South Carolina Murder Suspect Captured

Savannah, GA – A Savannah man wanted for Murder and Aggravated Assault was arrested by the Savannah Office of the United States Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Savannah ChathamMetropolitan Police Department (SCMPD) Detectives, SWAT, and K-9 on January 2, 2012.

Herman Dessausure, 29, was wanted by the Estill, South Carolina Police Department and the Hampton County Sheriff’s Department for a shooting incident in Estill, South Carolina that occurred in the early morning hours of December 30, 2011 that left one man dead and two other wounded. The incident happened at a bar in Estill, South Carolina.

The Estill Police and Hampton County Sheriff’s investigators identified Herman Dessausure as the suspect in the case. On January 2, 2012, they received information that Dessausure was possibly in a motel in the I-95 and Hwy 204 area of Savannah and contacted the U.S. Marshals Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force for assistance in locating and arresting Dessausure. When it was determined that Dessausure was at the motel, additional assistance was requested from Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department Detectives, Patrol, SWAT and K-9.

While the investigators were setting up to make entry into the motel room, a taxi cab pulled into the motel parking lot. Officers stopped the cab and found out that Dessausure had called the cab to come pick him up. Dessausure was seen looking out the room door while waiting for the cab. Officers had the cab driver put in a call to the Dessausure and when Dessausure exited the room, he was immediately subdued by SCMPD Swat officers. Upon a frisk of Dessausure, a 9mm semiautomatic handgun was pulled from his waistband. Dessausure was taken to the Chatham County Jail to await extradition back to Hampton County, South Carolina.

This was an excellent example of inter-agency cooperation not only within Savannah but a neighboring state as well. A dangerous felon has been taken off the street by this arrest.

Annually, investigations carried out by the U.S. Marshals result in the apprehension of over 36, 000 federal fugitives. More federal fugitives are arrested by the Marshals Service than all other federal agencies combined. In 2011, U.S. Marshals led task forces arrested more than 86,000 state and local fugitives, which cleared over 113,000 warrants.

The Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force has three offices: Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. The task force covers the whole state of Georgia. The Savannah Office of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force is a team comprised of investigators from the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Department, the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Department, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department, the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Department, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department, and the United States Marshals Service. The task force objective is to seek out and arrest fugitives charged with violent crimes, drug crimes, sex offenders, and other felonies.