Caught: 2 murder suspects in custody after man found fatally shot in woods near Chester
South Carolina police have captured two suspects and charged them each with murder after a man was found fatally shot off a rural road north of Chester, officials said.
Sunday afternoon, Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey said deputies took 46-year-old Kenneth Tyrone Wherry and 49-year-old Lavondia Elisia Wherry into custody. The two suspects, each charged with murder, are cousins, Dorsey said.
Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker identified the victim as 41-year-old Antonio Rowban Thompson from Greenville, South Carolina. Officials have not released information on the relationship between the suspects and Thompson.
The cousins were caught roughly 15 hours after deputies found Tompson’s body around 1 a.m. Sunday in a wooded area near Woods Road, said Chester County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Grant Suskin. The area is south of the York County line.
Thompson had been shot, Suskin said.
The two suspects will make a first court appearance before a magistrate judge late Sunday or Monday, officials said.
Both will remain in the Chester County jail pending trial. A magistrate cannot set bond for any charge in South Carolina that carries 30 years in prison or more, state law shows. A conviction for murder carries 30 years to life in prison.
No other details about the crime have been released. Chester County deputies, the coroner’s office and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents are investigating.
Chester County officials have found bodies in wooded areas on two other occasions in recent years. Officials found a woman’s body near Lowry’s in July 2020 and a man’s body in Richburg along Interstate 77 in November 2019. Both investigations are ongoing, officials said.
This story was originally published February 28, 2021 at 11:04 AM.
