{"id":480183,"date":"2026-09-30T06:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/480183\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T06:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:06:16","slug":"despite-claim-of-justified-homicide-long-beach-woman-pleads-guilty-to-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/480183\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite claim of \u2018justified homicide,\u2019 Long Beach woman pleads guilty to murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Long Beach woman pled guilty to murder in connection with the stabbing death<\/a> of 68-year-old Gary Cooper in January 2025.<\/p>\n

District Attorney W. Crosby Parker announced Tuesday that 57-year-old Daphne Diane Zeringue, originally charged with first-degree murder, pled guilty last week to second-degree murder. Circuit Court Judge Lisa Dodson sentenced Zeringue to 35 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n

At approximately 4 a.m. on Jan. 16, 2025, the Long Beach Police Department responded to a report of a stabbing at a residence on Daughtery Road in Long Beach<\/a>. Officers with the Long Beach Police Department and Harrison County Sheriff’s Office arrived and found Cooper dead on a couch with multiple stab wounds, including wounds to his abdomen, his arm, as well as injuries to his hand and wrist.<\/p>\n

According to Assistant District Attorney Haley Necaise Broom, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the state, “the investigation revealed that the defendant had been living in an area located toward the rear of Cooper’s property. A witness reported that prior to the stabbing, the defendant was outside with a machete and chased her around a vehicle and stated ‘Everyone’s gonna die.’ The witness then saw the defendant enter the house and stab the victim. She called 911 and later attempted to help the victim.”<\/p>\n

\"Daphne<\/p>\n

Daphne Diane Zeringue<\/p>\n

Broom stated, “the defendant later turned herself in to the Long Beach Police Department and admitted during an interview that she stabbed Cooper. During that interview, she made statements reflecting her belief that her children had been harmed and described the killing as a ‘justified homicide.’ “<\/p>\n

The court acknowledged Zeringue’s history of mental illness. A forensic mental-health evaluation determined that she was competent to proceed with the criminal case and that she was legally sane at the time of the offense. Judge Dodson then sentenced her to 35 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Due to the nature of the crime, the full sentence will be served without the benefit of parole or early release.<\/p>\n

“This was a tragic and senseless loss of life. Mental illness frequently presents difficult and complicated issues in the criminal justice system, but in this case, the forensic evaluation determined that the defendant was legally sane at the time she took the life of Gary Cooper. Mental illness does not diminish the devastating impact violent crime has on victims, their families, and our community. Ultimately, the defendant was held accountable for her actions. We appreciate the thorough work of the Long Beach Police Department, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, and everyone involved in bringing this case to a resolution,” said Assistant District Attorney Haley Necaise Broom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Long Beach woman pled guilty to murder in connection with the stabbing death of 68-year-old Gary Cooper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[188316,188161,188313,188317,188315,188314,131,133,132,867,165974,68503],"class_list":["post-480183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-circuit-court-judge","tag-daphne-diane-zeringue","tag-gary-cooper","tag-haley-necaise-broom","tag-harrison-county-sheriffs-office","tag-lisa-dodson","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-police-department","tag-mississippi-department-of-corrections","tag-multiple-stab-wounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}