On a late summer evening in Estill, South Carolina, 16-year-old Alydia Ling, a female, was standing on the sidewalk outside her home on August 31, 2017. A car, a 1992 blue Honda Accord, pulled up, and the driver, 39-year-old Johnnie Lee McKnight of Barnwell County, ordered her to get in. Alydia, who was pregnant, was advised by her brother, Shamond, to go inside the house instead.
An argument ensued between Shamond Ling and McKnight before McKnight sped off.
McKnight, however, quickly returned. He drove back to the front of the house, shouting from his car before pointing a rifle out of the driver's side window and opening fire on the residence. A bullet from McKnight's rifle struck Alydia in the neck as she stood in the doorway next to her mother, Debra. Both Alydia and her unborn son, who was only three weeks from his due date, died at the scene before emergency medical personnel could arrive. Also inside the house at the time of the shooting was a friend of Debra Ling's.
The day following the fatal shooting, Johnnie Lee McKnight was apprehended in Bamberg County. Although the murder weapon was never recovered, investigators found a camera in his vehicle containing pictures of an assault-style rifle. Gunshot residue tests performed on the Honda Accord indicated that a firearm had been discharged from within the car. DNA evidence confirmed that McKnight was the father of Alydia's unborn child.
In February 2019, Johnnie Lee McKnight was convicted in Hampton County General Sessions Court for the murders of Alydia Ling and her unborn son. In addition to the two murder charges, he was also found guilty of three counts of attempted murder, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. For the murders, McKnight received two life sentences. He was given an additional 30 years for each count of attempted murder, 10 years for discharging a firearm into a dwelling, and five years for the weapon possession charge.
