Jasper Co. police announce arrest after 24-year-old arborist was shot to death in January

After a lengthy investigation, Jasper County police say a tip from a resident resulted in the arrest of the alleged killer in a January homicide of a young local arborist . The deceased was shot to death on a remote county road before two suspects reportedly sped away on ATVs.

Dillon Wayne Seagraves, 28, was arrested late Thursday on charges of murder and felony firearm possession. Sheriff Donald Hipp said the suspect lived in Tillman, an unincorporated area in Jasper County that borders the murder scene. Seagraves attended high school at the Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence, according to a public social media profile.

Seagraves is charged in the death of 24-year-old Ryan James Andrew Johnson , who was a resident of unincorporated Jasper County and employee of Action Tree Service in Beaufort. Johnson’s obituary describes him as a car enthusiast, dedicated family man and “the brother everyone wished they could have.”

Johnson was shot “multiple times” the evening of Jan. 13 after an altercation in a home’s front yard on Preschool Road, Hipp said in a press conference held Friday afternoon outside the Jasper County Law Enforcement Building . The 24-year-old was gunned down as the suspected shooter and one other person left the scene, “possibly on ATVs,” police previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Police arrested Seagraves after receiving information from Johnson’s family and a local tipster, according to Hipp. They also executed multiple search warrants on the suspect’s property.

Hipp gave a reason for why it took nearly seven months to make an arrest in the case, saying investigators took the time to conduct a “thorough investigation, not just rush to judgment.”

“We wanted to make sure we had the people that were responsible for this incident,” the sheriff said.

Four days after Johnson’s death, police reported an unrelated fatal shooting on Wagon Branch Road, located less than a half-mile from the site of the previous killing. Investigators had not announced any arrests related to the second incident, which claimed the life of 20-year-old Abel Huerta Jr. The sheriff’s office turned over that homicide case to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division due to a “limited amount of investigators,” according to previous reporting.

A search of judicial records did not reveal any prior criminal charges or convictions for Seagraves. As of Friday afternoon, the suspect was in custody at the Jasper County Detention Center.

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