A Mississippi Crime Laboratory investigation has identified Warren County resident Derrick Beard as the man who died Friday in a Webster County car wreck, a state highway patrol spokesman said.

Beard, 22, 127 Brookwood Drive, was presumed to be the victim based on vehicle registration records, but his death was not confirmed until Wednesday, Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol spokesman Brian Mobley said.

The one-vehicle crash occurred on U.S. 82 about two miles west of Eupora in the Grady community of Webster County, Mobley said. Beard was eastbound in a 2005 Ford Mustang, which left the road, hit a tree and burned, he said.

Webster County Coroner Steve Wells said emergency workers responded to a call around 7:30 a.m. From a search of the area they determined that no passengers were in the car.

“There is no indication of what speed he was going,” Mobley said. “The accident is still under investigation.” He did not know to what extent MHSP investigators would go in trying to reconstruct what happened.

Beard was a senior biology major at Mississippi State University in Starkville, which is about 30 miles east of where he crashed. Beard’s friend, Vicksburg resident and fellow MSU senior Curtis Robertson, said Beard might have been on his way to Hattiesburg.

Beard was a 2006 graduate of Warren Central High School, where he was a member of the baseball team and the National Honor Society. He was an avid hunter and outdoorsman, friends said.

His funeral will be Friday at 10 a.m. at Glenwood Funeral Home. He leaves his parents, Mike and Barbara Beard, a sister, Candis, and many other family members. Memorials can be made in his honor to the Vicksburg Animal Shelter or to Catch a Dream at catchadream.com.