Sheriff: Married couple charged with murder of SC man who disappeared, found in shallow grave 10 weeks later

KERSHAW COUNTY, SC (WIS) - Two people have been arrested in the murder of a Bethune man who went missing just after Christmas 2016 and was later found buried in a shallow grave 10 weeks later, according to Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews.

Clinton Warren Beebe, 38, and his wife, Peggy Danielle Leforte Beebe, 30, both of Bethune, were arrested early Friday and charged with the murder of 34-year-old Adam Ray Davis. The pair were arrested and booked into the Kershaw County Detention Center, according to jail logs. A bond hearing has not been announced.

“Unfortunately, TV cop shows lead people to believe that these types of serious crimes can be solved within a one or two hour time span,” Sheriff Matthews said. “Obviously that did not happen in this case. Adam Davis’s murder was without a doubt the most extensively investigated case at the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office since I have been sheriff. It took more time than we wanted it to take, but we wanted it to be done right so we were thorough. No stone was left unturned.”

Davis was last seen alive in late December 2016 leaving a friend’s house in Bethune and his car was later located. His disappearance was reported to the Bethune Police Department on Jan. 4, 2017 when he did not show up to work.

The sheriff’s office said three months later, an anonymous letter with GPS coordinates led to Davis’s body found in a shallow grave in Bishopville on March 8, 2017. The discovery led to the sheriff’s department investigating his death as a murder.

Sheriff Matthews said the follow-up investigation after this discovery of Davis’s body led to two persons being persons of interest. The evidence was presented to Solicitor Dan Johnson in January 2018, but it was not until additional investigating was conducted that Interim Solicitor Heather Weiss was briefed and authorized the arrest warrants for the Beebes.

Danielle Beebe has no previous arrests. Clinton Warren Beebe has previously been arrested for manufacturing drugs, public disorderly conduct, simple possession of marijuana, simple assault, assault of a high and aggravated nature and DUI.

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