A South Carolina man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after kidnapping and killing an octogenarian.
This month, United States District Judge Sherri A. Lydon sentenced Dominique Brand to two life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of 80-year-old Mary Ann Elvington. Brand was found guilty and convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in a manner constituting murder.
“Dominique Brand’s crimes were senseless, tragic, and irreversible. His conviction and life sentence reflect the commitment of the U.S. Attorney’s Office to working with our local, state, and federal partners to hold violent offenders accountable. We hope Ms. Elvington’s loved ones can find healing in knowing that justice has been served,” said U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs, according to My Horry News.
On March 28, 2021, Brand forcefully entered Elvington's residence and fired a 12 gauge shotgun into the floor of her hallway. Later that evening, while sitting in the backseat of the victim’s 2012 Buick LaCross, the defendant forced Elvington at gunpoint to drive him across state lines to Lake Waccamaw in North Carolina and back to South Carolina. On their way back, Brand drove the victim to an abandoned Zion Grocery Store in Marion County, where he fatally shot her in the back of the head. The next day, Elvington’s body was found and her car found behind an abandoned clubhouse.
According to investigators, the defendant’s DNA was found on the spent shotgun shells he fired into the victim’s hallway floor, on a slice of frozen pizza eaten by the defendant, a water bottle he drank from, and a jewelry box. In addition, Brand’s blood and DNA were also found in a stolen church van across from Elvington’s home.
However, due to his previous convictions and sentences, Brand was a known entity to law enforcement. The defendant had been a South Carolina Department of Corrections resident since his youth. In addition, he was paroled in April 2018 after serving one-third of a fifteen-year sentence on a five-count burglary charge.
During the trial, it was revealed that Elvington prayed for Brand in the last moments of her life.
“What keeps us going is our mom’s in heaven, that’s what keeps us going, know where she’s at. That’s what keeps us driving knowing she’s in heaven and she’s better off than us,” said the victim’s son Harold Elvington during the victim impact statement, reported WMBF News. .
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