On a tragic evening in February 2021, the life of 27-year-old Dominique Harper of Summerville, South Carolina, was violently cut short in a horrifying sequence of events that began as a home invasion. Three masked individuals forced their way into Harper's residence, where his girlfriend and their young two-year-old son were present. The intruders held the woman at gunpoint, using her phone to lure Dominique Harper back to the house.
Upon his arrival, Harper was brutally assaulted and
then abducted from his own home, taken away in his vehicle by the assailants. The nightmare for his family continued into the next day when his body was discovered by Berkeley County Sheriff's deputies on Cypress Campground Road. An autopsy later revealed the grim details of his death; he had been stomped on and had sustained two gunshot wounds to the head. His car was later found abandoned and burned.
The investigation into the heinous crime led authorities to 32-year-old Fernando Wright of West Columbia. Wright, who had been a childhood friend of Harper's before they grew apart, became a prime suspect after he sold Harper's PlayStation 5 just days after the murder. Further evidence, including cell phone records, connected Wright to the meticulously planned robbery and murder.
During the trial, it was revealed that Fernando Wright, along with two other men, had specifically targeted Harper. In a dramatic turn during the legal proceedings, Wright's mother and two sisters were also implicated and faced charges of conspiracy to commit escape after they attempted to smuggle a handcuff key to him. Ultimately, a jury found Fernando Wright guilty of murder, burglary, and two counts of kidnapping. For his role in the brutal crime, he was sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole.
