On a Saturday afternoon in March, the quiet of a Burton, South Carolina neighborhood was disturbed by a grim discovery. On March 5, 2022, 55-year-old Steven Whitlock was found unresponsive in a yard on Franklin Drive. Emergency services were called to the scene, but it was too late; Mr. Whitlock was pronounced deceased.
Initially, the cause of the man's death was not immediately clear, though investigators believed the circumstances were suspicious.
Their suspicions were confirmed two days later, on March 7, following a forensic autopsy conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina. The autopsy revealed that Steven Whitlock had died from two gunshot wounds, and his death was officially ruled a homicide.
The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office diligently pursued the case, conducting interviews and evaluating evidence. Their investigation led them to identify a suspect: 33-year-old Trayvis Jenkins, a resident of Burton. A month after Mr. Whitlock's death, on April 5, 2022, investigators secured a warrant for Jenkins's arrest. He was taken into custody later that day during a traffic stop.
Trayvis Jenkins was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of Steven Whitlock and was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center. At the time of his arrest, law enforcement officials indicated that the investigation remained active. While online sources detail the events leading to the arrest and the charge brought against Jenkins, further information regarding the outcome of the trial and any subsequent conviction or sentencing has not been made publicly available.
