In the quiet town of Allendale, South Carolina, friends and relatives of 86-year-old Willie Johnson grew concerned when he couldn't be reached for several days in June of 2014. A respected elder in his church and a retired merchant marine, Mr. Johnson was a lifelong resident of the community. When law enforcement conducted a welfare check at his Pickrum Street home on June 19, they discovered a brutal scene. Mr.
Johnson was found deceased, his hands tied behind his back and a black trash bag secured over his head. The home had been ransacked, and it was determined that several hundred dollars and an air rifle were stolen. The grim discovery launched an investigation that would soon lead to the arrest of four local teenagers.
The investigation, with assistance from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, quickly identified a group of teenage suspects. Three teenagers, two aged 16 and one 15, were taken into custody within weeks of the discovery of Mr. Johnson's body. A fourth teen, who was 15 at the time of the crime, was arrested the following April. One of the teens confessed to the crime and implicated the others. The investigation revealed that the young men had broken into Mr. Johnson's home, beaten and ultimately suffocated him.
Due to the severity of the crime, the suspects were tried as adults. One of the perpetrators, Robert Lee Miller III, who was 15 at the time of the murder, was convicted of murder in July 2016 after a four-day trial. The prosecution described the act as a brutal attack on an elderly man. In June 2017, Miller was sentenced to 55 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Another individual, Gabriel Joyner, who was 19 at the time of his conviction, was found guilty of first-degree burglary in connection with the incident and was awaiting sentencing. A third defendant, Kashawn Bynum, also 19, was scheduled to stand trial.
