Throat-slashing murderer
found guilty in love triangle plot
February 20, 2026
(Jackson, MS) Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II announced that a Hinds County jury has returned a guilty verdict against Ryan Christopher Hopkins for the murder of Celeste McDonald. Hopkins was convicted on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder following a case that revealed a calculated and deeply disturbing chain of events.
Just nine days before the murder, Celeste McDonald had accused Hopkins of rape, providing motive for the violence. On March 31, 2019, Hopkins and his girlfriend, Yolanda Torns, drove to Forest, Mississippi, to pick up McDonald. During the drive, the two openly conspired to kill her. After bringing McDonald back to a residence on Belvedere Drive in Jackson, Torns left to purchase bleach, plastic wrap, and detergent from Walmart. Upon her return, Hopkins violently slashed McDonald’s throat, and Torns followed by taking a second knife and inflicting another fatal wound. The couple then wrapped McDonald’s body in plastic and drove across the Mississippi River into Louisiana, where they dumped her in a roadside ditch and covered her with bricks. Less than 24 hours later, the pair returned to Jackson and got married.
After trial, a jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts against Hopkins: first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to life for first-degree murder and 20 years for conspiracy to commit murder.
“There are crimes that shake you. And then there are crimes that haunt you. This was both,” said District Attorney Jody E. Owens, II. “Celeste’s death was planned, executed, and followed by a wedding. That is evil. Today’s verdict proves that cruelty knows no limits, but justice trumps cruelty.”
‘Throat-slashing murderer’ found guilty in brutal slaying of Jackson woman
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JODY E. OWENS, II
