Date: December 5, 2017
Contact: NPS Investigative Services Branch
Man will serve 40 years in prison for murder on the Natchez Trace
Parkway
An interagency investigation led by a Special Agent with the National Park Service
Investigative Services Branch has culminated in a lengthy prison sentence for a man who
fatally shot a woman on the Natchez Trace Parkway in 2014.
Christopher E. Lemon, age 37, pleaded guilty to second degree murder in September
2017 and was recently sentenced in federal court. He will serve 480 months in federal
prison followed by 5 years of supervised release.
On July 3, 2014, Lemon was riding in a car with a co-worker on the Natchez Trace
Parkway in Leake County, Mississippi. Lemon had stolen a firearm from their
employer’s store before getting into the vehicle with the victim. While inside the vehicle,
Lemon shot the victim five times in the chest and leg, leaving her in the backseat of her
vehicle. She was later found deceased by a US Park Ranger.
A federal grand jury indicted Lemon in September 2016, charging him with Murder in
the Second Degree as well as Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Possession of a Stolen
Firearm, Stealing a Firearm, and Use of a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence. At
the sentencing hearing, Lemon was also ordered to pay $7,269 in restitution to the Office
of Attorney General - Crime Victim Compensation Fund.
The National Park Service thanks the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Leake
County Sheriff's Department for their assistance in the investigation. The case was
prosecuted by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.
ISB: the Investigative Services Branch of the National Park Service
