MONROE, N.C. — The family of an 18-year-old from Laurens, South Carolina, is searching for answers more than a week after the teen was found dead hours away, following a meet-up with a stranger he met online.
Jacob Williamson, who was transgender, was reported missing from Laurens on June 30, thought to have gone on a date in the Charlotte area with a man to whom he had spoken online.
Monroe County deputies said 25-year-old Joshua Newton picked Williamson up that night and went instead to Newton's home near Monroe, North Carolina, east of Charlotte, where deputies think Williamson was killed.
The teen's body was later found about 10 miles away near the roughly 2,400-person town of Pageland, South Carolina, in Chesterfield County.
"(Williamson) got into the vehicle with Newton under the pretense that they were going to go on a date to Carowinds," said Lt. James Maye of the Union County Sheriff's Department, adding that he thinks Newton and another suspect are "online predators."
What we know
Williamson's family alerted authorities in Union County, North Carolina, that he was missing after last being seen getting into a car with Newton. Investigators searched for 36 hours before finding Williamson on the side of Mangum School Road in Chesterfield County on July 4.
Deputies say they think Newton and an accomplice transported Williamson's body across the state line in an attempt to hide the remains.
Deputies arrested Newton and charged him with first degree murder and obstruction of justice on July 4. Victoria Smith, 22, was arrested alongside him and charged as an accessory after the fact and with obstruction of justice. They both remain in custody in Monroe, Newton without bond and Smith with bond set at $3 million.
Promise Edwards, a family friend of Williamson with whom he lived for some time, shared hashtags #JusticeforJacob and #MakennahMattered on social media, organized a candlelight vigil on July 7.
"She should be here. She should be at work. She should be living her best life, and she's not," Williamson's mother, Brittney Shealy said through tears. "It's just not right."
Williamson was transitioning from female to male, and was identified by family, friends and official documents by three other names: Kierstyn, Makennah and Payge.
Edwards dismissed anyone's comments regarding Williamson's gender identity as "totally irrelevant."
"This is the absolute hardest thing I have ever been through," Edwards said.
In 2022 at least 38 transgender individuals across the United States were shot or killed, and 50 were killed in 2021, according to reports from the Human Rights Campaign, who released a post about Williamson on July 11.
Another report from the HRC found that between 2013 and 2022, nearly one-third of transgender and gender non-conforming people who were killed had their lives taken by an acquaintance, friend, family member or intimate partner.
What we don't know
The relationship between Williamson and Newton remains unclear. On June 30, the last time Williamson was seen alive, he met Newton in person for apparently the first time.
Maye said Williamson's family knew the teen planned to go on a date with Newton and started to worry when Williamson didn't return.
Authorities have not released information about the motive or the cause of Williamson's death. However, Maye said none of the evidence suggests the murder was a hate crime.
"We believe this is an isolated incident where it began as an online dating relationship and the defendants in this case were basically just online predators," Maye said.
Williamson worked at a Waffle House in Laurens. Newton allegedly picked the teen up from there on June 30.
For about a month leading up to that, Williamson had been living with Edwards, having felt rejected by immediate family for his gender identity.
"This world was so cruel to Jacob his entire life," Edwards said. "I find peace in knowing that in the last month and a half, he found peace."
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