SC Midlands police make grisly discovery before charging man in homicide, child abduction
Orangeburg County deputies discovered two people shot dead in a house Wednesday and a child abandoned in a sweltering car. On Friday, they charged a man in the double homicide and an alleged child abduction.
“This has just been a senseless, senseless act involving these victims who did nothing to this subject,” Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said. “As I said Thursday, you can expect me to turn loose my entire agency to find anyone who does something as heinous as this.”
The Orangeburg County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as 66-year-old Jean Ann Brown of Cross, South Carolina, and 62-year-old Raymond Brown of Eutawville. Deputies found the two at Raymond Brown’s home, according to investigators.
The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Department was called about the two being missing, according to a police report. Deputies showed up at Raymond Brown’s house on Wesgar Avenue where family said the two had been missing since that morning after a doctor’s appointment. The two had a 1-year-old child with them that morning, the report said.
A key was in the front door, and deputies entered and found Jean Ann Brown’s body next to the entryway, a deputy wrote in his report. Deputies went around the house and entered a back door to avoid altering the scene. They found Raymond Brown’s body near Jean Ann.
Investigators gathered information that indicated the two may have been killed and the child taken by Antonio Smalls, according the reports and arrest warrants. Investigators ascertained that Smalls, 46, of Moncks Corner, was in North Charleston.
Deputies found Smalls and arrested him. They found the 1-year-old abandoned in “extreme heat” inside a car that was parked at a gas station in St. George, the warrants said.
Smalls confessed to killing the two and kidnapping the child, according to the warrants. Investigators didn’t say if or how Smalls is related to the Browns or the child.
Deputies charged Smalls Friday with two counts of murder, two counts of weapon possession during a violent crime, and kidnapping. He was jailed in Orangeburg County where he will remain until a state judge determines if he gets bond or not.
Murder is punishable with up to life in prison or the death penalty if it is done in combination with aggravating factors. Kidnapping is an aggravating factor.
An attorney for Smalls was not yet listed publicly.
This story was originally published June 18, 2022 at 1:26 PM with the headline "SC Midlands police make grisly discovery before charging man in homicide, child abduction."