Murrells Inlet restaurant owner subject in arson investigation

Police identified the owner of a Murrells Inlet restaurant destroyed in a fire as a “subject” in an arson investigation by the Georgetown Sheriff’s Department.

Shortly after midnight Tuesday, firefighters responded to a blaze at Broken Spur Rib & Steakhouse at the corner of Pendergrass Avenue and Ocean Highway. The building was gutted in the fire.

An incident report by the sheriff’s department lists Don Wayne Crownover, 61, of Murrells Inlet, as a subject in the case.

A fire investigator told a deputy he spoke to the owner, who said he stopped by the restaurant about two hours before the fire and turned on some lights, the report states.

An employee at a nearby business told investigators that a vehicle was spotted in the Broken Spur parking lot about 20 minutes before the fire.

Surveillance video showed a vehicle similar to the restaurant's owners leaving the lot about three minutes before the fire, according to the report.

The morning after the fire, a man who said he was the owner told a reporter that he was “numb” and couldn’t talk about the fire. He said he had vendors lined up for the restaurant for bike week.

Broken Spur is the former T-Bones Steak House & Saloon.

This story was originally published May 4, 2018 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Murrells Inlet restaurant owner subject in arson investigation."