In the quiet town of Nichols, South Carolina, 80-year-old Mary Ann Bullock Elvington, a retired elementary school teacher, became the victim of a brutal crime on March 28, 2021. Her life was violently cut short in a series of events that began with a home invasion and ended in her murder.
The ordeal began when Dominique Davonah Brand, then 29 years old, broke into Elvington's home. Inside, he discharged a 12-gauge shotgun into the floor.
Brand then forced Elvington into her 2012 Buick LaCrosse and compelled her to drive to Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, and then back to South Carolina, all while he sat in the back seat armed with the shotgun. Surveillance footage from Lake View, South Carolina, captured a chilling moment when Brand directed Elvington into the back seat of her own car before he took the driver's seat and headed away from her home.
The terrifying journey concluded in a remote area in Marion County. Behind an abandoned grocery store near Zion Grocery, Brand walked Elvington to a secluded spot and executed her with a single gunshot to the back of the head. He then drove her car to Marion and concealed it behind a nightclub. Elvington's remains were discovered on Monday, March 29, 2021.
Law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions, including local, state, and federal agencies, launched an intensive investigation. Their efforts led them to Brand, who turned himself in to authorities on March 31, 2021. He was subsequently charged with kidnapping and murder, as well as possession of a firearm by a felon and during the commission of a violent crime. Due to the crime crossing state lines, a federal grand jury indicted Brand on charges of kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death, and use of a firearm in furtherance of a murder.
During his trial in September 2022, prosecutors presented a compelling case against Brand, using DNA evidence from multiple items in Elvington's home—including a spent shotgun shell, a slice of pizza, a water bottle, and a jewelry box—as well as his blood found in her abandoned car. He was convicted on all federal charges. For his heinous crimes, Dominique Davonah Brand was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences in federal prison, plus an additional ten years. The U.S. fourth circuit court of appeals later upheld his conviction.
