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Samantha Ford Rabon (Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office)
A 39-year-old woman in South Carolina will spend the rest of her days behind bars for killing her father and half-brother in a sordid plot to get her hands on an inheritance of over $1 million.
Fifteenth Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Culbertson this week ordered Samantha Ford Rabon to serve two terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 30 years, with all of the sentences to run consecutively, meaning one after the other, for the 2018 slayings of 59-year-old Robert Marion Ford, Jr. and his son, 25-year-old Robbie Stetson Ford, authorities announced.
Before being formally sentenced, a jury found Rabon guilty on two counts each of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation to commit murder. Rabon was sentenced to life for each of the murder charges, 10 years for each of the solicitation charges, and five years for each of the conspiracy charges.
Her co-defendant in the case, 56-year-old Randy Dean Grainger, was convicted last year of two counts of murder, two counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of arson third-degree, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He was also sentenced to two consecutive life terms in a state correctional facility.
Randy Dean Grainger (Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office)
“In my 30 years of prosecution, these are the most heinous murders I have ever seen,” Senior Assistant Solicitor for the Fifteenth Circuit Mary-Ellen Walter said in a statement after the sentencing hearing. “The idea that someone would have their family killed out of pure greed is untenable. We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of the Horry County Police Department and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Hopefully, this brings some measure of comfort to the rest of the victims’ family and allows them to, at long last, begin the healing process.”
According to a news release from the solicitor’s office, officers with the Horry County Police Department responded to a call on August 18, 2018, regarding an abandoned and partially burned vehicle in an open field in Conway, South Carolina. Investigators soon discovered that the vehicle was registered to the elder Ford and went to his home to follow up.
First responders said they found the elder Ford and his son in the backyard. They appeared to have suffered fatal gunshot wounds and were declared dead at the scene.
Police said the elder Ford had been shot twice in the head at close range while his son had been shot once in the side and once in the back of the head.
Police said it took years of investigating to develop leads in the case, but they were eventually able to do so using forensic genetic genealogy.
“DNA developed from cigarette butts and a skull cap located in and around the vehicle eventually led the police to Randy Grainger. That led to a link between Grainger and Teresa Martin, a cousin of Rabon,” authorities said. “Martin was questioned by police on the second anniversary of the killings. She told police that Rabon asked her to bring Grainger to see her and asked Grainger if he would kill her father and half brother so that she could inherit all of her father’s money.”
Martin struck a deal with prosecutors and testified against both Grainger and Rabon at their murder trials.
Also, during the criminal trials, several witnesses from financial institutions testified as to the amount that Rabon inherited following the murders of her family members, which totaled more than $1 million.
Additionally, prosecutors presented evidence against Rabon, including her online search history, which included her performing a search for “can you clean up a double homicide in four hours.”
Rabon’s defense attorney argued at trial that Rabon’s mother was the one who “masterminded the plot” to have the two men killed.
