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Breazeale killed girlfriend, dumped body in Leaf River

When Marty Breazeale made his initial appearance in court for killing his girlfriend, 32-year-old Brittany Nicole Holifield, he asked for the death penalty.

What he received instead was a 25-year sentence and a message of hope and forgiveness from the victim’s teenage brother.

“Mr. Breazeale has full opportunity to ask God (for forgiveness), and maybe He will save him,” Joshua Carter, 18, said as Breazeale stood several feet away. “Forgiveness is open for everyone, for all sinners. As Paul wrote in Romans, even when we were at our worst, Christ died for us.”

Breazeale confessed to killing Holifield in May 2022 and dumping her body in the Leaf River at the Highway 590 bridge. He led law enforcement on a massive, multi-agency manhunt in the woods and swamps of northeast Jones County before being captured at Bok Homa Casino, just outside of Sandersville.

Breazeale, 49, pleaded guilty in Jones County Circuit Court to second-degree murder and was ordered to serve 25 years in the full-time custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

“I’m just sorry,” he said when Judge Dal Williamson asked if he had anything to say to the court or the victim’s family members who were gathered there.

“Nobody deserves to have their life taken like this,” the judge said. “You’ve caused pain that this family will never get over.

“I believe we will all answer for the things we did one day. I hope it made an impression on you that this family wants you to seek forgiveness before that day gets here. I hope you will.”

Breazeale admitted to hitting Holifield, and when she didn’t get back up, he thought she was deceased and put her in the Leaf River at the boat ramp under the bridge at Highway 590, Assistant District Attorney Kristen Martin told the court.

When the judge asked if that was true, Breazeale said, “Yes, sir.”

Boaters found the victim’s body face down in the river about a quarter-mile from the bridge, and after she was identified, Investigators Jardian McDonald and J.D. Carter of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department developed Breazeale as the suspect. That’s because Holifield was last seen with him and family members reported that the two had what was described as a violent, two-year, on-and-off dating relationship.

JCSD Investigator Patrick Oster saw Breazeale in his Ford F150 pickup the next afternoon and attempted to stop him, but Breazeale drove down a logging road and bailed out into woods off East Radio Road and Jennings Masters Road. JCSD quickly set up a perimeter and called for reinforcements.

K9s, drones, off-duty and on-duty deputies, volunteer firefighters, troopers from the Mississippi Highway Patrol and conservation officers with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks participated in the search, and several responded to possible sightings all in the area. Paul Sheffield and Rodney Parker of the Jones County Emergency Operations Center set up at the scene and used the HyperReach system to alert 212 residents in a two-mile radius to shelter in place and be on the lookout for the suspect.

Bok Homa workers spotted Breazeale in the casino “talking to guests, looking at women and drinking cranberry drinks like he had not had anything in days,” sources said at the time. Casino security was notified and watched Breazeale walk into a pine thicket, where JCSD personnel took him into custody just after 1 a.m. — about five hours after the search began.

When Breazeale made his initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court the next day, he told a reporter, “I was high on drugs, and didn’t know what I was doing. I miss her very much, and I’m very sorry to her family ... I’m asking for the death penalty.”

He was charged with first-degree murder and has been being held in the Jones County Adult Detention Center without bond. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a penalty of 20 years to the possibility of life in prison. Breazeale did not have prior violent offenses, but he did have a burglary charge in Wayne County and several drug-related charges in Jones County.

Breazeale was represented by public defenders Cruz Gray and Patrick Pacific. In addition to the 25 years — which he will be required to serve day-for-day, with no chance for early release — he will be on post-release supervision under MDOC for five years, participate in the court’s community service program and pay $2,427.50 in court fees and fines.

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