Naomi Johnson, 65, and her 74-year-old sister Thelma Haddock were found shot to death in their Kingstree, South Carolina home in early October 2010. Johnson was a Kingstree High School graduate, a retired employee of Williamsburg First National Bank and a member of Cedar Grove Baptist Church, where she sang in the choir. Investigators say the killings followed an apparent home invasion by a neighbor, Joseph Jermaine Brand, who had offered to do yard work and, when refused, allegedly forced his way inside, disarmed one sister and shot them both.

Brand’s father reportedly found his son wandering in the victims’ yard and discovered the open door and the bodies. Brand confessed, but was found incompetent to stand trial in 2012 due to schizophrenia and was committed for treatment. The case stalled, and Brand was released from a group home in 2016 without reinstated murder charges, a development that later prompted the family to seek review. Charges were reinstated in May 2022; Brand was located in Pueblo, Colorado via his cellphone and arrested, pending extradition and another competency hearing.

Does anyone in Kingstree remember Naomi or Thelma, or have information about the events around that October 2010 night?