‘Somebody’s gotta talk.’ Myrtle Beach father killed for $43. It has gone unsolved for 21 years
READ MORE
Horry County’s Unsolved Homicides
Horry County has a number of cold cases, some that date back nearly 50 years. Police have taken different approaches to try and solve them.
Expand All
Horry County has more than 60 unsolved homicides. How are police trying to catch killers?
‘Somebody’s gotta talk.’ Myrtle Beach father killed for $43. It has gone unsolved for 21 years
Myrtle Beach woman was set to leave her boyfriend. Before she could, she was found dead
Soon-to-be married Little River woman beaten to death. How did her killer go unnoticed?
Jim Davis wasn’t supposed to be working that October day.
He had traded shifts with another co-worker so he could be at his son’s surprise 16th birthday party.
The 43-year-old had worked that early-morning shift many times since he started as a clerk at The Pantry, a convenience store in Myrtle Beach. But at 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2003, just a few hours into his work day, Davis was shot and killed.
As he lay there dying on the floor behind the counter, whoever pulled the trigger then robbed the cash register, taking $43 – all that was in the drawer – and fled the store.
For more than 21 years, the question of who gunned down Jim Davis has gone unanswered.
It’s a senseless death that at the time brought shock to the coastal city but has been largely lost to memory over the decades. But Davis’ son, that 16-year-old – now a 37-year-old man – remembers and took to social media in January 2025 for help in solving his father’s death.
“Does anyone in here remember Jim Davis?”, his online plea began.
He was ‘dedicated to everyone else’
It didn’t take long for the replies to roll in after Shawn Davis posted in a Myrtle Beach Facebook group about his father’s death.
Nearly 300 people commented on the post. Many recalled the case and a great deal more remembered the store clerk who was described as a nice guy and someone who got joy out of helping other people.
Marie Clegg-Moore worked with Jim Davis at The Pantry. She laughs when she thinks of Davis, who was a tall man, getting into his little blue car – which Clegg-Moore said looked like a Matchbox toy car.
His vehicle remained in the parking lot as police officers conducted their investigation. People left flowers and poems on the car. “There was a lot of people who knew Jim,” Clegg-Moore said.
Shawn, who looks like his father with his dark hair and good-looking features, recalls a time when a woman came into the store and told his father that she was broke and needed money. Jim Davis bought her food and put it on his tab. The money was taken out of his paycheck.
“If anybody needed anything, he would give it to them,” Shawn said.
Jim Davis’ job at The Pantry, now a Circle K located at 34th Avenue North and Kings Highway, was one of three he worked to take care of Shawn and his brother and sister. He would deliver newspapers after leaving the gas station and also did car detailing, Shawn said.
Shawn was the only child living with his father, having moved to Myrtle Beach six years after his parents got a divorce. His father chose to work overnight at the store so he could drive Shawn to St. James High School and then pick him up. Shawn said his father was often operating on only two hours of sleep.
“That was his whole entire life,” Shawn said. “It was literally dedicated to everyone else.”
Shawn struggled through school, including fighting and failing to attend classes.
His father got him into a learning center and he began to think about college for the first time, Shawn said.
After his father was killed, however, Shawn’s life “turned upside down.” He failed in school and he ended up in court for fighting. It took a move to Houston for Shawn to turn his life around.
But he still carries the weight of Jim Davis’ death. “I’ve thought about it every single day since it happened,” Shawn said.
While police believe the motive was a robbery, Shawn has considered other scenarios. Was it mistaken identity? Or, maybe it was because his father was gay. “I don’t know if they were homophobic,” Shawn said.
“I always wanted to get justice for him more than anything else,” Shawn said.
Myrtle Beach Police have had very little to go on. Shawn’s efforts have brought new attention to the slaying, officials said.
However, it’s going to take someone who wants to talk – sharing what they saw or what they know – to help solve the case.
‘Hold on, Jim, I’m going to get help’
Before Jim Davis was shot in the early morning hours that Thursday, he was manning the counter at the store.
A regular customer came into the store about 3:31 a.m. to buy cigarettes, according to a Myrtle Beach Police report. Aside from a white male walking toward the restroom, the customer appeared to be the only other shopper in the store.
After getting his money from the ATM, the customer heard a moan from behind him. He turned around and saw several items on the floor in front of the register.
The moaning was coming from Jim Davis who was on the floor behind the counter. He was still alive, but there was blood coming from his body. “Hold on, Jim, I’m going to get help,” the customer told the dying man.
The customer went to his vehicle to get his cell phone to call 911. As he walked outside, another man driving a blue pickup truck pulled up and went into the store.
Now, returning to the store, the customer saw an additional person coming out of the bathroom with the first white male he had seen earlier. The two men began talking with the driver of the blue truck.
All three left before police arrived.
The timeline of events happened in a matter of minutes. Police were dispatched to 3305 N. Kings Highway at 3:32 a.m., according to the report.
Jim Davis was found lying on his right side, his knees bent with both arms curled in front. The store’s portable phone was about 2 feet from Davis and the cash register drawer was open and empty.
He was breathing and did have a pulse. EMS arrived to treat Jim, but it was too late. By 4 a.m., he was gone.
Jim Davis was able to use the phone to call 911. However, it’s unclear what, if anything, he was able to say. A Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Sun News for the 911 call was denied.
Jim Davis had been shot on his right side, just below his arm, according to the report.
Police conducted other interviews and processed the scene, collecting every detail, including what fingerprints they could find.
The customer who called police said when he arrived the only vehicles in the parking lot were Jim Davis’ car and a 1992 black Honda Civic with a North Carolina license plate. The same vehicle the two white men left in.
Detectives thought they might have caught a break as the store had surveillance cameras. However, they weren’t working that night.
.jpeg "Screenshot (495).jpeg")
In 2008 police released a sketch of a possible suspect – the person they believe was driving a dark, two-color hatchback in the parking lot at the time of the shooting – in the hopes of reviving the case.
But with no new leads and no additional information, the case went cold.
Cold case team looking for leads
Tony Lever was one of the first detectives working Jim Davis’ death. He doesn’t live too far from where Davis was killed and would often stop at The Pantry, he said.
A lot of police officers did. The fact that the business stayed open into the morning hours gave people who worked third shift, like many officers, a place to stop for small purchases or gas.
“He was always kind,” Lever said.
In 2008, Lever passed out fliers that contained a photo of Jim Davis and a sketch of a possible suspect to those in the neighborhood surrounding the store. The Pantry store also offered a $25,000 reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest in the crime.
Still, officers came up empty.
Lever, who retired from the force in 2017, joined the Myrtle Beach Police cold case team and is unable to talk about the case since it is still active.
The team, a group of volunteers with law enforcement experience, re-examine unsolved cases – most that are violent crimes – to offer a different perspective and a fresh pair of eyes.
When the cold case team was launched in 2013, one of the first cases listed for review was the shooting of Jim Davis. Myrtle Beach currently has 10 cases that are considered cold, or remain unsolved.
Lever joined the team because he is familiar with some of the cases, such as Jim Davis’. For him, “it’s unfinished business,” he said.
Traci Chanaca, captain of investigations for Myrtle Beach Police, is now overseeing the case. Chanaca also knew Davis.
Chanaca said that Shawn Davis’ social media posts have generated new leads and new interest in the case. She wouldn’t say if there is a suspect in Jim Davis’ homicide, but she follows up on all leads that come in.
Chanaca hopes that anyone living in the store’s area that might have seen or heard anything, even if it’s just a rumor, will come forward.
“We welcome all tips and leads no matter how small,” Chanaca said.
But officers know that the longer a case goes, the harder it is to find witnesses. As years go by, things are forgotten, people move away and someone with information may die.
It’s one reason why Shawn Davis has turned to social media. Most of what Shawn has learned has come from other people.
A store owner across the street from The Pantry told Shawn that she found beer cans and cigarette butts outside her business. Other people have provided Shawn names of people who could potentially be involved.
He has turned over any information he has to the police.
About five years after the murder, a man came into the store claiming to have the name of the person who killed Jim Davis. The man came in twice, even spelling the name to store clerk Clegg-Moore. Police do have surveillance footage that shows the man.
“He so upset me,” said Clegg-Moore, who continues to work at the now Circle K. “He hollered out to me, and he told me that person killed Jim.”
As the man spelled the name, Clegg-Moore wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to police, she said.
Shawn Davis can’t help but be frustrated by his father’s case and that officers are not sharing many details. “I feel like I’m wasting my breath,” he said.
“I understand how they’re not supposed to tell you anything,” so it won’t affect the case, but “it’s kind of been the story for 21 years.”
Chanaca said police are vested in solving the case, which is like trying to put together a number of puzzle pieces. “We lose a lot of sleep over these cases,” she said.
Clegg-Moore, after all these years later, still talks fondly of Jim Davis. She said her husband would often go to The Pantry about 1:30 a.m. when he couldn’t sleep and “spend time with Jim and BS with him.”
Her husband didn’t go the night Davis was killed. He often wonders if he was there, he might have been able to stop it, Clegg-Moore said.
“I’m looking at the positivity we will have justice for Jim. Somebody’s gotta talk. That person that did it, I’m sure they’ve talked to others. It’s just gotta get solved.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
