A student from the Meridian branch of Mississippi State University died in a house fire along with her husband and daughter on Feb. 3.Senior psychology major Leticia Shipley, 38, her husband Casey Shipley, 30, and their daughter Kali, 3, died in the fire that destroyed their house in the Linwood community.
Ralph Sciple, Neshoba County sheriff’s investigator, said the fire was reported early Saturday morning by a neighbor.
All three bodies were found in the same room between the hours of 2 a.m. and 10 a.m., he said.
“You could tell that they tried to get away from the smoke,” he said.
The three bodies were taken to Jackson for autopsies, and preliminary reports showed smoke inhalation to be the cause of death in all three victims.
Faulty space heaters are the suspected cause for the fire, Sciple said.
“We didn’t see any signs of foul play,” he said.
Services were held for the family members on Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Macedonia Revival Center.
Janet St. Lawrence was one of Shipley’s psychology professors.
“I’ve had Leticia in almost all of my classes and have spent some time chatting with her husband on several occasions,” she said. “This is a painful loss.”
She described Shipley as a good student who “had some pretty clear long-term goals.”
“She would really get engaged with the material I taught and how it would affect people’s lives,” Lawrence said. “She wanted to continue her education, and after she graduated, she wanted to work with abused children.