OnStar claims Horry County grandmother never said she was in ‘danger’ before murder
An in-vehicle communications company facing a lawsuit related to the kidnapping and killing of a Horry County grandmother has asked a judge for the case to be dismissed.
The family of Mary Ann Elvington filed a lawsuit against OnStar and Dominque Brand, the man convicted in 2023 of killing the 80-year-old.
A jury trial for the lawsuit was expected to begin Monday, but a judge granted a continuance in the case, pushing the trial to May 26.
The basis for the lawsuit against OnStar, a division of GM Holdings and General Motors Co., is that the technology, which was installed in Elvington’s 2011 Buick LaCrosse and she subscribed to, might have prevented her death if an OnStar operator would have provided her children the location of their mother. The suit states the company refused, which ultimately resulted in her death at the hands of Brand.
Brand had taken the woman from her Nichols home on March 28, 2021, and her body was found the next day in Marion County. She had been shot in the head. Her vehicle also was found.
The companies involved in the case filed a motion last month seeking a summary judgment, claiming that the case “does not arise from a request for emergency assistance, a report of danger, or any circumstance indicating a crime in progress.” The motion states that the plaintiff never called 911 or law enforcement and the first time OnStar was called was at 8:38 p.m. — hours after the plaintiff first spoke with her mother.
A message left with the plaintiff’s attorney Morgan Martin was not immediately returned.
What lawsuit claims
Family members of Elvington became worried when she didn’t show up to church, and she gave conflicting stories during a series of phone calls from her children.
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 lawsuit said.
Elvington spent that afternoon driving around Marion County with Brand, who held a loaded shotgun pointed at her, according to police.
Brand entered Elvington’s home, kidnapped her and forced Elvington to drive him in her car to Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, and then back to Lakeview, South Carolina, police said.
After OnStar did release the vehicle’s location, police found the retired school teacher’s Buick first abandoned behind an unoccupied building in Marion County. They later found her body 10 miles away.
Brand was arrested on March 31 and charged with murder and kidnapping. In 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to two concurrent life sentences plus 10 years in federal prison.
What company’s motions claim
If the court does not grant OnStar a summary judgment in full, the company is asking for a dismissal of the lawsuit.
Motions filed claim that it is “conjecture” to say that Elvington’s death would have been prevented if she had been located sooner.
In addition, OnStar’s policies require law enforcement involvement before releasing the vehicle’s location, the motion said. “Like the individuals attempting to locate Ms. Elvington, OnStar was unaware that she had been kidnapped, that her home had been ransacked, that a weapon had been fired in her home, or that she was being forced — at gunpoint — to drive Brand,” the motion said.
When connected with her son by the OnStar operator, Elvington “did not indicate that she was in danger or required assistance,” the motion said. The motion also added that as soon as OnStar was informed that law enforcement viewed Elvington as endangered, it released the vehicle’s location.
