In the late morning hours of a Friday in Gaston, South Carolina, the life of 21-year-old Ryan Williams was tragically cut short. On April 29, 2016, Williams, a Black male from Swansea, was found on Meadowfield Road, the victim of a fatal shooting. An autopsy later confirmed that he had died from a single gunshot wound to the head. The incident, which occurred around 11:30 a.m., prompted an immediate investigation by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.
The investigation quickly led
to the identification of two suspects. Teresa Farris Epley, a 46-year-old resident of Swansea, was apprehended in West Columbia on the same day as the shooting. A judge subsequently denied her bond, and she was held at the Lexington County Detention Center. The second suspect, 48-year-old Fareed Rasheed Makeen of Jenkinsville, was located and arrested in Virginia following a traffic stop by the Chesapeake Police Department. Authorities announced their intention to seek his extradition back to South Carolina to face charges.
Both Epley and Makeen were charged with murder in connection with Ryan Williams's death. According to arrest warrants, both individuals were present and involved in the shooting. As the legal process began, law enforcement officials continued their investigation, encouraging anyone with information about the events leading to the shooting or the relationships between those involved to come forward. The case remained open as investigators worked to piece together the full circumstances of the crime. Later in the investigation, authorities also sought a Swansea man, Daiquan Lamont Brooks, for obstruction of justice, believing he had valuable information regarding the case.
