High-profile crimes in the Myrtle Beach area. Here are six cases and what happened.
Horry County has seen its share of high-profile crimes in the past several years, breaking into national news cycles and grabbing global headlines.
Here’s a look at some of the region’s most infamous cases from the past several years.
The long search for Brittanee Drexel ended in May
Drexel was 17 years old when she was from Myrtle Beach in 2009 during a visit to the area. The Rochester, N.Y. native was traveling through the sun-baked region with friends when was last seen on surveillance video leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard.
On May 16, the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said Drexel’s remains were found in a remote area. Raymond Moody, 62, was charged with murder, kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said there was no doubt Moody is responsible for Drexel’s abduction and death.
Drexel’s case drew national attention, including a 2020 episode of “Real Life Nightmares” that aired on CNN’s Headline News channel.
The drowning of Baby Grace
On Nov. 5, 2015, searchers found the body of 5-month-old Grace Carlson Santa Cruz in the rushing waters of a Socastee creek. Her mother, Sarah Lane Toney, would plead guilty to homicide two years later and receive a 27-year sentence.
Toney initially told police she waded into a creek behind her home on Nov. 3, 2015 while holding her baby because Grace was crying. She was also looking for God.
Three days later, Baby Grace was found about 50 yards from where her mother entered the water.
Grace’s short disappearance and ultimate death captivated Horry County, with community donations paying for a permanent headstone at Hillcrest Cemetery.
A rookie Myrtle Beach police officer was killed in the line of duty
Jacob Hancher had been on the job just nine months when he was gunned down Oct. 3, 2020 near 14th Avenue S. and Yaupon Drive in the city’s downtown. The 23-year-old was responding to a domestic dispute when he and other officers found themselves in a gun battle with John Aycoth, who was determined to kill police, an S.C. Law Enforcement Division investigation concluded.
Hancher became the city’s third officer to die in the line of duty and first since 2002. Since his death, several public tributes and memorials have gone up to remember him, most recently having his name affixed to an overpass along the Highway 17 Bypass.
North Myrtle Beach woman sentenced after throwing babies in trash
Alyssa Dayvault, 33, is serving a 40-year prison term after being convicted on two counts of homicide by child abuse in October 2020. In November 2017, Dayvault attempted to hide from her family and boyfriend at the time that was ever pregnant by giving birth at home to a baby girl and then throwing the child in the garbage.
She did it again about a year later but got an infection that required medical attention. Doctors found a placenta and questioned her about giving birth. She denied having done so and police were called.
The jury spent an hour deliberating before coming back with their guilty verdict.
Conway bank robber, double murderer on federal death row
One of the state’s most violent bank robberies in recent years happened in Conway, when Brandon Council walked into a CresCom branch and murdered manager Katie Skeen and teller Donna Major. He also took off with $15,000 and Skeen’s SUV during the Aug. 21, 2017 heist. Council, 32 at the time, was arrested in North Carolina a few days later. He was convicted and sent to federal death row in 2019.
Four killed in Bucksport murder/suicide spawned by ‘Satan’
Keith Davis, 51, shot and killed his girlfriend Kristina Burroughs and her nieces, 10-month-old Justice and 2-year-old Kaitlyn Bellamy in October 2016 before turning the gun on himself inside a home in the county’s Bucksport community.
It was a brutal scene that also saw an 11-year-old girl get pistol whipped.
Davis’ mother, Betty Bellamy, said the devil took hold of him and carried out the attack. Neighbors reported hearing around 30 gunshots the evening of the murders.
