LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has made arrest in the Timothy Wash Investigation — they’ve released the following information:
Deana Renee Gibson, age 37, Rakevius Demont Nesbit, age 31, and Samuel Markevis Wright, age 31, all of Lancaster, have been charged in connection with the death of Timothy Taylor Wash, age 26.
Mr. Wash’s mother reported him missing to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Sunday evening, September 8, 2019. Mr. Wash was last known to be at work about 2:00 a. m. Sunday but did not return home as he usually did. Calls to his phone went unanswered. His 2008 Ford Escape could not be located. Mr. Wash was entered into a national database as a missing person, and investigators began searching for him and for people he might have had contact with after he left work Sunday morning.
Mr. Wash’s Escape was discovered in a business parking lot on Wylie Street in Lancaster Tuesday evening, September 10. Mr. Wash’s body was found inside the car. Autopsy results indicate Mr. Wash died as the result of a drug overdose.
Investigators developed leads concerning Mr. Wash’s movements and contacts after he left work Sunday morning and determined that he went to the home at 307 South York Street in Lancaster, where Gibson, Nesbit, and Wright were. Mr. Wash ingested narcotics, overdosed, and became unresponsive. Gibson, Nesbit, and Wright loaded Mr. Wash into the back seat of his Escape. Nesbit, with Gibson as a passenger, drove the Escape to the parking lot on Wylie Street early Sunday morning. Nesbit and Gibson abandoned the car in the lot with Mr. Wash in it with the doors closed and the windows rolled up. Neither Gibson, Nesbit, nor Wright sought medical help for Mr. Wash.
Arrest warrants were obtained charging each of the defendants with Kidnapping and Involuntary Manslaughter. Nesbit and Wright were in the Lancaster County Detention Center on other matters, and the warrants were served upon them on June 8, 2020. Bond was denied the next day. Gibson was taken into custody in Sumter County this past Friday night and was brought to the Lancaster County Detention Center Monday morning, where the warrants were served upon her. She appeared before a magistrate later Monday, and bond was also denied for her. Photographs of the defendants are attached.
The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the South Carolina Attorney General.
“First responders answer many overdose calls each week,” said Sheriff Barry Faile. “Far too many of them result in death, but quick medical assistance saves many lives. Unfortunately for Mr. Wash, those who could have gotten him help chose not to do so and left him helpless and alone in his car in the dark of night.”
(All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.)
Anyone with information about this or any other case should call the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office at 803-283-3388 or contact Midlands Crimestoppers in one of the following ways: dial 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372), log onto www.midlandscrimestoppers.com and click on the “Submit a Tip” tab, or download the P3 Tips App for Apple or Android devices.
