On a grim November day in 2014, the body of 21-year-old Dashadre Jacorey Sampson was discovered in Loris, South Carolina. An officer with the Horry County Police Department, acting on an anonymous tip, found Sampson's body at an abandoned home. He had been shot multiple times, with a gunshot wound to the head being the cause of death.
The investigation into the death of the young man from Myrtle Beach quickly escalated, with Horry County Police treating the case as a homicide.
A significant break in the case came when Sampson's car was found burned out in Columbus County, North Carolina, on November 17, 2014. The investigation led to four teenagers being charged in connection with his death.
Two of the teens, 16-year-old Emericka Jackson and 19-year-old Deterris Marquiz Nequa Bellamy, faced the most serious charge of murder. The other two, 18-year-old Michael Xavier Forti and 19-year-old Brittany Jean Woody, were charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping Jackson and Bellamy after the crime by providing them with shelter and transportation. Forti and Woody were both granted a $20,000 bond and were required to wear electronic monitors.
In February 2018, the case took a surprising turn when Deterris Bellamy was acquitted of murder and attempted armed robbery charges. Despite testimony from a co-defendant implicating him, an all-female jury in Horry County found Bellamy not guilty.
