In the late hours of a Monday evening in May 2014, a dispute simmering with animosity boiled over, leaving a Bishopville, South Carolina man dead. Jessie Slater III, a 30-year-old Black man, was discovered on a walking path in the Manville area, the victim of a single gunshot wound. Emergency responders were dispatched to the 400 block of Manville-Wisacky Road around 10:40 p.m. on May 5th, but it was too late. Slater had bled to death from a wound to his thigh before help could arrive.
The initial 911 call had tragically failed to provide a precise location for paramedics.
The investigation into Slater's death moved swiftly, and within days, two local men were in custody. The Lee County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of 21-year-old Marquis Jarell Boyd and 28-year-old Antonio Chauncey Wilson, both of whom were charged with murder. Investigators revealed that the violence was not a random act but the culmination of ongoing conflicts between the suspects and Slater. It was reported that Boyd had a dispute with Slater over money, while Wilson's grudge stemmed from a previous assault. Authorities indicated that these were not the first altercations between the men and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the fatal confrontation.
Both Boyd and Wilson made their initial court appearance for a preliminary hearing at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center. While investigators expressed confidence that they had the two primary individuals involved in the shooting in custody, they did not specify who they believed fired the fatal shot. The investigation showed that both suspects were present when the shooting occurred. Following the arrests, Jessie Slater III, a son of Jessie Slater Jr. and Angelia Slater Simon, who was educated in Lee County public schools, was laid to rest at Saint Mark Baptist Church Cemetery in Bishopville.
