To hear his neighbors tell it, James Willie was just a regular guy who sometimes played with the neighborhood kids. Police describe him as a cold-blooded killer who stalked his victims on dark stretches of Mississippi's highways and shot two of them dead.

Authorities said Friday that the 28-year-old unemployed ex-convict is responsible for two fatal shootings that prompted fears that a police impersonator was preying on motorists late at night. The shootings terrorized parts of north Mississippi and made some people afraid to go out after dark.

The first roadside killing happened May 8, when Thomas Schlender of Nebraska was found dead at about 1:30 a.m. in his car on Interstate 55 in Panola County. He had been traveling to Florida to pick up his grandson. Three days later, local casino employee Lori Anne Carswell was found dead in her car on Mississippi Highway 713 after working a late shift.