Car pulled from river in SC is connected to deadly shooting, sheriff says
Years after a South Carolina man was killed and a teenager was charged with murder, the victim’s missing car was found, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
A Chevrolet Impala was pulled from the Wateree River Monday, the sheriff’s department said in a news release. The Chevy was confirmed to be the stolen car linked to the fatal shooting of Lewis Jenerette in 2022, according to the release.
On Jan. 10, 2022, deputies making a wellness check discovered Jenerette’s body in a pool of blood at a home on Hickory Hill Road in Eastover, the sheriff’s department said. That’s near U.S. 601/McCord’s Ferry Road.
Jenerette had been shot twice in the chest and once in the leg, according to the Richland County Coroner’s Office.
On March 1, 2022, then 18-year-old Jadon Harper was arrested on the murder charge, Sheriff Leon Lott said at a news conference.
Harper was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, where he was also charged with first-degree burglary and use of a vehicle without permission, jail records show. No bond was set and Harper remains locked up in the detention center, according to jail records.
At the March 2022 news conference, Lott said Jenerette’s Chevy Impala had not been recovered.
Information about how the missing Chevy was located, and the part of the Wateree River where it was found, was not available. There was no word about when the car was dumped into the river.
When Harper was arrested, the sheriff’s department said the investigation was ongoing and they believed other suspects might have been involved. No other arrests connected to Jenerette’s death have been reported.
Weeks before the deadly shooting, Harper was arrested, Richland County court records show. On Dec. 30, 2021, Harper was charged with first-degree burglary and grand larceny (value more than $2,000 but less than $10,000), and posted $15,000 bond Jan. 4, according to court records.
There was no word about a motive for shooting Jenerette, a man that Lott said was well known in the community.
Bernice Scott, speaking for Jenerette’s family at the March 2022 news conference, said, the victim “was so kind and always smiling.” She added that Jenerette would have given the money to his attackers.
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