By Mindy Lucas
Investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department are looking for answers in the suspicious death of a Beaufort teenager whose body was found at a nearby boat landing.
Marcus Graves, 16, of Beaufort was found at Grays Hill Landing, at 8:50 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 1, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Maj. Bob Bromage.
Graves was last seen around 10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31, according to Bromage, and had been reported by his family as a runaway.
The sheriff’s office and Beaufort County Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene, at the end of Clarendon Road, west of S.C. Highway 21, after area fishermen discovered what they described as an unresponsive body in the marsh.
Graves was pronounced dead by EMS personnel at the scene.
A junior at Battery Creek High School, Graves was described as “a free spirit who had a passion for music and an infectious smile,” in a letter sent home to parents from the school’s principal Chad Cox Friday afternoon.
A forensic autopsy was performed at the Medical University of South Carolina on Sunday.
However, no clear cause and manner of death were determined, stated an advisory issued by the sheriff’s department on Monday. Forensic pathologists will perform additional studies, which should aid in those determinations, the statement said.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Sergeant Ryan Garst at 843-255-3426 or Crimestoppers of the Lowcountry at 843-554-1111.
