Dead body was thrown off bridge, SC prosecutor says. Now murderer goes to prison
Nearly 2 years after a South Carolina man was fatally shot, and his body was thrown off a bridge, his killer was convicted of murder, according to the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
On Nov. 21, it took a Lexington County jury 43 minutes to find 24-year-old Leesville resident Allon T. Adams guilty, the solicitor’s office said Wednesday in a news release. Adams was convicted of murder, armed robbery, criminal conspiracy and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime, according to the release.
The charges are connected to the December 2023 shooting death of 35-year-old Tony Etheredge Jr., the prosecutor said.
Following a five-day trial, Judge Walton McLeod sentenced Adams to life in a South Carolina Department of Corrections prison on the murder charge, according to the release. Adams will serve concurrent sentences on the remaining charges, and he is not eligible for parole under South Carolina law, the solicitor’s office said.
Etheredge’s death
In the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2023, Etheredge was lured to a location on Rish Road in Leesville by a female accomplice of Adams, as the two had planned to rob Etheredge and steal his 2014 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, according to the release.
Cady Elise Keener, a 21-year-old Lexington resident, was previously identified by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department as Adams’ female accomplice. She’s currently locked up in the Lexington County Detention Center after being denied bond on pending murder charges and other crimes, jail records show.
Etheredge had just left work when he arrived at the location to meet Keener, the solicitor’s office said. Etheredge was then directed to an isolated area of Parrish Road, where he was shot and killed by Adams, according to the release.
Adams and the woman then stole the truck, the prosecutor said. They disposed of Etheredge’s body by dumping it off a bridge into Black Creek, near Pelion, according to the release.
After the gunfire
Etheredge was reported missing by his family and the sheriff’s department issued a missing person statement, asking for information from the public in an effort to find Etheredge, the solicitor’s office said.
Etheredge’s stolen Toyota Tacoma was later found abandoned in an open field on Truex Road in Leesville, according to the release.
Adams was identified as a suspect in Etheredge’s death, but he and his female accomplice made multiple attempts to conceal their involvement and misdirect investigators, the prosecutor said. Although they extensively cleaned the truck prior to leaving it in the field, a crime scene investigator determined the truck had evidence of a bullet defect in the driver’s seat, where Etheredge had been shot, according to the solicitor’s office.
Investigators made other connections to Adams, which included:
- A towel and hoodie were found near the truck, which were sent to SLED for DNA analysis, and the items definitively linked Adams to the scene
- Digital evidence from multiple cellphones belonging to Adams that revealed he made admissions about the crime that were consistent with physical and forensic evidence
- At trial, video and audio recordings of Adams discussing the crime were admitted as evidence
While Adams was convicted, and has started serving his life sentence, Keener is awaiting trial.
On Halloween, the sheriff’s department announced that another man, 23-year-old Roosevelt Erik Garway Jr., was charged in connection to Etheredge’s death. Garway, who’s bond was denied and is being held in the Lexington County Detention Center, was charged with accessory before the fact of murder and criminal conspiracy, jail records show.
Facing another murder charge
Adams and Keener are also charged in another man’s death in a separate shooting that has similarities to what happened to Etheredge.
On Nov. 28, 2023, 30-year-old Aiken resident Devon Tricoche was shot to death, the sheriff’s department said. Tricoche was killed in the 600 block of Kestrel Drive in Leesville before his body was discarded at an Edisto River boat landing in Aiken County, according to the sheriff’s department.
Tricoche was shot at least one time and his body was recovered at the South Fork Edisto Boat Landing, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said.
Adams and Keener were arrested in February 2024, and the charges connected to Tricoche’s death — including murder — are pending, according to court records. Information about when any potential trials will be held was not available.
After Adams was convicted of murdering Etheredge, the victim’s parents addressed the court during sentencing and described the devastating impact of his loss on their family, the solicitor’s office said.
Etheredge’s death was investigated by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, and prosecuted by Solicitor Rick Hubbard and Deputy Solicitor Suzanne Mayes. Lexington attorney Stephen Story, a member of the public defender’s office, was Adams’ lawyer, court records show.
“This was a calculated and senseless act of violence — carried out with a complete disregard for human life,” Hubbard said in the release. “Our thoughts remain with Tony Etheredge Jr.’s family as they continue to heal from this tremendous loss.”
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