Murder charges filed against former Beaufort Co. employee in cold case
Six years after Jimmy Smoak vanished from the small town of Varnville, Hampton County investigators say the evidence they needed finally surfaced, leading to murder charges against a former Beaufort County employee and another suspect this fall.
Courtney Lane, 30, and Ronald Lee Lyons, 41, were accused of murdering Jimmy Smoak, a man who was in his mid-40s and frequented the area. Investigators found that around April 1, 2019, Lane and Lyons acted “unlawfully with malice aforethought” in causing Smoak’s death, according to a release from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office.
Lane was accused of pouring bleach down Smoak’s throat, causing “suffocation or asphyxiation,” according to affidavits obtained by The Island Packet. Lyons confessed to law enforcement that he forcibly restrained the victim while this happened.
Smoak was murdered in or near a single family home in Varnville, a town in north-central Hampton County with less than 2,000 residents.
The case was solved because “critical evidence became available at the right time,” according to law enforcement. As recently as May, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division asked the public for tips about Smoak’s disappearance.
The agency said Smoak was originally from Colleton County and had a prosthetic leg from his knee down.
Lane and Lyons’ charges were first reported Thursday morning by Mitchell Black of the Post and Courier.
Suspended and terminated
At the time of the investigative breakthrough, Lyons was serving a 15-year sentence for drug-related offenses connected to Hampton County.
Lane was booked into the Hampton County Detention Center on Oct. 20 and bonded out on Nov. 15, according to a spokesperson for the jail.
Lane was formerly a peer support specialist with Beaufort County, spokesperson Hannah Nichols confirmed. Peer support specialists are in long-term recovery, which makes it easier to connect with others in the community struggling with addiction.
Hired in 2024, Lane was suspended without pay by the county on Oct. 21 and terminated on Oct. 24, according to a personnel file provided to The Island Packet through a public records request.
While peer support specialists do not provide medical care, Nichols said, they do work on outreach and training.
Victim’s family asks for suspect to stay in jail
According to public records obtained by The Island Packet, Lane’s cash bond was set at $200,000, subject to specific conditions set by Circuit Judge Robert Bonds.
Lane must stay on house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor, except for when meeting with her lawyer or going to doctor’s appointments, work or church. She is forbidden from contacting the victim’s family members or friends. She is not allowed to possess a firearm or use drugs.
Smoak’s family was present during Lane’s bond hearing, according to public records. They requested her bond be denied.
Lane’s lawyer, Scott Lee, reminded the court that Lane’s prior criminal charges had been pardoned and that she had made “serious life changes.”
Bonds ultimately set bail because Lane had “ties to the community and lack of financial means,” which meant it was unlikely she would flee. She also had a minimal criminal history, according to the judge. Lane lives in Yemassee and is the mother of a minor child.
Another cold case was solved in Beaufort County this week. Nearly 40 years after Margit Schuller, 34, was murdered while washing clothes in her Burton apartment complex, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that it made an arrest.
Cortez Sabino Lake, 76, of Beaufort, was arrested and charged with Schuller’s murder on Tuesday.
This story originally said that the bond amount was $20,000. It has been corrected to say $200,000.
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 11:09 AM.
