Food Lion suspect, robbery spree accomplice, found dead in Florence motel
Tabor City police identified the woman who robbed a local Food Lion on Feb. 20 as Chauntress Evelyn Like.
By DEUCE NIVEN
tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com
A suspect in the armed robbery of the Food Lion in Tabor City last month, and her alleged accomplice in nearly two dozen hold-ups in three states, died in a Florence motel as local and U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force members attempted to serve multiple warrants, Maj. Russell Conway of the Tabor City Police Department said last week.
Chauntress Evelyn Like, 21, of Westerville, Ohio and Donovan McMillan, 25, of Hartsville, were identified by Florence County Coroner Keith Von Lutcken following the March 19 raid on the Suburban Extended Stay Motel on West Lucas Street in Florence, a news release from the Florence County Sheriff’s Office said.
Maj. Conway said Like was identified as the woman believed responsible for robbing a cashier at the local Food Lion on Feb. 20.
Investigators in Florence believe Like and McMillan were responsible for as many as 22 other armed robberies in the Carolinas and Georgia, the FCSO news release said.
That includes the Tabor City robbery, Conway said, where a woman wearing a red coat and blue bandana showed a handgun to a store cashier, demanded cash, and left the store with about $800 cash in the grocery bag that also contained noodles she had brought to the register.
Store personnel never saw an accomplice, but Conway said “we are confident” that McMillian was nearby in a car, waiting to whisk Like away.
Like and McMillian were both deceased before Tabor City police had enough information to seek a warrant, Conway said.
Look for more on this story in today’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.
