The Pearl High School shooting occurred on October 1, 1997, at Pearl High School in

Pearl, Mississippi Pearl is a city located in Rankin County, Mississippi, United States, on the east side of the Pearl River across from the state capital Jackson. The population was 27,115 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Jackson, Mississippi metropoli ...

, United States. The gunman, 16-year-old 11th grade student Luke Woodham (born February 5, 1981), shot and killed two students and injured seven others at the school after killing his mother by bludgeoning at their home earlier that morning.

Shooting

The incident began on the morning of October 1, 1997, when Luke Woodham fatally stabbed and bludgeoned his mother, Mary Ann Woodham, as she prepared for a morning jog. An autopsy report revealed that she had eleven slash wounds and seven stab wounds, including stab wounds to the heart and lungs. At his trial, Woodham claimed that he could not remember killing his mother. Woodham then drove his mother's

Toyota Tercel The is a subcompact car manufactured by Toyota from 1978 until 1999 across five generations, in five body configurations sized between the Toyota Corolla, Corolla and the Toyota Starlet, Starlet. Manufactured at the Takaoka plant in Toyota City ...

to Pearl High School. Wearing a trench coat to conceal the rifle he was carrying, Woodham entered the school and gave a manifesto to Justin Sledge. Sledge, realizing what was about to occur, gathered some friends and hid in the safety of the library while the shooting took place. During the trial, one former student would testify under oath that "he was in the commons with classmate Justin Sledge when Woodham walked up and spoke to Sledge. Justin Sledge then told him, "no matter what I heard, no matter what I saw, don't turn around. Just keep going forward. I didn't see anything. I just heard gunshots." Woodham then fatally shot Lydia Kaye Dew and Christina Menefee, his former girlfriend, then went on to wound seven others. The school's assistant principal, Joel Myrick, retrieved a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol from his truck and, spotting Woodham attempting to flee the parking lot after the shooting, shouted for him to stop. Woodham lost control of his vehicle, and Myrick ordered him out of the car at gunpoint and detained him until police arrived at the scene.

Religious and esoteric involvement

Less than a week after the shooting, police arrested six other students, charging them with conspiracy to commit murder. Justin Sledge had gone on a local news report and read from the notebooks of writings given to him just before the shooting. Minutes before Woodham started the shooting, he had given the following message to Sledge: Further examination of the notebooks revealed an account of when Woodham and a friend had tortured his dog Sparkle to death, several months prior to the shooting: Prior to the shootings, Woodham had met Grant Boyette, another of the six charged with conspiracy to murder, and supposedly accepted an invitation to join a group Boyette had formed and called "the Kroth". During the summer of 1997, the supposed members of the Kroth allegedly made plans to terrorize Pearl High School. The plans ultimately involved Woodham entering the school and opening fire. Days after the arrest, an antagonistic note claiming to be written by “The Alliance of the Immortalz“ was pinned to a memorial near the school sign. Justin Sledge denies any involvement in the act as well as any knowledge of, or connection to, “the Kroth” and the “Alliance of the Immortalz.” Regardless, Sledge has been widely blamed for the act, although he claims it as a rumor and the actions of pranksters. Following the shooting, Sledge spoke at a prayer vigil held to mourn the dead students, for which he received a suspension from the school district. Sledge says his comments at the memorial were mischaracterized but still "clearly inappropriate". Sledge went on a local TV news program and read from Woodham's writing. On October 8, 1997, Sledge, Boyette, and the others were arrested on suspicion of

conspiring A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

with Woodham to commit the shooting. He claimed that Boyette had told him he had "potential to do something great," and promised him that he could get his ex-girlfriend back through

black magic Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes. The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...

. Dr. James Justin Sledge, who is now an academic specializing in philosophy and religion, argues that the media and police's claims that he was part of a satanic cult lacked evidence, exemplifying the broader

Satanic Panic The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...

trend of the 1980s and 1990s. After his conviction Woodham converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, and said the following in a letter written to

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

minister

David Wilkerson David Ray Wilkerson (May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011) was an American Christian evangelist, best known for his book '' The Cross and the Switchblade''. He was the founder of the addiction recovery program Teen Challenge, and founding pastor of ...

Trials and incarceration

There were separate trials for the murder of Woodham's mother and the school shooting. Woodham's lawyer argued at both trials that Woodham was insane at the time of the killings. Jurors rejected Woodham's

insanity defense The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative Defense (legal), defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a mental illness, psychiatric disease ...

at his first trial for the murder of his mother, and he was sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

on June 5, 1998. His second trial took place on June 12, and he was found guilty of two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder, with the jurors once again rejecting the insanity defense. He was given two life sentences for the murders and seven 20-year sentences for his attempted murder convictions. He is currently serving three life terms plus an additional 140 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2046, when he is 65 years old. Conspiracy charges against the members of the Kroth who were minors were dropped by Judge Robert Goza "at the request of District Attorney John Kitchens, who said Mississippi's conspiracy law would make proving the accusations difficult." Grant Boyette, who was 18 at the time, was convicted and sentenced to the

Mississippi State Penitentiary Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in the unincorporated community of Parchman in Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of la ...

at Parchman boot camp for six months and five years of supervised probation. Less than three days after his last conviction,WOODHAM INDUCTED INTO PRISON SYSTEM
" ''

Sun Herald The ''Sun Herald'' is a U.S. newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi, that serves readers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The paper's current executive editor and general manager is Blake Kaplan, and its headquarters is in the city of Gulfpo ...

''. June 16, 1998. A8 Front. Retrieved on July 22, 2010. Woodham was removed from the Forrest County Jail in

Hattiesburg Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and most populous city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 48,730 in 2020, making it the 5th m ...

.Linedecker, Clifford L. ''Babyface Killers: Horrifying True Stories of America's Youngest Murderers''. Macmillan, 1999
53
Retrieved from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

on August 10, 2010. , . On June 15, 1998,Luke Woodham
."
Archive

Mississippi Department of Corrections The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. Burl Cain is the commissioner. History In 1843 a penitentiary in four city squares in central Jack ...

. Retrieved on July 20, 2010. Woodham entered the

(MDOC) system in the

Central Mississippi Correctional Facility The Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) is a Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) prison for men and women located in an unincorporated area in Rankin County, Mississippi, United States, between the cities of Pearl and Brand ...

(CMCF) in Rankin County. While at CMCF Woodham underwent evaluation so he could be assigned to a permanent facility. Several weeks later, he was moved into the

(MSP) in Sunflower County. In 2010, Woodham made a request to

Governor of Mississippi The governor of Mississippi is the head of government of Mississippi and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Mississippi National Guard, military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either appro ...

Haley Barbour Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he previously ser ...

, asking for

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

; however, his request was rejected. As of May 2025 Woodham is incarcerated in Unit 2 of SMCI as MDOC #R4682. His location last changed on May 23, 2025.

Aftermath

As a result of this incident, the state of Mississippi made it a

capital crime Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

if a murder is committed on the property of a school.Perline, Irvin H. and Jona Goldschmidt. ''The Psychology and Law of Workplace Violence: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals and Employers''. Charles C Thomas Publisher, 2004. , 9780398074326. p
320
"Since the shooting at Pearl High School, Mississippi has made murder on school property a capital crime."

References

External links

* ** * * Hewitt, Bill.
The Avenger
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