On a late Saturday afternoon, the life of 28-year-old Tevin Platts of Hampton County was tragically cut short. On September 18, 2021, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Platts was shot in the upper body along Cypress Branch Road in Jasper County. Deputies from the Jasper County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the area near U.S. 321 around 5 p.m., where they discovered Platts' body on the side of the road.
The Sheriff's Office immediately began investigating his death as a homicide.
The investigation led to the identification of a suspect who was known to Platts. On October 12, 2021, Clifford Gant, a 31-year-old from Fairfax, South Carolina, came in for questioning as part of the ongoing murder investigation. Following multiple interviews, authorities determined they had sufficient evidence to charge him. Gant was subsequently arrested and charged with murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and discharging a firearm into a dwelling. The specific nature of the relationship between Gant and Platts was not publicly disclosed by law enforcement.
A second individual was also implicated in the case. On November 4, 2021, Quinniah Williams, a 20-year-old from Fairfax, turned herself in to the Jasper County Detention Center. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact to a felony in connection with Tevin Platts' murder. However, in a later turn of events, the charge against Quinniah Williams was dropped in November 2023. This occurred two months after Clifford Gant was tried and found not guilty of murder.
