Federal Indictment Returned in Kidnapping and Carjacking Resulting in Death

 Dominique Devonah Brand charged with kidnapping 80-year-old Mary Ann Elvington on March 28, 2021 and killing her during carjacking

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina --- Acting United States Attorney M. Rhett DeHart stated today that a Federal Grand Jury in Columbia returned a multiple-count indictment in connection with a kidnapping and carjacking that started in Horry County, continued into North Carolina, and culminated in a murder in Marion County.

Dominique Devonah Brand, 29, of Marion, was charged in a three-count indictment with kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death, and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death of a person in such a manner to constitute murder.  Brand could receive a sentence of up to life without the possibility of parole or death on all counts.

The indictment alleges that on or about March 28, 2021, Brand entered the home of Mary Ann Elvington in Nichols, South Carolina, and kidnapped her.  The indictment further alleges that Brand forced Elvington to drive him in her 2012 Buick Lacrosse to Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, and then back to Lakeview, South Carolina.  There, according to the indictment, Brand forced Elvington into the back seat of the vehicle and he drove away with her in it.  It is alleged that, shortly thereafter, Brand shot and killed Elvington behind an abandoned grocery store at the Zion Crossroads in Marion County.  Brand then drove the vehicle to a wooded area behind a nightclub in Marion, South Carolina, and abandoned it, according to the indictment.

Brand will be arraigned by a United States Magistrate Judge at the McMillan Federal Courthouse in Florence, South Carolina, in the coming weeks.  He is currently in custody on related state charges in Marion County.  

The case was investigated by a joint team consisting of the Horry County Police Department, Marion County Sherriff’s Office, Dillon County Sherriff’s Office, Myrtle Beach City Police Department, Lakeview Police Department, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Pee Dee Safe Streets Gang Task Force is also assisting in the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Everett E. McMillian and Special Assistant United States Attorney Scott Hixson are prosecuting the federal case in close coordination with the 15th and 12th Circuit Solicitors’ Offices.

“While the indictment in this specific case speaks for itself, brazen violence, particularly against the elderly, will always be met with a strong, unified effort by law enforcement to bring the victims justice,” said Acting U.S. Attorney DeHart.  “We will never waver in our work to stop violent crime in South Carolina.”

Acting United States Attorney DeHart stated that all charges in indictments are merely accusations and that all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.