Vicksburg Couple Found Dead in Car

There will be no charge and no trial. The man police say killed his wife is dead, and a criminal case ends when the accused is dead. What remains is the investigation the chief says is still open, and earlier domestic-violence arrests that did not keep her safe.

Officers went to the area behind the Vicksburg Convalescent Home, near Cherry and Shannon streets, around 9 a.m. Friday on a welfare check. Cedric Garrett, 40, of Vicksburg, was in a vehicle with a gun. Police set a perimeter and talked with him for about 20 minutes. They thought he might put the gun down. He shot himself instead.

His wife, Val-Tricia Garrett, 53, was dead in the passenger seat. The two were married. Police say Garrett killed her before he killed himself. The criminal investigations unit is still working the case.

Police had arrested him on domestic-violence charges in 2017 and 2018. A domestic-violence report was filed a couple of months ago. That 2026 report is not another arrest.