The investigation into the Memphis murders of two cousins who grew up in Panola County remains "very, very active" but homicide squad detectives still have no suspects.
That’s according to MPD Lt. W.R. Norris who remains tight-lipped about any findings the squad might have about just who shot and killed Sherlena "Penny" Rena Burgess, 23, and La Shonia Yvette Austin, 24.
Both young women graduated from South Panola High School in 1998. Both worked in Memphis.
"We are doing something on this case as we speak," Norris told The Panolian late last week. He would not elaborate.
Norris did say, however, that detectives have not developed a motive for why the young women were murdered.
The two were last seen late Saturday, Sept. 13, or early Sunday after having spent part of Saturday evening with Panola County family members at Chucky Cheese in Southaven.
The pair then headed back to Memphis where they went to Beale Street. The car they were driving was later found in a downtown parking garage at Monroe and Front Street. That’s where police say the cousins were last seen.
Norris would not comment on reports the two were later at an International House of Pancakes restaurant on Perkins.
It was from that restaurant that the boyfriend of Burgess quoted her as saying she was when he talked with her by phone in the early morning hours that Sunday.
The boyfriend, who police have declined to identify, reported Burgess missing on Sunday afternoon.
That report was linked with the finding Sunday morning of an unidentified body in a ditch at Temple Israel Cemetery in South Memphis.
Austin’s body was found about a week later in an abandoned house near the cemetery, police said.
Asked if the boyfriend of Burgess has been "ruled out" as a suspect, Norris said, "We don’t rule anyone out until a case is solved."
Meanwhile, the families of the pair wait for answers.
"We haven’t heard anything from the police," said Amy Austin, La Shonia’s aunt. "It’s such a mystery."
