Arrest made after man was shot, hit by car and shot again, SC cops say
Years after a South Carolina man’s body was found in a shallow grave another man was charged with murder, according to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
On Tuesday, 39-year-old Windsor resident Samuel Wade Wilson was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, along with the murder count, jail records show.
The charges are connected to the 2023 death of John Belote, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday in a news release. Thomas William Guinn and Michael Dwayne Williams Jr., were previously arrested and charged with murder connected to Belote’s death, officials said.
All three were denied bond and are locked up at the Aiken County Detention Center, jail records show.
Belote, a 39-year-old Graniteville resident, was last seen by family June 28, 2023, the sheriff’s office said. He was reported missing by his daughter June 30, according to the Aiken County Coroner’s Office.
Two days earlier — June 28 — Wilson, Guinn and Williams killed Belote, according to an arrest warrant. Belote was shot, hit with a car and then shot again by the three men at the abandoned church on Spring Branch Road and Sparkleberry Lane, the arrest warrant shows.
On July 14, human remains were discovered buried in the woods in the 300 block of Wendy Lane, the sheriff’s office previously said. That’s also in the Windsor area, about 4.5 miles from the abandoned church.
Belote was identified through DNA testing, according to the coroner’s office.
Arrest warrants said Belote’s body had been torn in two while being moved about 6 miles from an unmarked shallow grave at 916 Windsor Road to a similar grave at 379 Wendy Lane, WRDW reported.
“My father had the biggest heart. And the biggest smile to match it. He cared so deeply about his family. I cannot even fathom the unimaginable things he went through in the last few moments of his life,” Cierra Belote previously said in an online fundraiser she set up to help pay for funeral expenses. “No one deserves the things he endured at his end.”
There was no word on a motive for the killing.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThis is a breaking news story
In a breaking news situation, facts can be unclear and the situation may still be developing. The State is trying to get important information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, and some information in this story may change as the facts become clearer. Refresh this page later for more updated information.
