Man who wore victim’s shoes will serve 18 years for Lake Wylie, SC murder
A man who wore his victim’s shoes when arrested will serve 18 years in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty in a murder near Lake Wylie, according to lawyers in the case.
David Lynn Amos, 54, pleaded guilty Friday in York County criminal court at the Moss Justice Center to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter, said Matthew Shelton, 16th Circuit senior assistant solicitor. Amos originally was charged with murder in the June 2022 death of Johnathan Lance Hargett, according to prosecutors and court records.
Amos was arrested in June 2022, days after the victim’s body was found in woods behind a gas station off S.C. 49, which is close to the lake and near the North Carolina border.
Shelton said Amos was wearing the victim’s shoes when deputies arrested him and days earlier when deputies first spoke to him. Amos tried to use the victim’s debit card to buy liquor, Shelton said.
York County Sheriff’s Office deputies used video surveillance footage to put Amos with the victim the day the victim was last seen, Shelton said.
Amos pleaded guilty as part of a negotiated agreement.
Tyler Bratton, Amos’ lawyer from the 16th Circuit Public Defender Office, said after court the plea and sentence was a fair and just resolution of the case.
This story was originally published November 3, 2023 at 3:40 PM.
