Police seek data from cell phones in Talley death

Calls may hold clues in Talley death
By MICHAEL A. BELL

Investigators are executing search warrants on three cell phones obtained during their investigation into the death of Tiffany Talley, the Gulfport High scholar athlete slain Dec. 27, authorities said.

Harrison County Sheriff's Capt. Ron Pullen would not disclose who owned the cell phones, only that deputies were looking at incoming and outgoing calls, along with voice messages.

Talley's boyfriend, Johnathan Barfield, is charged with manslaughter in her shooting death; he remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail. Talley, a 17-year-old captain of the girls' basketball team, was found shot to death in Barfield's FEMA trailer on Canal Road.

According to an affidavit, Barfield doesn't remember if he accidentally shot her or if the gun fell to the floor and discharged.

Talley's father, Kelvin, is certain it was premeditated murder.

"She called him and let him know that she was coming to give him something back to let him know that she was breaking up with him permanently," he said. "He shot my daughter in the face from two-and-a-half feet away."

Kelvin Talley said authorities were looking into what time Tiffany Talley called Barfield and then what time Barfield called his father after he shother. According to the affidavit, Barfield called his father before he called EMS.

"I laid my daughter to rest," Kelvin Talley, a Tennessee resident, said. "What I need is to have him laid to rest in an electric chair or a needle, whatever they use in Mississippi." The state's mode of execution is lethal injection.

Barfield and Tiffany Talley met at a Catholic school a few years ago, Kelvin Talley said. Barfield dropped out, but the two continued to see each other, despite her parents' objections. "When he dropped out, it was a situation when we didn't want her to be around him," Kelvin Talley said. "I've seen good people be drawn to bad people."

The two dated for almost a year, he said. The father had no indication the relationship was abusive, as Tiffany Talley's friends and teammates have told the Sun Herald. They not only recall her with knots on her back and bruises on her arms, but say she worried if she ended the relationship with Barfield, he would kill her.

Principal Michael Lindsey would not comment on whether Tiffany Talley had visited with any counselors about an abusive relationship. Each case is kept confidential. Speaking only in general terms, he said if school counselors or social workers learn a student is being abused, they treat the reports seriously and notify the Department of Human Services or police.

The school is planning to establish a scholarship in Tiffany Talley's name.

She was to attend the University of Southern Mississippi in the fall, where she had qualified for both an athletic and academic scholarship, her father said. "She had the world in front of her."