‘No one like Bobby’: More than 1 year later, ashes stolen from Socastee bar still not found

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — It’s been more than a year since a Myrtle Beach man was arrested for a string of burglaries at some of the Grand Strand’s best known locally-owned restaurants and bars.

Samuel Smith is accused of stealing entire safes, some with thousands of dollars inside. But one business told News13 that what Smith stole from them is worth more than all of that money, and they don’t know that they’ll ever get it back.

Bobby Tourney was more than a bartender at the Old Bull and Bush Pub and Eatery in Socastee. He was family.

“There’s no one like Bobby,” co-owner Bobby Cathcart said while laughing. “He was one-of-a-kind, for sure. He had been here eight or nine years, so he was a staple to this bar. Part of the furniture, we like to say.”

But in the spring of 2023, cancer took Tourney from everyone who loved him.

To honor his memory, Cathcart named the original part of the bar after Tourney and placed half his ashes in a safe behind the bar. Three months later, it was stolen. Tourney was gone, again.

According to arrest warrants obtained by News13, it was just one of a string of burglaries Smith is accused of carrying out in 2023.

Police said after trying to fish money out of the night depository at South Atlantic Bank in February of that year, Smith hit several other Grand Strand spots over the next five months, including Handley’s, Doyle’s Pub & Grub, The Sneaky Beagle and The Old Bull and Bush.

“The crime here, for us, was not about money,” Cathcart said. “It wasn’t about losing a safe or repairing a door. You know, we lost someone very near and dear to us.”

This spring, Tourney’s family gave the rest of his ashes to the restaurant. No longer in a safe, they sit perched above the bar, sealed inside a bottle of his favorite bourbon.

“I put him as top as shelf as I possibly could, and he looks over us each and every day,” Cathcart said.

Cathcart said more than a year after the burglary and Smith’s arrest, police still haven’t recovered the original ashes. It’s been months since they’ve heard anything at all about the case.

“I hope nobody’s dragging their feet on this,” Cathcart said. “I hope that Bobby’s family and my restaurant and other restaurants receive an answer at some point.”

The 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office told News13 they do intend to prosecute Smith, but there is no court date set. Horry County police said the investigation was closed with Smith’s arrest and that the ashes weren’t recovered.

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