A man was lured to his death and now a 21-year-old has been convicted, SC prosecutor says
A young man who was a teenager when he was arrested following a fatal shooting was recently convicted of murder, the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said Tuesday.
On March 7, Cam’ron Ezekiel Hyatt was found guilty by a Kershaw County jury, the solicitor’s office said in a news release. The victim was Thomas Keitt Jr., a 55-year-old Elgin resident, who was found dead on Jan. 15, 2020, officials said.
Little more than a week later, a then 17-year-old Hyatt and then 18-year-old Albertina Hattie Jolera Bennett were arrested, according to the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office. Hyatt is now 21, jail records show.
The crime
A passerby discovered Keitt’s body behind his white Cadillac sedan near the Sand Mines in the area of Green Hill Road, the solicitor’s office said. The car was parked on a dirt and gravel lane in Lugoff, according to the sheriff’s office.
Both the sheriff’s office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division were investigating, and tire marks were discovered that appeared to show another vehicle had been at the scene, according to investigators.
On Jan. 24, Hyatt and Bennett were arrested, and Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan said the teenagers knew Keitt, and the killing was planned or a targeted crime.
During Hyatt’s trial, the prosecution said Keitt was lured to the location, where he was then shot twice in the head.
There was no word on a motive for the shooting.
Keitt’s phone and wallet were missing from the scene, but cellphone records placed Hyatt’s phone near the area where the body was found, the solicitor’s office said in the release. Those records also showed communications from Hyatt to Keitt’s phone just hours before his body was located, according to the release.
Additional text messages recovered from Hyatt’s phone showed conversations with two people about disposing of Keitt’s cellphone and wallet, removing shell casings from the scene, and getting rid of the murder weapon, the solicitor’s office said.
Additionally, Hyatt left a fingerprint that was found on Keitt’s vehicle, according to the release.
The solicitor’s office said Hyatt is awaiting sentencing. He remains behind bars in the Kershaw County Detention Center, jail records show.
Curtis Pauling, Donna Green and Michael Bradbury prosecuted the case for the solicitor’s office. Camden attorney Jason Kirincich, a member of the Kershaw County Public Defenders office, represented Hyatt, according to court records.
The co-defendant
The murder charge against Bennett is pending, and she was released from the detention center after posting $150,000 bond in August 2021, Kershaw County court records show. Bond was also set at $150,000 for Hyatt, but never posted, according to court records.
While out on bond, Bennett has been charged with more unrelated crimes, court records show.
On Aug. 30, 2023, Bennett was arrested and charged with unlawful carrying of a pistol, transporting alcohol in a motor vehicle with seal broken, drug possession, as well as driving on wrong side of road, according to court records. The weapon charge is pending, but Bennett previously pleaded guilty to the three lesser charges, court records show.
