Confidential settlement reached in fatal kidnapping of Horry County grandmother
A confidential settlement has been reached between the family of a Horry County woman kidnapped and killed and OnStar.
The trial regarding a lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Elvington’s family against the in-vehicle communications company was set to begin May 26, 2026, but the two parties agreed upon a settlement and the judge approved it that day, according to online court records.
It is not know what the settlement included as all documents have been sealed by the court.
Elvington’s family filed the lawsuit against OnStar and Dominque Brand, the man convicted in 2023 of killing the 80-year-old.
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.
What happened that day
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.
