Could technology have saved a kidnapped 80-year-old? The question haunts SC family
Mary Ann Elvington’s children knew something was wrong when she didn’t show up for church on Sunday morning. The 80-year-old never missed a service.
Worried, her daughter Margol called. Everything was fine, her mother assured her.
It was one of the last times Margol would speak to her mother.
The call was one in a series made on March 28 by Elvington’s children in an attempt to locate their mother.
She gave conflicting stories, first saying she was heading to a Dollar General for dog food, and later telling her family she was confused and didn’t know where she was driving.
A tracking app on her iPhone was disabled but the car had OnStar services. Harold, the eldest son, called the company and pleaded with the operator to give him the location of his mother’s car. They wouldn’t.
The Sun News scheduled an interview with OnStar which the company canceled after learning the case was an active investigation.
“At OnStar, safety is a top priority,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We continue to cooperate with law enforcement in this matter, but as this is an ongoing case, we are unable to comment further at this time. Our thoughts and condolences are with the victim’s loved ones.”
Elvington’s children all have the same theory: She was trying to keep her family away from the man with a shotgun in her backseat.
Elvington spent the afternoon driving around Marion County with Dominique Brand, who held a loaded shotgun pointed at her, according to warrants obtained by The Sun News from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Police found Elvington’s car first, after OnStar released the location, abandoned behind an unoccupied building near Bobby L. Davis Boulevard.
Then they found Elvington’s body, about 10 miles away from her car, behind Mt. Zion AME Church in Marion County.
Police arrested Brand later that week and charged him with murder and kidnapping. He is awaiting trial at the Marion County Detention Center without bond.
The kidnapping
Police have not said much about what led up to Elvington’s murder, but through interviews with her three children, The Sun News was able to capture details about her final moments.
Elvington lived alone in a one story house in Nichols. A clothes line, now empty, overlooks the well manicured lawn and grassy field. Inside, photos of family and cross-country trips leave little empty space on the walls. Her two dogs, Heinz and Charlie, scurry around tables topped with figurines and Easter decorations. The only thing out of place is a hole in the wooden floor.
Police removed a piece of the wood panel, where they say Brand fired his shotgun, for evidence, leaving a hole in the otherwise pristine house.
That Sunday, Elvington’s cousin was supposed to stop by, a routine after church. Elvington called to cancel, saying she wasn’t feeling well.
How and why Brand and Elvington ended up in the car together is still unknown. Family theorized she was trying to get him out of the house to protect any family that might come by.
She left her home for the last time with just a bible. Brand took his shotgun.
Elvington lived in the house, originally her mother’s, for 30 years and in the area her whole life. She was a school teacher for decades and in her retirement, read and traveled constantly. So when Harold called his mother and asked where she was driving, he was surprised to hear her say she was “confused.”
Elvington’s daughter Margol called several times from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. During one call she overheard her mother speaking to someone else, but when she asked who was in the car with her she said she was just talking to herself. Margol grew more worried and asked a family friend in law enforcement to call Elvington.
She recognized the name immediately, the man had been her student in the third grade. She gave him a similar story and said she was confused about her whereabouts.
Her children now believe Elvington was keeping them and others out of harm’s way by not revealing her location.
Around 8:30 p.m. Harold called OnStar, explained the situation and asked for his mother’s location. They wouldn’t give it to him and instead called Elvington’s car. Elvington told her son that she did not know where she was driving. Harold told her to pull over and call the police.
The OnStar operator then spoke with Elvington privately. After, the operator told Harold that his mother was “embarrassed” that she had gotten lost and didn’t want her son to have her location.
After the call with OnStar, Harold and his siblings called Horry County police. While the children waited, Reggie Brown, Nichols’ Police Chief, tried to get OnStar to give him Elvington’s location. They didn’t.
By the time police were able to get the location of Elvington’s car it was too late. It had been ditched and hidden.
This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 11:46 AM.
