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The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the state of South Carolina announced the upholding of a conviction it secured against an Horry County man on charges of kidnapping and murder related to the death of an 80-year-old woman in 2021.
The U.S. fourth circuit court of appeals upheld the September 2022 conviction of 33-year-old Dominique Devonah Brand on charges of kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death and using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in a manner constituting murder.
According to evidence submitted during Brand’s trial, on March 28, 2021 he entered a residence in Nichols, S.C. belonging to retired elementary school teacher and church and community “stalwart” Mary Ann Elvington. At gunpoint, he forced her to drive him to Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, and then back to the Palmetto State.
Prior to the abduction, Brand had committed multiple burglaries and acts of vandalism.
During the trip to North Carolina, Brand sat behind Elvington with a shotgun. After forcing her into the backseat of the vehicle, he drove her to a remote crossroads in Marion County and took her behind an abandoned grocery store – where he held the shotgun to the back of her head and executed her.
Brand then drove her car into Marion and hid it behind an abandoned club, leaving it there.
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Elvington’s body was not located until the following evening, and Brand denied committing the murder in a post-arrest statement to the authorities. It was also noted that Brand had burglarized another nearby residence, stealing a shotgun, and burglarized and vandalized a local church days prior to kidnapping Elvington.
Brand’s guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial via DNA evidence, cell phone analytics and crime scene analysis.
“We are pleased that the Fourth Circuit has affirmed the convictions we proved beyond a reasonable doubt in the senseless kidnapping and murder of Ms. Mary Ann Elvington,” said acting U.S. attorney Brook B. Andrews for the District of South Carolina. “This has been a painful ordeal for her loved ones, and we send our continued support to Ms. Elvington’s family.”
Brand – who is now in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons at USP Hazelton in West Virginia – was given two concurrent life sentences, as well as an additional ten consecutive years for using a firearm during the commission of these offenses. Those sentences were handed down by U.S. district court judge Sherri A. Lydon, who presided over the trial.
Brand’s case was investigated by the FBI Columbia field office with significant assistance from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Horry County Police Department (HCPD), Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Police Department (MCSO), Lake View Police Department (LVPD) and Nichols Police Department (NPD).
Assistant U.S. attorneys Everett McMillian and Kathleen Stoughton prosecuted the case along with Special Assistant U.S. attorney Scott Hixson – who also serves as the deputy solicitor for the S.C. fifteenth judicial circuit.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Erin Parrott is a Greenville, S.C. native who graduated from J. L. Mann High School in 2021. She is currently a senior at the University of South Carolina majoring in broadcast journalism. Got feedback or a tip for Erin? Email her here.
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