A Corinth woman will spend 30 years in prison after pleading guilty during the first week of the October term of Alcorn County Circuit Court.
On Thursday, October 22, 2026, Mariah Vanderwal, 24, of Corinth, pled guilty to accessory after the fact of murder and tampering with physical evidence. Circuit Judge Kelly L. Mims sentenced Vanderwal to 20 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections prison for accessory after the fact murder and 10 years for tampering with physical evidence, with the sentences to run consecutively for a total of 30 years.
The charges stemmed from an investigation conducted by the Corinth Police Department, with Detectives Bo Swindle and Heather Russell serving as lead detectives, into the suspected murder of Patrick Patterson on January 15, 2025.
Vanderwal was sentenced on the same day as two other defendants in the case: Antonius Bean, who received 40 years, and Virginia Schauer, who received 30 years. Rashawn Hawkins, the fourth person charged in connection with Patterson’s alleged murder, is still facing capital murder charges. The charge is still pending. (Every defendant is deemed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)
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