Family begs for answers in year-old murder

“It’s been a hard year,” said Cecelia Glover as she sat on her couch near a photo of the little brother she raised like her son, Charles “Kash” Willis, who was shot and killed in his home on Dec. 9, 2016.

Police still haven’t found the person or people responsible for his killing.

Ronetta Grate, the mother of Willis’ children, was on her way to Charleston for a seminar Dec. 10, 2016 when she stopped by Willis’ home near Gerald’s Convenience Store & Grille just north of Conway on U.S. 701. Grate had their children in the car and wanted to let their 9-year-old son, Kash Willis, and 13-year-old daughter, Amiyante Willis, run in to ask their father for money.

Grate said she stayed in the truck and watched her children race to their father’s door “to see who was going to get the most money.”

Kash was first to the door.

“They knocked on the door and no one answered,” she said. That was unusual – just like the call the younger Kash had made to his father that day that went oddly unanswered and unreturned.

“I see him open the door and they stepped in,” Grate said. Then, just as quickly as they entered, “he pulled the door back together and ran back hollering and screaming, him and Amiyante. I asked him what’s wrong and he said, ‘Somebody killed my daddy! Somebody killed my daddy!’ ”

Grate got out of the truck.

“I went to the door. I placed my hand on the doorknob and I took a deep breath,” she said last December, pausing as her cheeks flooded with rivulets of tears. “I opened the door and he was lying face-down in a pool of blood.”

Willis was dead at 36 years old.

“Five months later, it really set in that he was gone,” Glover said.

She has called the police with every bit of information she’s heard since her brother’s death. She said officers have followed every lead, but a year later – they are still no closer to solving the mystery of how he died.

Glover said she can’t find closure “until I know why. And the worst part of the whole situation is really, did he die on first impact? Did he call for someone?”

Willis was shot in the back of the head, she said.

“He was a good family person. He didn’t talk a whole lot, but if he smiled, that was his way of saying I love you,” Glover said. “He was doing well. He started doing custom cars and racing his trucks … down in Darlington.”

“He was happy. He loved cars,” she said.

Glover said her brother’s funeral was packed with people who shared stories of how Willis helped them and made a difference in their lives. Willis had stopped to help her pastor’s sister when her car broke down on U.S. Highway 501.

When his son started playing youth football, Glover said, he bought jerseys for the whole team.

“He won’t see his son play football anymore,” she said through a wave of tears.

“I’m hurt. There’s so much pain in here,” Glover said, with her hand over her heart. “I don’t understand how you could take somebody we loved.”

Willis’ 3-year-old son still rushes to his father’s photograph whenever he has news to share with “Daddy,” Glover said.

His other children are in therapy.

Glover and police ask for anyone with information to come forward.

“This is still an active investigation, and we would absolutely appreciate any tips,” said Krystal Dotson, spokeswoman for the Horry County Police Department.

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

“Everybody just keep us in prayer. We need it. That’s the only way we’ll be able to keep on,” Glover said.

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Family begs for answers in year-old murder."