Centerville teen sentenced to 20 years in prison in fatal Perry shooting

A Middle Georgia woman pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last week in a shooting that killed a 77-year-old man in Perry in 2021, officials said.

Natajah Sincere Culpepper, 19, was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by five years of probation for the shooting that killed Willie Jacox in July 2021, according to a statement from the Houston County District Attorney’s Office.

Culpepper was with Cornelius Reyshawn Wallace Murray, then 19, when he shot Jacox at about 11 p.m. on Mason Terrace near the Timberwood Apartments in Perry. Jacox died at the scene, as police found him unresponsive in his car.

Murray “was overcome by anger” with Jacox before he shot him, saying Jacox had “disrespected him in the past,” the statement said.

Murray pleaded guilty to multiple murder charges in February and was sentenced to life without parole.

Culpepper called Jacox “Pops,” she told the police, and often asked him for rides and money. She lured Jacox to Mason Terrace by asking him to meet her there that day.

After the shooting, people in the Timberwood apartments told police they saw a man and woman walking away from the scene quickly, according to the statement.

Police arrested Culpepper and Murray near the scene after they found the two with a backpack that held a pistol and shell casings. The gun and bullets were later matched to the ones that killed Jacox.