Ridgeland man charged weeks after Jasper County hit and run left a woman, 27, dead
By Lana Ferguson and
Jake Shore
A Ridgeland man was arrested Wednesday and charged in the July hit-and-run death of a pedestrian in Jasper County.
Charles Lamont Stevenson, 34, was identified as the driver by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and S.C. Highway Patrol, which investigated the incident. Stevenson was also wanted for breach of trust with fraudulent intent, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The body of 27-year-old Markeshia DuPont, of Ridgeland, was found on the side of S.C. 336 near the Tilman-Wagon Branch Community Center around 6 a.m. on July 31.
Highway Patrol did not immediately determine DuPont’s death was a hit and run, but confirmed it last week.
Until Stevenson’s arrest, the only details released included that an unknown vehicle was traveling east on S.C. 336 while a pedestrian — later identified as DuPont — was walking in the same direction around 11:30 p.m. on July 30.
The vehicle struck DuPont then left the scene, a Highway Patrol spokesperson said at the time.
“I am glad that he was caught simply because now it gives Markeisha’s mother and father the chance to begin to heal,” Thaddeus Smith, DuPont’s second cousin, said on Thursday. Smith grew up two doors down from DuPont and said they were like brother and sister.
Smith said DuPont’s funeral was Tuesday at the Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Center in Ridgeland on what would have been her 28th birthday. He said over 200 people attended.
Stevenson was booked into the Jasper County Detention Center at 10:17 p.m. Wednesday and remained confined as of Thursday morning, according to the jail log.
A bond has not been set, court records show.
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In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
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Lana Ferguson typically covers stories in northern Beaufort County, Jasper County and Hampton County. She joined The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette in 2018 as a crime/breaking news reporter. Before coming to the Lowcountry, she worked for publications in her home state of Virginia and graduated from the University of Mississippi, where she was editor-in-chief of the daily student newspaper. Lana was also a fellow at the University of South Carolina’s Media Law School in 2019.Support my work with a digital subscription
Jake Shore is a senior writer covering breaking news for The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. He reports on criminal justice, police, and the courts system in Beaufort and Jasper Counties. Jake originally comes from sunny California and attended school at Fordham University in New York City. In 2020, Jake won a first place award for beat reporting on the police from the South Carolina Press Association.
