Boyd Wayne Graham was 43 when he was found dead in his Grainloyd Road home in Galivants Ferry, South Carolina, on the night of July 20, 2017. Horry County police discovered him lying face down in a pool of blood in his bedroom, body partially covered by a sheet. Initial observations noted severe trauma to the right side of his face and neck; the deputy coroner later confirmed the wound was a gunshot, not a stab, and investigators kept that detail from the public early on.

Within days authorities arrested 26-year-old Jonathan Lamar Allen, a longtime friend of Graham’s, charging him with murder. Prosecutors said the motive was a dispute over about $300 Graham had loaned Allen. Court accounts describe Allen arriving with three friends armed with a semi-automatic .380-caliber pistol; after a confrontation on Graham’s porch he fired a single shot that struck Graham in the head. Investigators say Allen later searched the scene for evidence, discarded the gun in a swamp, cleaned himself and then purchased methamphetamine in Myrtle Beach.

At a February 2018 bond hearing the judge set bond at $150,000 and placed Allen on house arrest. In March 2020 Allen pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and received a 25-year prison sentence; he expressed remorse at sentencing while Graham’s brother said the apology felt insufficient. If anyone knew Boyd or has information about his last night, please share what you know.