--- description: A Tennessee man is wanted for the murder of his mother and friend after posting an apparent confession on Facebook, police said title: Suspect Confessed on Facebook After Double Murder image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa5caec9713cf256/69892c24db2987409825f3b6/gettyimages-160018691.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Police Say a Tennessee Man Confessed on Facebook After a Brutal Double Murder by [Eli Meixler](/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 9, 2018 7:59 AM CUT  Police tape blocks off a crime scene. Police tape blocks off a crime scene.Tetra Images/Getty Images by [Eli Meixler](/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 9, 2018 7:59 AM CUT A Tennessee man is wanted in Mississippi for the murder of his mother and friend after [posting an apparent confession](http://abcnews.go.com/US/facebook-user-posts-confession-hours-mother-friend-found/story?id=54328538 "undefined") on Facebook, police said. Casey James Lawhorn, 23, made a verbal confession during a phone call to police and in a post on his public Facebook account early Sunday morning, hours after he allegedly killed his mother and a close friend before fleeing the scene in at his East Ridge, Tenn. home, ABC News reports. Lawhorn is still on the run and [wanted](https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story%5Ffbid=1677090952357860&id=978091765591119 "undefined") in Jasper County, Mississippi, according to the local Sheriff’s Department. In the 1,000-word account [posted](https://twitter.com/JasperCoNews/status/983151190522368000 "undefined") to Facebook, Lawhorn describes using a “stolen .22 LR rifle caliber” to murder his mother, Vi Lawhorn, and a friend, Avery Gaines of Ringgold, Georgia. Lawhorn also described struggling with college and contemplating suicide in the post. “Surely any normal person would wish death on themselves after doing what I did, seeing what I saw, and hearing what I heard,” he reportedly wrote. Law enforcement believe the post to be authentic, based on its description of “specific” details of the crime, East Ridge assistant police chief Stan Allen told ABC News. Allen confirmed that a man believed to be Lawhorn called in a tip directing police to the incident before telling dispatchers that he was “going to a location…to find a secluded spot to kill himself,” Allen said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5232780/casey-james-lawhorn-facebook-murder-confession/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5232780/casey-james-lawhorn-facebook-murder-confession/"},"headline":"Police Say a Tennessee Man Confessed on Facebook After a Brutal Double Murder","datePublished":"2018-04-09T07:59:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:54:28.236Z","description":"Casey James Lawhorn called police in Mississippi directing them to the scene of the crime","url":"https://time.com/5232780/casey-james-lawhorn-facebook-murder-confession/","keywords":["Crime","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa5caec9713cf256/69892c24db2987409825f3b6/gettyimages-160018691.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eli Meixler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eli/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa5caec9713cf256/69892c24db2987409825f3b6/gettyimages-160018691.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA, New York State, New York City, Crime scene barrier tape","caption":"USA, New York State, New York City, Crime scene barrier tape","creditText":"Tetra Images/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/crime/","name":"Crime"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5232780/casey-james-lawhorn-facebook-murder-confession/","name":"Police Say a Tennessee Man Confessed on Facebook After a Brutal Double Murder"}}]}] ```