Authorities in upstate South Carolina have arrested the 19-year-old grandson of a retired couple discovered murdered in their home earlier this month, charging him with two counts of murder in a case that has shaken a small rural town.
Levi Kevin Jones was arrested late Friday and charged with the deaths of Larry Moore, 76, and Sandra Moore, 75, who were found inside their home on Cromer Moore Road near Westminster on January 15.
Jones is also charged with two counts of possessing a weapon while committing a violent felony, according to arrest warrants obtained by Fox News Digital. He remains in detention pending a bond hearing.
The couple was discovered after a family member requested a welfare check after multiple attempts to contact them were unsuccessful. Investigators and the county coroner later determined that the deaths were murders.
Larry Moore died as a result of many stabbings, while Sandra Moore died from manual strangulation, according to the Oconee County Coroner’s Office. Autopsies were performed the next day.
According to arrest warrants, Jones stabbed his grandfather several times in the torso and neck before strangling his grandma, cutting off her airway and blood flow. Authorities reported that a knife was used in the attack.
Authorities have not revealed the motivation for the attack.
The Moores had lived in the neighborhood for many years and were well-known in the community as the former owners of Moore & Moore Fish Camp, a local restaurant that operated for decades before the pair retired.
They were also active members of Calvary Church, where friends described them as regular attendees.
“They were always there,” Stacy Brooks, who attended church, told Fox News Digital. “You expected to see them every time you went. They were faithful people.”
Brooks stated that the killings had been difficult for people of the small upstate South Carolina hamlet to process.
“This is a close community, and something like this just doesn’t happen often,” she said.
The sheriff’s office earlier stated that the killings appeared to be an isolated occurrence, with no ongoing threat to the public.