A year after teen went missing, Beaufort County mom waits for his killer to be found

Michelle Spencer-Ransom said her last “I love you” to her 18-year-old son as he left for school just days before Christmas a year ago.

Somewhere between his Lobeco home and Whale Branch Early College High School, Malik Spencer vanished on Dec. 18. A month later, a lineman found his body, riddled with gunshot wounds, in a ditch off U.S. 278 in Bamberg County — an hour away from his house.

“They threw his body out like trash in hopes he would not be found,” Spencer-Ransom said, her voice breaking Sunday as she spoke about her only child.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating the case, Maj. Bob Bromage said Tuesday but declined to discuss any further details.

A year after Spencer disappeared, one of five unsolved homicides in 2018, his mother watches as other murders in Beaufort County are solved in weeks.

For example, less than a month after 70-year-old Theresa Coker was found Oct. 9, beaten and strangled in her house, Beaufort Police Department arrested Jermaine Lemonte Thurston, 42, of Seabrook in her murder. Thurston had done yard work for her.

Yet, Beaufort County Animal Shelter employee Rhashard Spikes, 21, was killed in 2015 in what police described as a road rage incident. No one has been arrested.

Spencer-Ransom does not want her son’s case to go cold. “His murder has not been solved, and no one has been brought to justice,” she said. “It is time people are held accountable.”

She said the wounds from her son’s death are still fresh. “It is nothing but the Lord that is holding my hand and walking me through every day.”

Murders

Spencer is one of 19 unsolved homicides out of 62 in the county since 2015, according to data compiled by the Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.

Forty-two of the 62 homicides in the past four years are the jurisdiction of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Of those, 62 percent have been solved. Sixteen homicides — including Spencer — have not been solved. Nationwide, FBI data shows that 61 percent of murders in 2017 were cleared by arrest that year.

Bromage, who leads the county’s volunteer Cold Case Committee, said solving homicide cases come down to whether there’s probable cause to make an arrest.

“We have to meet the threshold of probable cause to obtain arrest warrants and put the subjects in jail,” said Bromage, who in recent years solved one of the oldest cold cases in Beaufort County.

In 2018, Isaiah Gadson, 66, was convicted of the 1980 murder of 18-year-old David Krulewicz, as well as the rape, kidnapping and armed robbery of Krulewicz’s then 15-year-old girlfriend, Susan Weed.

Gadson was linked to the crime by DNA found on Weed’s clothing.

Many unsolved cases need physical evidence and/or witness testimony for probable cause, Bromage said.

“One of the biggest hurdles in the majority of these unsolved homicide cases is the cooperation of witnesses, “ Bromage said. “Information may very well be building blocks towards probable cause.”

In the days after Spencer went missing, his family went to Facebook and the media, begging the public to come forward with information.

A year later, Spencer-Ransom still asks people to come forward if they know anything.

Yet, she said she knows many people called the police with information, and still the case remains unsolved.

Malik Spencer

As friends and family wait for answers, they are holding a candlelight vigil for Spencer Saturday evening at Love House Ministries from 5 to 7 p.m.

“This is us asking for justice through prayer and through songs,” Spencer-Ransom said.

Her son was known for being responsible.

His only days of missed school were for the Hurricane Florence evacuation.

Last year, Spencer was awarded “Camp Leader of the Summer” while working at the Beaufort County Pals camp. He worked the sound board at Love House Ministries Church every Sunday morning, was involved in the church’s youth ministry and kept a part-time job at a fast food restaurant.

Spencer had no criminal record and, at the time of his disappearance, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said he was not involved in a gang.

“My son was taken away from us senselessly,” Spencer-Ransom said. “He was doing all the right things. This is what hurts so bad. He was not a troubled kid.”

No arrests

Spencer-Ransom feels like she has to continue talking to keep her son’s case specifically — and violence in the community in general — in the forefront.

“Something has to be done to stop the violence,” Spencer-Ransom said. “Justice is so important for us. These [killers] are out there. They are walking among us. They need to be taken off the streets.”

Police have not been forthcoming to the family with details about their investigation, Spencer-Ransom said. She said her husband talks with detectives every couple of weeks because it is too upsetting for her to continue having those conversations.

Bromage said the Sheriff’s Office has to be careful not to jeopardize investigations by releasing too many details.

“We empathize with the victim’s family yearning for information,” Bromage said. “They want to know everything. That is understandable.”

Spencer-Ransom says the frustration and pain are nearly unbearable.

“It is almost like I am being punched in my face and chest every day,” she said.

Solving violent crime

In recent months, the Beaufort County Violent Crimes Task Force was created to help local agencies solve crimes.

The Sheriff’s Office, City of Beaufort, Town of Bluffton and the Town of Port Royal police departments will work together to investigate crimes, including gun violence. The task force also focuses on gang activity and sale of illegal drugs.

“They investigate these crimes together because they do cross into municipalities and the county,” Bromage said.

Among its successes: The task force arrested Dwayne Hamilton of Bluffton on charges of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Bromage said the Sheriff’s Office also plans to expand its forensic services laboratory, which opened in 2010 and is one of four regional DNA labs in South Carolina.

The forensic services lab is a quicker way to process evidence than waiting in line at a state level crime lab. “The turn around time is impressive,” Bromage said.

The lab was used to connect Thurston to the October murder of the elderly Beaufort woman. Thurston was arrested for a parole violation, and DNA evidence collected from him then was quickly processed and used to arrest him in a matter of days.

Justice

As Thurston moves through the justice system, Spencer-Ransom is still waiting.

She once prayed for her son to be found. She now prays for police to find his killer.

This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 4:06 PM.