A Beaufort area man, recently charged with the brutal murder of an elderly woman he did yard work for, knew another homicide victim killed a month prior, police say.
Jermaine Thurston, 42, has been in and out of jail and prison for violent crimes since he was 18. Most recently, he was released from prison in April after serving 10 years for two convictions — armed robbery and intent to kill — that together are supposed to carry a 50-year sentence.
A medical examiner determined Coker died from blunt force trauma and strangulation between the late-night hours of Oct. 2 and early-morning hours of Oct. 3, police have said.
Reginald Chaplin homicide
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spoke with Thurston while investigating the recent death of Reginald Chaplin of Burton.
Maj. Bob Bromage said police identifying Thurston as an acquaintance of Chaplin’s. He added that detectives identified many people as acquaintances while investigating the Sept. 13 death.
About 5 that morning, a friend found Chaplin, 50, dead in a pool of blood at his Coinbow Loop home, police reports show. Police have said he died of an apparent gunshot wound.
No one has been arrested in Chaplin’s murder.
Thurston’s connection to Chaplin came to light after The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette used the Freedom of Information Act to request all Sheriff’s Office reports involving Thurston since his April release from prison.
Police reports
The reports showed Thurston had continued run-ins with police during those months.
Thurston had been released after serving 85 percent of the 12-year sentence given by Judge Jeffery Young, now deputy attorney general.
The S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services began overseeing Thurston’s community supervision in May.
Soon after Thurston’s release, records show he incurred infractions such as missing check-ins and failing to pay fines. He also didn’t notify the board of run-ins with police, which is required.
On June 7, Thurston ran out the back door of his mother’s Seabrook home as police arrived. She told deputies her son had been living with her since he was released from prison, a report says.
She also told police he had been in her yard smoking crack with a friend.
“She got upset about that and Thurston told her he was going to burn the house down,” the police report says. “He also knocked plates and silverware on the ground and tore up a plant.”
His mother didn’t want to pursue charges and just wanted him out of the house, the report says. Deputies told her how to start an eviction process.
Two weeks later, on June 22, a man told police he awoke to find deep lacerations on his face and arms. He was unsure how he got them but believed Thurston, who was sitting at the edge of the bed as he fell asleep, had something to do with it.
Thurston told deputies a conflicting story, and deputies determined that the victim, who didn’t want to press charges, lacked “pertinent details” of the incident.
Deputies marked the case as “suspicious activity” but did not arrest anyone, the report says.
On Oct. 24, the Sheriff’s Office, Beaufort Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives visited Thurston’s mother’s house to serve a warrant for probation violations.
They found Thurston hiding in a back room of the Martin Lane home, not far from where Coker’s vehicle was found a day after her body was discovered.
Theresa Coker murder
Theresa Coker Beaufort Police Department
Law enforcement officers booked Thurston in Beaufort County County Detention Center for the parole violations and immediately interviewed him about Coker’s murder. He had already been identified as a person of interest, police previously said.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab collected and processed forensic evidence, which linked Thurston to the crime scene.
No motive has been determined in the murder, police officials have said.
Coker’s house was in disarray, but police could not determine whether anything was taken. They also found no signs of forced entry.
Teresa Moss is a crime and public safety reporter for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. She has worked as a journalist for 16 years for newspapers in Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.
