In the early morning hours of August 9, 2018, the life of 26-year-old Marshall Lyles Cooper was tragically cut short in his Blacksburg, South Carolina, home. Three armed men, identified as Elijah Malik Thompson, Daniel Vaughn Eaton, and Dominique J'Vonne Smith, forced their way into Cooper's Phelps Road residence in what authorities described as a home invasion.
Inside the home, Cooper and a 19-year-old female visitor from Shelby, North Carolina, were confronted by the intruders.
The armed men proceeded to rummage through the house, demanding to know the whereabouts of 'the dog' and inquiring about money and drugs. After taking what they came for, the three men began to leave the residence. As the last of them was exiting, he fired a single shot that struck both Marshall Cooper and the young woman. Cooper was pronounced dead at the scene, while the female victim sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to her arm and was later treated and released from the hospital.
The investigation into the homicide initially moved at a slow pace. A breakthrough came when a gaming system stolen from Cooper's home was pawned at a local game shop. This crucial piece of evidence led investigators to Elijah Malik Thompson. Following his arrest in December 2018, Thompson implicated Daniel Vaughn Eaton and Dominique J'Vonne Smith as his accomplices. Eaton was located and apprehended in Maryland several months later, and Smith was arrested in Pickens, South Carolina, in June 2019, completing the trio of suspects in custody.
In July 2021, all three men pleaded guilty to their roles in the deadly home invasion. Elijah Malik Thompson and Daniel Vaughn Eaton each received 35-year prison sentences after pleading guilty to murder, armed robbery, first-degree burglary, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Dominique J'Vonne Smith received a 30-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter and the same additional charges as his co-defendants. Smith's murder charge was reduced due to his willingness to testify at trial. During his plea hearing, Smith offered an apology to Cooper's family, expressing deep regret for his actions and the tragic outcome of that night.
