Federal grand jury indicts man connected to kidnapping, murder of Horry Co. woman

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) – A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a multiple-count indictment against the man accused in the kidnapping and murder of an 80-year-old Horry County woman.

According to a press release from U.S. Attorney M. Rhett DeHart’s office, 29-year-old Dominique Devonah Brand, of Marion, was charged 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 a manner to constitute murder.

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Prosecutors said Brand could receive a sentence of up to life without the possibility of parole or death on all counts.

Brand’s charges stem from the death of Mary Ann Elvington, whose kidnapping and death spanned two counties.

The indictment alleges that on March 28, Brand entered Elvington’s home in Nichols and kidnapped her.

According to the indictment, Brand forced Elvington to drive him in her 2012 Buick Lacrosse to Lake Waccamaw, N.C., and then back to Lakeview, S.C.

The indictment states Brand then forced Elvington into the back seat of the vehicle and he drove away with her in it. It is alleged that, shortly thereafter, he shot and killed Elvington behind an abandoned grocery store at the Zion Crossroads in Marion County.

Authorities said Brand then drove the vehicle to a wooded area behind a nightclub in Marion and abandoned it.

Brand will be arraigned by United States magistrate judge at the McMillan Federal Courthouse in Florence in the coming weeks, the release stated. He is currently in custody on related state charges in Marion County.

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