Capital murder suspects bond set at $1 million bond each

Published 11:14 pm Thursday, February 19, 2009

A mother is alleged to have paid her son $1,000 to kill her live in boyfriend.

Both the mother, Barbara Cameron, 46, and her son, Max Weldon, 26, are facing capital murder charges. A $1 million bond set was set for each at their initial appearance Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, the two suspects were brought to the Pearl River County jail after being arrested on murder charges, but additional information gathered in the investigation showed the two allegedly planned the murder. They now face capital murder charges.

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County prosecutor Aaron Russell asked Justice Court Judge James Hal Breland to make the change in the charges, which he did after hearing the testimony of Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Russell Miller.

Miller said the evidence collected in the investigation showed that two weeks before the murder, Cameron and Weldon planned the crime. In the plan, Cameron would leave a .357-caliber revolver in the shed on the property on which Cameron and Daniels lived. Cameron called Weldon on Jan. 19, the day of the murder, to come to the house and kill 61 year-old Clyde Daniels II. In exchange, she would pay him $1,000, Miller said the evidence showed.

That night Cameron called Weldon who came out and did as the two had planned by taking the gun out of the shed and shooting Daniels twice as he stood outside smoking a cigarette. After the shooting, Cameron waited until Weldon was a safe distance awayfrom the scene before calling the Sheriff’s Department.

When deputies arrived, Cameron claimed she was taking a shower when she hear two loud noises. She came outside to find Daniels lying on the front porch in a pool of blood and saw two people walking away, Miller told Breland.

Investigation into the matter showed that Cameron’s initial statement was untrue and that Cameron and her son apparently had planned to kill Daniels, Miller said.

After hearing the evidence presented, Breland found probable cause to sign the capital murder charges and set the bond at $1 million for each suspect. Prior to the reading of the evidence Russell asked Breland not to allow bond for either of the suspects, but if he had to set one, to make it a high bond. Breland chose to set a high bond since he said only a Circuit Court judge can deny bond.