In the summer of 2012, the community of Homeland Park, South Carolina, was rocked by the disappearance and tragic death of Chandrakant Shantilal 'CJ' Patel, a 52-year-old Indian American businessman. Patel, the manager of an Exxon gas station, was last seen on the evening of July 1, 2012, when he told a clerk he would be back in a couple of hours. He never returned.
The initial hope for his safe return began to fade when his car was discovered abandoned in Fair Play, about a two-hour drive away, on July 3rd.
The investigation into Patel's disappearance took a grim turn, revealing a sinister plot of kidnapping and murder. The motive, it was determined, was robbery. Surveillance footage captured Patel entering a residence on Jerry Drive, a home rented by Kyndra Leann Howell. He was never seen leaving the property. This crucial piece of evidence led investigators to believe that Patel was held against his will inside the home. Ten days after he was last seen, on July 11, 2012, his partially nude body was discovered about 200 yards down a small drive off Big Water Road. It was later revealed that he had been tortured before being shot to death.
The investigation led to the arrests of four individuals in connection with the heinous crime. Kyndra Leann Howell, then 22, Jeremiah Christian Johnson, 29, and Zachary Demond Gantt, 17, were initially charged with kidnapping. A fourth suspect, Ezra Williams, was also implicated. Ultimately, all four faced a barrage of charges, including murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The arrests brought a sense of justice to Patel's grieving family, who had spent days anxiously awaiting any news of his whereabouts.
