On Christmas Day in 2021, 41-year-old Marico Lamont Stevens was found deceased in his car in Lancaster, South Carolina. Authorities discovered him in the driver's seat of his black 2008 Chrysler 300, which was parked at his residence on East Dunlap Street. An investigation revealed that he had been shot multiple times.
The Lancaster Police Department, along with the Lancaster County Coroner's Office and the Lancaster County Multijurisdictional Violent Crime Task Force, immediately began
treating the case as a homicide. Their investigation led them to identify 36-year-old Lajohn Devarus Gaither as a suspect.
In April 2022, Gaither was officially charged with the murder of Marico Stevens. At the time the charges were announced, Gaither was already in custody in Spartanburg County on charges related to a separate homicide case. Authorities had located and arrested him at a home in Kershaw. In addition to the murder charge, Gaither also faced a charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
