Tyrin Pulley, a 37-year-old Black man from Laurens, South Carolina, left home in the quiet overnight hours of July 5, 2022, unaware that his final moments would unfold along a rural stretch of Eichelberger Road in the Gray Court area of Laurens County. In the darkness just before dawn, around 3–4 a.m., gunfire shattered the stillness. Deputies and first responders were called to the scene, where Pulley was found shot at a property along Eichelberger Road.
The Laurens County Coroner later confirmed that he died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the death a homicide, prompting an intensive investigation that drew in both the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
News of the killing spread quickly through Laurens County. Initial reports emphasized how early in the morning the shooting occurred and how little was immediately known about what led up to it. Investigators canvassed the area, collected evidence from the roadside and nearby property, and began interviewing witnesses and potential leads. Within days, authorities announced a reward for information, hoping someone in the community had seen or heard something that could break the case open. The Sheriff’s Office publicly urged anyone with knowledge of the shooting to come forward, offering CrimeStoppers and sheriff’s tip lines as anonymous avenues for residents who might have been afraid to speak up.
As detectives followed the trail of evidence, their focus narrowed onto a single suspect. Later in July 2022, the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office publicly identified 42-year-old Justin Jamil “Turbo” Mathis of Union as the man wanted in connection with Pulley’s killing. He was described in official notices and press coverage as the primary suspect in the July 5 murder on Eichelberger Road, and law enforcement circulated his name and image widely, calling on the public to help locate him. For a time, Mathis remained at large, and the case shifted from a local homicide investigation to a broader manhunt stretching beyond South Carolina’s borders.
The search ended in early September 2022, when deputies announced that Mathis had been found hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas, Nevada. Working with law enforcement there, Laurens County authorities confirmed that Mathis had been taken into custody as a fugitive wanted for murder in Pulley’s death. After his arrest, arrangements were made to have him extradited back to South Carolina to face charges, bringing a measure of relief to Pulley’s family and the community members who had watched the case unfold since that July morning.
For nearly two years, the case moved forward through the courts, with Mathis initially facing a murder charge tied to the fatal shooting on Eichelberger Road. In late July 2024, as a jury trial was underway, the proceedings took a dramatic turn. Mathis chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in connection with Pulley’s death. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison, but that sentence was suspended to five years of incarceration, followed by probation, effectively setting the length of time he would spend behind bars before transitioning to supervised release. The plea avoided a full murder trial and ensured that someone was formally held responsible for Pulley’s killing, though it also left lingering questions for some about the balance between the plea and the loss of a life.
Away from the legal proceedings and headlines, Pulley’s death left a lasting void among the people who knew him best. Obituaries and memorial pages record that he was born in May 1985 and that he left behind two children, Ava and Za’TyJay, along with his parents, Sylvia Diana Philson-Pulley and Lee’Vester Pulley. Funeral services were held on July 10, 2022, at Laurel Hill Baptist Church in Waterloo, followed by burial at Poplar Springs AME Church Cemetery in Laurens County, where family and friends gathered to mourn and remember him. Online tributes describe loved ones coming together to share memories, light candles, and honor his life, even as the legal system worked in the background to resolve the case against the man who admitted to taking it.
