On Christmas Eve 2014, 43-year-old Mary Marie Fowler was killed during a ride-sharing stop on Interstate 85 in Greenville County, South Carolina. Fowler and her companion, James Jerry Dobson II, had agreed to give a 22-year-old hitchhiker, John Asher Farrell Villarreal, a ride in exchange for $25. Between mile markers 16 and 17, Dobson stopped the car reportedly to let the passenger use the restroom. Villarreal instead produced a handgun fitted with a homemade silencer and shot both Fowler and Dobson in the back of the head. A passerby found their bodies at about 6:15 a.m.; Fowler died and Dobson was left in critical condition.

Villarreal stole Dobson’s Hyundai Elantra and fled to Georgia, where he was stopped for speeding and issued a ticket before returning to the Greenville area. Authorities later found the stolen car at an abandoned property in Travelers Rest and, during a search, recovered three firearms, including a rifle and two handguns with homemade silencers. Villarreal was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, carjacking, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He pleaded guilty to those charges and received life for Fowler’s murder along with additional lengthy terms for the other offenses.

Are there witnesses or travelers who drove that stretch of I-85 on the morning of December 25, 2014, who can add details about the stop or the vehicle involved?