[TWIAR] Ole Miss Senior, Amateur operator found stabbed

[Greg Williams]

Her callsign, according to QRZ name search, is KD5QBA

Murrah grad's death probed

# Ole Miss senior found stabbed in chest, mother says

By Richard Lake
rlake at clarionledger.com <mailto:rlake at clarionledger.com>

Authorities are investigating the death of a 21-year-old University of 
Mississippi student described by classmates as quiet but brilliant.

Demetria L. Bracey, a 2002 graduate of Murrah High School in Jackson, 
was found dead in an off-campus apartment Tuesday afternoon, Oxford 
police said.

Her mother, Glenda Hill, told WJTV-Channel 12 that her daughter was 
stabbed in the chest and the body had been there two or three days 
before it was discovered. Police released few details about Bracey's 
death. "I just want people to know she's the sweetest, kindest person 
you would ever meet. I can't believe she's gone," Hill said Wednesday.

Bracey was a senior French major and worked as a resident adviser in one 
of the school's dorms, university officials said. "I was looking forward 
to seeing her graduate," Hill said. She also played clarinet in the 
university marching band.

Kline Gilbert, who also plays clarinet in the band, said students had 
been worried about Bracey for the last two or three weeks because she'd 
been absent from class and band practice.

"We knew it was bad because if you miss one time unexcused, you fail," 
said Gilbert, who normally marched next to Bracey. Gilbert, 18, a 
freshman from Madison, said there was an "unspoken awkwardness" among 
the students who wondered what had happened to Bracey.

Bracey befriended Gilbert in August, when he was a new student without 
any friends at the school. "She was not the boisterous type, but she did 
have lots of friends," he said.

There was no answer Wednesday afternoon at Bracey's family's home in the 
Presidential Hills subdivision in Jackson. Neighbors said they were 
unfamiliar with the family.

Ashley Harrell, who played clarinet with Bracey while at Murrah, said 
she was a quiet student who always got straight A's. "She kept to 
herself most of the time," Harrell said. "She was really smart."

Police said in a news release that university police and the Mississippi 
Bureau of Investigation were helping in the probe. Phone calls seeking 
more information were not returned. University officials referred 
questions to the police. Phone messages left with other resident 
advisers in Crosby Hall, where Bracey worked, were not returned. One 
resident adviser said they were told not to talk to the media about Bracey.

In an online profile Bracey had posted, she listed her interests as "la 
langue francaise!, chess, music, the clarinet, Pac-Man, ice skating 
(although I'm not that great at it), cross-stitching, ham radio, having 
fun, Chapstick."

The Chapstick reference likely comes from what she listed as her 
favorite movie, Napoleon Dynamite, a 2004 comedy about a 
Chapstick-loving social outcast who helps a friend win his high school 
class presidency through a series of strange happenings. "This movie 
will stand the test of time," she wrote.

Aileen Ajootian, a classics professor at Ole Miss and the faculty 
adviser to the chess club, called Bracey brilliant. "She was a superb 
chess player. Aggressive and almost always winning her matches. Very 
confident," Ajootian said. She said Bracey had been an active chess club 
member last semester, but had been absent for most meetings this 
semester. Bracey had said her duties as resident adviser kept her too 
busy to attend night meetings, Ajootian said.

Local amateur radio enthusiast Bill Mclarty said he remembered Bracey as 
an enthusiastic teenager who appeared simply to love learning. Mclarty, 
a member of the Jackson Amateur Radio Club, said Bracey wandered by the 
group's meeting location one day in 2001.

Members meet monthly at the American Red Cross building, behind Murrah 
High School. He said Bracey began asking about ham radio, and they 
invited her to attend their meetings. She did, and quickly began 
studying to get her ham radio license, he said.

When she got her license, the group gave her an award for young people 
who get into amateur radio. "She just impressed us so much with her 
enthusiasm," he said.