In the spring of 2019, on March 26th, the life of 22-year-old Evan Jeffery Gaines, a male University of South Carolina Upstate senior, was tragically cut short. He was discovered with a gunshot wound at the Campus Edge Apartments, an off-campus housing complex in Spartanburg, and was rushed to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries that evening.
Gaines, a business major from Columbia, was just weeks away from his graduation and was planning a future with his girlfriend, with whom he had already picked out names for their future children. The university posthumously awarded him his degree.
For eight months, the investigation into Gaines's death continued, causing anguish for his family and the university community who mourned the loss of a student described as a 'walking angel.' The case, which had seemingly gone cold, was broken open by persistent detective work, including the analysis of cell phone records, which pieced together the events of that fatal night. Investigators determined that the motive was a robbery that escalated into a homicide.
In November 2019, the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of five men, all from Columbia, in connection with the murder of Evan Gaines. The suspects were identified as Darryl Wayne Cooley, 23; Rodriguez Kentavious Marshall, 20; Antonio K. Marshall, 25; Cainan Keison Gregory Griffin, 21; and Douglas Alexander Wright, Jr., 24. The charges against them included murder and armed robbery, with Wright identified as the alleged shooter. Investigators stated that all five men coordinated the robbery that led to Gaines's death, and several confessed to their roles following their arrests. Initially, Cooley was charged as an accessory, but his charge was later upgraded to murder as more evidence came to light. The sheriff's office confirmed that they believed all individuals involved in the crime had been apprehended.
