Insets, left to right: John Rice and Kevin Brookshire. Background: The home where authorities recovered Brookshire”s remains (WHNS).
South Carolina authorities have arrested a suspect in the case of a missing man whose remains were found last month.
John Lucas Dale Rice, 21, has been charged with the murder of Kevin Brookshire, who was 45 years old when he disappeared in 2021. Missing People America reports that Brookshire was last seen on December 15, 2021, in Chesnee, close to the North Carolina border. His plan was to drive his 2001 red Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, which had an expired Tennessee license plate, to Sevier County, Tennessee, a journey of approximately 160 miles northwest. However, he never reached his destination.
Five months following Brookshire’s disappearance, his pickup truck was involved in a traffic accident, although the authorities do not believe that Brookshire was behind the wheel.
No substantial leads emerged until August. As reported by Greenville Fox affiliate WHNS, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office received a tip-off concerning Rice. The information suggested he had shown someone a decomposing body in a trash can at a Chesnee residence, which led the office to coordinate with Cherokee County officials.
During a probable cause hearing covered by WHNS, Barry Barnette, the 7th Circuit Solicitor, disclosed that investigators discovered that different parts of Brookshire’s body had been located at various sites based on witness accounts.
In August, police visited the mentioned home and retrieved the remains. The coroner, using x-rays and medical records, confirmed them to be Brookshire’s, according to WHNS. Rice allegedly confessed to the crime during police questioning, though authorities have yet to disclose the murder’s motive or cause of death.
Rice was arrested on Friday and is in the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond.
