MEYER WAS A DRUG INFORMANT

He Helped Make Case Against Coast Physician

BILOXI - Justin Meyer, who shot two people to death and seriously wounded
another last week before killing himself, was an informant for the
Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.

Almost two years ago, Meyer wore a wire and set up a meeting between a
narcotics agent and a Coast physician who eventually pleaded guilty to
wrongfully prescribing medicine outside his professional practice. Meyer
obtained prescriptions for Mepergan, a painkiller, for recreational use
even though he was not a patient of the doctor, according to court
documents obtained by The Sun Herald.

The MBN is not revealing any details about the arrangement, other than to
confirm that the man who went on last week's shooting rampage is the same
Justin Meyer identified in the court papers.

People arrested on drug charges often become informants in exchange for the
charges being reduced or dropped. The Sun Herald has been unable to find
any criminal record for Meyer.

Meyer did have reason to take painkillers, which are addictive. The
30-year-old's knees had been crushed in an automobile accident and he
suffered from arthritis, his family has said.

The Lawrence County Coroner's Office is awaiting toxicology reports from
the State Crime Lab, which will show whether Meyer or his wife, Amber
Anderson Meyer, who accompanied her husband on the rampage and also killed
herself, had drugs in their systems.

Dr. Joe Ward, the coroner for Lawrence County who spoke with the director
of the State Crime Lab on Wednesday, said he hopes to receive the
toxicology report within a week. The corner's office is also awaiting
reports on gun residue from the hands of Justin and Amber Meyer.

Ward, assisted by two forensic investigators, has determined that she
killed herself based on blood splatter patterns and body positions.
Authorities at first thought she was the victim of a murder-suicide.

She and her husband kidnapped his 5-year-old child from a previous
relationship after he gunned down the child's mother, Donna DeFelippo, and
her boyfriend, Johnny Watts Jr.

After fleeing that crime scene, Justin Meyer shot a nurse he encountered in
another vehicle on a rural road. Authorities don't know why Meyer shot
Richard Walker.

Walker, who was shot in the neck and hand, remains hospitalized.