In the late summer of 2016, Timothy Francis Buckley, a 51-year-old male, vanished from his new life in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a place he had chosen for its slower pace after a long career in law enforcement in New York. The last time anyone saw him was on the evening of September 28, 2016, as he walked towards his camper at the Springmaid Resort.
A loving husband and father to three teenage daughters, his sudden disappearance sparked immediate concern among his family and friends.
The search for the retired Riverhead, New York, police officer and former town councilman stretched on for weeks, a period of agonizing uncertainty for his loved ones. His vehicle was discovered in a parking lot on October 5th, but there was still no sign of Buckley. The painful wait finally came to a grim conclusion on November 10, 2016, when human remains were found in a wooded area off of Rodeo Drive near U.S. 501. Dental records and jewelry confirmed the worst: it was Timothy Buckley. The Horry County Coroner's Office quickly determined his death was a homicide.
The investigation into Buckley's murder revealed a tragic story of a robbery gone horribly wrong. Authorities identified two individuals from Augusta, Georgia, Johnathan Hillary and his girlfriend, Bernithia Young, as the primary suspects. According to prosecutors, the pair were in desperate need of money and had targeted Buckley at a bar on the night he disappeared. They had intended to rob him, but when Buckley attempted to flee, Hillary shot him in the back and the head. In an attempt to cover up their crime, they dumped his body in the woods and abandoned his truck at an apartment complex about seven miles away.
In June of 2019, Johnathan Hillary stood trial for the murder of Timothy Buckley. After a four-day trial, a jury found the 32-year-old guilty of murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and a weapons charge. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His accomplice, Bernithia Young, was charged as an accessory to the crime and was awaiting trial.
