14-year-old Orenzo “Noodle” Dye, was murdered June 30 in Greenville, Mississippi. His body was found riddled with multiple gunshot wounds and severe burns on Amber Road.
The call to police came from a concerned resident who had spotted the body at about 1 p.m. that afternoon.
Due to the severity of the injuries, Greenville Police Chief Michael Merchant said they were unable to determine the person’s gender, race or age, which wasn’t confirmed until the autopsy was conducted by the Mississippi State Crime Lab.
His mother, Lisa Dye, said she received a copy of that autopsy report and that’s when she learned the body was, in fact, her son’s.
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Only knowing for certain her son was missing, Lisa said she has felt extreme stress and anxiety since his disappearance, fearful that he was the person who had been brutally killed.
“All I really knew is he was missing. It felt like I was having a heart attack sometimes,” she said.
The autopsy report showed that Orenzo was shot several times in the backside of his torso, arms, shoulders and head and buttocks.
His mother said it sounds like he was trying to run for his life.
After he was shot, his body was burned so severely that the burns covered 94.5% of his body.
Lisa said Orenzo seemed to know something bad was going to happen before he died. After attending church services June 27 at Anointed Oasis of Love Ministry, Lisa said her son was sitting in the passenger seat when he said he “felt like something bad was going to happen.”
“He got quiet and I said, “Noodle, what’s wrong?’ and he said, ‘I don’t want to upset you.’ He started crying and he told me, ‘Momma, if anything happens to you, I’m going to kill myself.’ I told him, ‘We’ve been together 14 years and we ain’t going no where.’”
Lisa said that conversation ended when her son said, “I just want to tell you I’m fighting a battle between God and the Devil but I want to be on God’s side.”
Lisa said Orenzo was a happy teenager who loved animals and would try to catch snakes and ducks. He especially loved horses and often talked about the day he would graduate from school.
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“He would say, ‘I can’t wait til I graduate and I’m grown. I’m going to buy you that pink Dodge Charger. I’m going to have you a house built from the ground. I ain’t going no where, I’m with you the rest of my life.’”
That week, Lisa said he asked if he could spend the night with his aunt and when she dropped him off, she told him not to leave the house.
“When I dropped him off, I told him not to leave the house and he said he wasn’t going anywhere. That was the last time I saw him,” she said.
Lisa said his aunt would check on him every hour throughout the night and when she checked on him at 5 a.m., he was gone.
“That’s when she called me and I called the police station to file a missing persons report,” Lisa said.
When his body was found on Amber Road, Lisa said she prayed it wasn’t her son, but that she suspected it probably was.
Now that the autopsy is over, Lisa said they can now have his funeral and bury him Saturday.
“My heart hurts every day. How could somebody do this?” she said. “I want the police to find whoever did this. He didn’t deserve that, no one does.”
Merchant said this case is still under active investigation and anyone with any information is urged to call the Greenville Police Department at 662-378-1515 or Crimestoppers at 662-378-8477. Information can also be sent utilizing the P3 Tips app.
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