CLINTON — Mississippi prosecutors want the death penalty for the man accused of killing 81-year-old Ethel Winstead Simpson, but Alabama authorities might get to try him first.

Simpson’s body was found Sept. 17 near Edwards after she had last been seen Sept. 13 leaving Riverwalk Casino with 39-year-old James Cobb Hutto III.

Her body was found by a hog farmer north of Edwards off Interstate 20. An autopsy found she had died from blunt force trauma.

Hutto’s attorney, Todd Crutchfield, did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.

Alabama authorities have accused Hutto, who told a court there that he is known as “hit man Hutto,” of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.

In Mississippi, Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith said he will seek the death penalty. But the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office said Hutto might first go to Alabama to face charges.

Hutto was arrested in Alabama driving Simpson’s Mercedes Benz on the same day Simpson’s body was found.

Upon his arrest in Lee County, Ala., Hutto was charged in the beating death of his geat-aunt in Birmingham. Separately, he was charged with attempted murder and robbery in an attack on a man in Opelika, Ala.