North Dakota Woman Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison in Alcorn County Murder Case
CORINTH, Miss. — A North Dakota woman will serve 30 years in prison after entering guilty pleas during the first week of the October term of Alcorn County Circuit Court.
Virginia Schauer, 26, of Bismarck, North Dakota, pleaded guilty on Thursday, October 22, 2026, to charges of accessory after the fact of murder and tampering with physical evidence. Circuit Judge Kelly L. Mims sentenced Schauer to 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for accessory after the fact of murder and 10 years for tampering with physical evidence, with the sentences ordered to run consecutively, for a total of 30 years to serve.
The charges resulted from an investigation conducted by the Corinth Police Department, with Detectives Bo Swindle and Heather Russell serving as lead investigators, and were related to the alleged murder of Patrick Patterson on January 15, 2025.
Patterson, 24, was fatally shot in Corinth on January 15, 2025. Three suspects had already been arrested in the case before Rashawn Hawkins was captured in Florida in February 2025 in connection with the shooting. Schauer was sentenced the same day as Antonius Bean, 24, of Corinth, who received 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and accessory after the fact of murder in the same case.
