Inset, top to bottom: Larry Moore and Sandra Moore (WYFF) and Levi Kevin Jones (Oconee County Detention Center). Background: The area in South Carolina where Jones allegedly killed the elderly couple (Google Maps).
A 19-year-old man in South Carolina is accused of killing both of his grandparents, allegedly strangling and stabbing the 76-year-old man and the 75-year-old woman to death earlier this month.
Levi Kevin Jones was taken into custody over the weekend and charged with two counts each of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the slayings of Larry and Sandra Moore, authorities announced. According to a news release from the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, deputies at about 9:05 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15, responded to a call requesting a welfare check at the victims' residence, located on Cromer Moore Drive in the Westminster area.
The sheriff's office said the 911 call came from a family member who told the emergency dispatcher that they went inside the victims' home after not being able to contact them for several days and found them dead.
During a Saturday morning news conference, Sheriff Mike Crenshaw said that investigators determined that Larry Moore and Sandra Moore were "both killed at the hands of another." According to the sheriff, Sandra Moore was "strangled" to death while her husband died from being stabbed "several times" in the neck and torso.
"Investigators late yesterday [Friday] discovered the murder weapon and subsequently, last night at about 11 p.m., placed [Jones] under arrest at his residence," Crenshaw told reporters.
The sheriff emphasized that the investigation into the septuagenarians' killings remains ongoing, adding that additional charges against Jones "may be forthcoming in the future."
Jones had no criminal record prior to his arrest.
Authorities have not released a possible motive for the murders.
Following his arrest, Jones was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center where he is awaiting a bond hearing. The sheriff noted that Jones will have to appear before a circuit judge as opposed to a magistrate judge for the bond hearing, which he said should take place sometime this week.
The victims were members of the local Calvary Church, which described them as "backbones of the congregation," Fox News Digital reported. The couple were also reportedly active in the community and spent decades as owners of the Moore & Moore Fish Camp before they retired in 2016.