In the winter of 2020, the life of 35-year-old Sherron Jean Hutchinson was tragically cut short in a violent episode that also claimed the life of Travis Cornelius Smith, aged 32. On the morning of Saturday, February 8th, deputies from the Richland County Sheriff's Department were dispatched to a residence on Robney Drive in Columbia, South Carolina, following reports of gunfire.
Inside the home, they discovered the bodies of Hutchinson and Smith, both of whom had sustained fatal gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly revealed a more complex and harrowing series of events. A woman contacted law enforcement, reporting that she and another woman had been taken hostage from the Robney Drive home by a relative she identified as 20-year-old Ontrell Dashuan Martin. She informed the authorities that Martin was responsible for the deaths of two of their relatives, later identified as Hutchinson and Smith. The caller had managed to escape her captor near Bluff Road and immediately sought help. The second woman who had been abducted was physically assaulted by Martin but was able to get to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries.
Within hours of the initial crime, law enforcement located Ontrell Dashuan Martin in neighboring Lexington County. He was taken into custody without incident approximately eight hours after the shootings and kidnappings. Following his arrest, Martin was charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of Sherron Hutchinson and Travis Smith. In addition to the murder charges, he faced two counts of kidnapping, attempted murder, first-degree assault and battery, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The attempted murder charge stemmed from an allegation that Martin had tried to run over a pedestrian while fleeing the scene of the homicides. He was subsequently booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center and held without bond. While the motive for the violent outburst was not immediately made public, the case proceeded through the legal system as the community mourned the loss of two of its members.
