Suspect named in connection with Conway area taxi cab driver murder

Horry County police released the name and photo of a suspect they are searching for in connection with the murder of a 66-year-old man who was killed in a shooting in the Conway area while driving a taxi on Monday.

Police said on their Facebook page they are looking for Marion Javon Campbell in connection of the murder of Dennis Mantel of the Myrtle Beach area, who was shot in his taxi near the intersection of Juniper Bay Road and Dunn Short Cut Road early Monday morning.

Mantel died from a single gunshot wound at 6:45 a.m. at the Conway Medical Center, according to Horry County Deputy Coroner Darris Fowler.

On Monday morning, a man and his wife on Juniper Bay Road were informed about the crime scene after their son called and told them he spotted a taxi cab in their front yard, a police report states. The discovery prompted a call to police in which the man told authorities the victim was inside a taxi that crashed into his home.

Authorities were alerted about a “possible crime” about 6:30 a.m., and initially, medics began to treat the Imperial Cab driver as a cardiac arrest, but soon saw a bloody gunshot wound on his neck, according to a police report.

Part of Juniper Bay Road was temporarily closed Monday morning as police investigated the second taxi driver shooting death to happen in less than a year.

No gun was recovered from the scene, and police believed the suspect fled on foot that day. Krystal Dotson, Horry County police spokeswoman, said 23-year-old Campbell is from the Horry County area.

Anyone with information can call HCPD at 843-915-8477.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Suspect named in connection with Conway area taxi cab driver murder."