Brad Jennings

On June 18, 1949, Brad Jennings was born in Oxford, Mississippi. His father was too busy to go to the hospital that day, and as the years passed, Brad would discover that his father was more interested in building an empire than in his family.

As a small child, Brad was a mama’s boy but soon grew out of that when his brother was born. Although Brad had a generous allowance growing up, he was never satisfied. In school, he found he could make some extra money by threatening to beat up students that he knew would never fight back and would give him anything he wanted. As a result, Brad wasn't popular, but his peers always showed him respect.

While in college, Brad met Margaret Norman and fell in love with her. They were opposites, but she was attracted to him, and they married before either of them finished their degrees. The couple had two boys: Victor in 1971 and Raymond in 1977.

After graduating from Ole Miss, Brad went into the family business with his father, but it wasn't exciting enough for him, and he soon grew restless. People claim Brad started threatening small business owners and forcing them to give him a share of their earnings. However he managed it, Brad's wealth and his reputation as a small-time hood grew, and he enjoyed every minute of it.

Brad has been arrested several times over the course of his life, but the cases rarely made it to trial. Witnesses would recant or move away, and prosecutors would have no choice but to drop the charges. Brad was locked up twice on misdemeanor charges, but he never ended up with more than a few months in the county jail.

When Brad's doctors told him that he was dying of cancer, he updated his will, leaving everything, including the treasured family heirloom music box, to his eldest son, Victor. Brad cut out his wife and younger son entirely and without explanation. Those who knew about the terms of the will couldn't understand why Brad had disinherited Margaret and Raymond, but Brad refused to discuss it with anyone.

About a year later, Brad added a codicil to his will specifying that Victor should provide for Margaret's basic necessities for as long as she lived, but he again gave no explanation for his decision or his apparent, if partial, change of heart.

Once he had everything in order, Brad told friends he was looking forward to death because of all the pain he was suffering.