Reporters detail verification of Senatobia chief’s racist texts

Mukta Joshi of Mississippi Today and Joseph Cranney of Verite News said they verified text messages they attribute to Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford that contain repeated racial slurs and a violent statement. The reporters, working for the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center in collaboration with The New York Times, said the messages came from 10 conversations dated July 2025 to April 2026 supplied by a colleague of the chief who asked to remain anonymous.

The reporters said they matched the messages to a phone number listed on the source’s phone under the name “Hal Vanderford” — 662-897-6708 — and published the number “in the interest of transparency.” They said three acquaintances of Vanderford independently confirmed that the number matched what they had saved for him. The reporters said the number has since been disconnected.

Joshi and Cranney said they corroborated context clues in the conversations. They wrote that one message identified a woman the chief was with; two acquaintances and the woman’s Facebook profile identified her as Vanderford’s girlfriend. The reporters said a photo attached to another message matched an employee at the department and that several messages were sent during college football games consistent with Vanderford being a Mississippi State fan, including a message on Oct. 18 that coincided with a Mississippi State game.

The reporters said they reviewed a video and photos attached to the texts. They wrote the video included the source’s name being spoken and that metadata showed it was recorded two minutes before it was sent. Using voter registration records to confirm Vanderford’s address and Google Street View imagery from Feb. 2025, the reporters said the video’s angle and background aligned with the chief’s home.

Joshi and Cranney said they repeatedly sought comment from Vanderford, first contacting him on Aug. 21 and making more than a dozen follow-up attempts by phone, email and notes left at his home and office. The reporters said Vanderford and Lt. Shane Howell, a Senatobia police spokesperson, did not respond. Mississippi Today noted it does not normally publish racist slurs but decided to do so because the language was central to the reporting, the reporters said.

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