Inset left to right: Iryanna Fleming, Daquinn Thomas, and Nikko Carraway (Florence County Detention Center). Inset far right: Dana Kinlaw (Obituary). Background: The rural road where Kinlaw was killed and burned in Effingham, S.C. (Google Maps).
Three people in South Carolina are behind bars after a woman was shot and set on fire during a revenge killing in which the victim was tricked into thinking she was about to purchase a new pet dog, according to law enforcement in the Palmetto State.
Iryanna Jarisha Fleming, 19, Daquinn Taheen Thomas, 31, and Nikko Christopher Carraway, 31, stand accused of one count each of murder, arson in the first degree, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the Florence County Sheriff's Office.
The underlying incident occurred late last week near the intersection of Atlantic Road and Springbranch Road in Effingham — an unincorporated farming community located some 65 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach — and left 40-year-old Dana Marie Kinlaw dead.
On Jan. 22, around 5:45 p.m., deputies responded to reports of a vehicle fire, according to Myrtle Beach-based NBC affiliate WMBF.
Soon, the Florence County Coroner's Office was also called to the scene of the crime. There, the victim was identified as a resident of the nearby small town of Olanta.
An autopsy was scheduled for this week but authorities offered an initial assessment. The woman appeared to have been shot and then set on fire inside the vehicle, officials said.
The murder is believed to have occurred under false pretenses. The victim thought she was traveling out into a rural area to buy a puppy, according to the sheriff's office.
"Supposedly, they went there together," Florence County Sheriff TJ Joye told WMBF. "Miss Fleming, she was 19 years of age, a friend of Miss Kinlaw, and they rode there together supposedly to buy a puppy."
But instead of a transaction, Kinlaw was shot, the sheriff said.
After that, someone poured a liquid on the victim's body and set her aflame while she was still inside the car, according to law enforcement.
Deputies found the fire still blazing when they arrived.
The Kinlaw murder is now being investigated as a reprisal killing in response to a different murder that occurred some 35 miles away.
"We believe there was a murder committed in Darlington County, which we made the arrest in Lake City that connects them to that arrest with Darlington County officials," Joye told WMBF. "We feel that her son was involved in that in some way, shape, or form, and we feel this is a retaliation to that murder."
Fleming and Thomas were the first arrested and are detained in the Florence County Detention Center where they are awaiting a bond hearing. On Wednesday, deputies took Carraway into custody.
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