after them.
Police told WREG they would also have extra patrols out this weekend.
They said, since they put an alert out Thursday afternoon, calls of local sightings have already come pouring in.
“We’ve had a few calls that we’ve worked on,” Mark Little with the Southaven Police Department said. “A lot of them are, ‘I think I might have seen him last night’ at a public location, but when we go, there’s no one there that fits the description.”
All over Southaven, people believed they may have spotted Horn.
So far none of those tips panned out, but that does not mean local police were easing up.
“All throughout the day we’ve had patrols. Some of our local detectives are checking the hotels and showing his picture,” Little said.
New information suggested Horn may have changed his appearance and possibly grown a goatee or beard.
Horn was convicted of kidnapping and raping several women over the years.
A woman from Texas who was his first wife did not want to give her name, but said she wanted to make sure no one underestimates what Horn is capable of.
“I always told my friends, ‘He’s going to kill someone someday,'” she said.
People in Southaven said while they were not changing their Memorial Day weekend plans, because of the manhunt, it will absolutely be on their minds.
“It makes me worry about my family and their well being,” Christopher Jones.
A standoff at Horn’s home in Sedalia, Missouri Thursday turned up nothing.
