A Scott County Grand Jury meeting this week in Special Session continued “for further investigation” the one case they were hearing. The evidence presented to them is against alleged murderer and kidnapper Ruben Weeks who was arrested last month in the 40-year-old Shondra May case.
“They continued the indictment proceedings because we are continuing to gather new evidence that we were not able to present,” Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee said Friday night. “We received some additional questions from the grand jury and will make sure that we can answer those questions for them. Being almost 40 years of reports and evidence, it is hard getting everything in even during the three days of Grand Jury. Because of the continuance Weeks will remain in custody.”
Weeks, the man accused of the 1986 kidnap, rape, and murder of Shondra May, also faces other charges. Booking records show Weeks is charged with “Rape – Strong Arm x4, Rape, Kidnapping, Capital Murder, Directing Felony to be Committed by a Minor, and Impersonating a Law Enforcement Officer.”
Weeks was arrested last month, at his travel trailer located in a mobile home park at 105 Movietown Rd. in Canton, by Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee and his deputies. According to Lee, the MS Highway Patrol, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office all assisted with the arrest.
Weeks had been in prison for 30 years in Missouri, serving time for the kidnapping and rape of a Missouri woman. He had pleaded guilty to those charges before his sentencing. Lee said that Weeks was released on probation from Missouri to the Mississippi Department of Corrections in December of 2022. The Mississippi charges where from Scott County for breaking and entering, and Bolivar County for two counts of uttering forgery.”
May was missing for 22 days before her body was found in a creek in Hinds County. It was estimated at that time that the 17-year-old had been dead five-to-10 days.
May was a senior at Leake Academy when she disappeared after leaving her job at McDonalds in Forest. May’s abandoned car was found about 75 yards from her home in the Pea Ridge Community. Her purse, car keys, and glasses were found in the car. The only thing missing from the vehicle was her driver’s license.
On the morning of February 26, 1986, on what would have been her 18th birthday, May’s nude and bound body was found floating face down in the six-to-ten feet deep muddy water by a fisherman. Her hands, feet and neck were tied together with tape.
Then State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett ruled that the cause of death in the case “was inconclusive” but a second autopsy conducted by Hinds County Coroner Robert Martin and Jackson Pathologist Dr. Rodgrigo Galvez ruled the cause of death “strangulation.”
