Roughly 10 months ago, The Piney Woods School in Rankin County, Mississippi, hired Dr. William Keith Boland as its new chief operating officer. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University in the field of childhood education, film producer and author of children’s books, Boland, 42, came from New York to take a position at the storied institution—the largest and second-oldest historically Black boarding school in the United States.
Only months later, on July 7, the school placed Boland on administrative leave after receiving allegations that the new administrator was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a student at Piney Woods. The school provided Boland with lodging at the Extended Stay Hotel in Byram, Byram Police Lt. Maurice Kendrick told the Mississippi Free Press. During this time, an internal Piney Woods team began investigating the allegations.
Piney Woods President Will Crossley told the Mississippi Free Press that the police had not been involved in the investigation into allegations against the COO. “We consulted with our board chair, we consulted with outside legal counsel,” Crossley said. But the evidence, he added, hadn’t yet met the standards for mandatory reporting to law enforcement.
Just over a week after the school placed Boland on administrative leave, on July 16, hotel staff discovered Boland’s corpse in the bathroom of his hotel room, the surroundings in disarray, dead by what authorities would later rule was homicide. He died from a beating so brutal it gave Kendrick pause in describing it.
Despite some reports that a Piney Woods School staff member was with Boland at the hotel, the Byram police officer clarified that the staff member simply dropped Boland off at the Byram lodgings. In the week following his arrival, authorities believe Boland was alone.
In the evening on Tuesday, Dec. 2, the Byram Police Department executed search warrants at the Piney Woods School, investigating Boland’s former residence and his car. Late in the day, a team consisting of officers from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, the Byram Police Department and a crime scene investigation team from the Department of Public Safety assisted in the search for evidence in Boland’s killing. They made no arrests.
Kendrick declined to comment on any potential connections between the allegations against Boland and his murder. He said on Dec. 3 that no suspects have currently been identified in the killing of the former school administrator.
Byram police have asked members of the public who may have any information related to Boland’s murder to call the Byram Police Department at 601-372-7747 or to reach out to Central Mississippi Crime Stoppers at 601-355-TIPS.