100 attend prayer gathering as national spotlight shines on Scott Spivey killing
Family and friends of the late Scott Spivey raised their hands in praise while singing “Amazing Grace” during a prayer vigil at Tabor City’s Garrell Depot Tuesday evening. They included, from left, Scott’s mother Deborah Spivey, his father Dale Spivey, Barry Suggs who is Jennifer Foley’s cousin, Foley, Jamie Glenn, and Pastor Dale Willoughby. (Deuce Niven, TLT)
By DEUCE NIVEN
tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com
A prayer vigil organized just hours earlier brought about 100 people to Tabor City’s Garrell Depot Tuesday evening in support of the family of the late Scott Spivey and their search for justice following the September 2023 killing of their brother, son, and friend.
Speakers included Spivey’s sister Jennifer Foley, his mother Deborah Spivey, event organizer Jamie Glenn, and Pastor Dale Willoughby of Iron Hill Baptist Church.
They all asked, and prayed, for justice in the case, for “hearts to be softened,” Foley said, in decision makers who have the power to bring new life to the criminal investigation that at least for now appears formally closed.
Foley said she was grateful for the Horry County Council letter to Gov. McMaster asking for an investigation, “something that has never happened in South Carolina before.”
Telephone calls to the governor’s office seem to be having an impact, Foley said, adding that officials there are receptive to the public input, and asking that others as the governor to take action leading to a criminal investigation.
If McMaster would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate, that person could convene a grand jury and seek an indictment, Foley said.
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” she said.
Both Foley and Pastor Willoughby said her brother was on a spiritual journey before he was killed, that he believed he was called “to fight evil in this world,” Foley said.
“That turned out to be me.”
National spotlight
Fallout from the shooting that left Spivey, who was 33, dead inside his pickup truck on Camp Swamp Road off of SC Hwy 9 in northern Horry has picked up in recent days, with family speaking out to state and national media, including The Wall Street Journal which in a series of reports questioned the relationship of Weldon Boyd, owner of North Myrtle Beach restaurant Buoys on the Boulevard, and the Horry County Police Department.
Boyd and Kenneth “Bradley” Williams fired multiple rounds into Spivey’s pick-up truck, and into Spivey, killing him after an apparent road-rage incident that began near the beach escalated.
Foley has taken up the case in pursuit of justice, she said, and on social media posts called herself “my brother’s keeper.”
Foley has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Boyd and Williams, and called for a renewed investigation after both the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office a year ago “concluded that there is insufficient evidence to merit criminal prosecution,” as Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Heather Weiss wrote in an April 3, 2024 letter to SLED.
For additional information see this story in today’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.
