May 14, 2024
A South Carolina woman, Megan Faith Bodiford, 25, was last heard from on April 25, 2024, when she texted a friend expressing concern that her partner, Jarrett Haskell Davis, 28, was going to murder her.
The message read: “If you don’t hear from me in 30 minutes, he killed me.” “He has a gun.”
Bodiford and Davis lived together at their home in Denmark, SC, along with their child.
An incident report details that Meghan had asked her friend to contact police if she was not heard from within 30 minutes of sending the text. Police were not contacted to perform a wellness check until the next day.
Close friends of Bodiford have alleged there was incidents of domestic violence in the home at the hands of Davis.
A few days later, Meghan was officially reported missing to police, and officers soon obtained a warrant to search the couples home. There was no sign of the missing woman at the residence, however, the couples baby, who was just a few months old, was found uninjured. The child was released into the custody of her grandmother.
Davis was also located at the address, and officers found him in the backyard, coming out of a garden shed.
Meghan was nowhere to be found, but the Bamberg County Sheriff's Office believed she could have been in a dark Gray Ford Explorer, and released a description of the missing woman, along with a description of the vehicle, to the public.
Police took an iPhone, a laptop, a baby monitor, and security cameras from Davis and Bodiford’s home.
Davis himself was taken into custody on an active domestic violence arrest warrant.
Five days later a burnt out car resembling a dark colored Ford Explorer, was discovered along a dirt path on Ghents Branch Road, .26 miles southwest of Turn Ray Road in Denmark, just a couple of miles from the couple’s home and Meghan's last known location. Human remains were found inside the vehicle and were later identified as missing Meghan Bodiford.
A probable cause affidavit states: “That on APRIL 25, 2024, in the Ghents Branch Road area of Denmark, located in the County of Bamberg, State of South Carolina, one JARRETT DAVIS, did commit the offense of MURDER, in violation of section 16-3-10 of the South Carolina Code of Laws of 1976, as amended. JARRETT DAVIS was in possession of a firearm and did kill the victim with malice aforethought, in that JARRETT DAVIS shot and murdered the victim, Megan Faith Bodiford. After JARRETT DAVIS murdered the victim, he set the victim's vehicle on fire with the victim inside.”
Jarrett Davis was arrested, and charged with murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, unlawful possession of a firearm, arson, and desecration of human remains.
Davis unlawfully possessed a shotgun in violation of South Carolina law based upon his prior criminal history as a convicted felon.
According to neighbors, multiple gunshots had been heard that month, and the victim’s cousin, Stephanie Nickens, told reporters that Bodiford had made multiple phone calls to both law enforcement and Davis’s probation officer leading up to her murder.
Davis is currently being held at the Bamberg County Detention Center.
Megan's family have started a Go-Fund-Me campaign to raise funds "towards assisting with the children and family in the aftermath of Megan's tragic death."
Megan was born in Columbia, SC and loved her three daughters, Tesla, 7 years old, Ivy 4 years old, and Kylie, 4 months old, more than anything. She was an animal lover who enjoyed being with her friends and family, who will miss her dearly.
Megan Bodiford's cousin, Stephanie Nickens said: “Those babies were everything to her. She is very beautiful. She just had a beautiful soul. She loved people. Everybody she had been around, she loved taking pictures, she just loved being around people.”
Nickens, and those following the story, believe Bodiford’s murder could have been prevented had she been listened to and offered assistance when reporting her partner to law enforcement.
Nickens also believes that Davis should have been behind bars long before he had the chance to murder Megan, saying: “If he would have been locked up the way that he was supposed to be the first time, maybe he wouldn’t have even gotten a chance to get this far with her.”
She added: “The people that we pay to protect us, I feel like they didn’t do their job at all. It could’ve been prevented. It could’ve. It definitely could’ve.”
Friends of Megan’s who have talked to the media regarding the case have alleged there was prior domestic violence.
According to ncadv.org:
-1 in 2 female murder victims and 1 in 13 male murder victims are killed by intimate partners.
-Most intimate partner homicides are committed with firearms. -Abusers’ access to firearms increases the risk of intimate partner femicide at least five-fold. When firearms have been used in the most severe abuse incident, the risk increases 41-fold.
- While the overall rate of intimate partner has decreased, intimate partner femicide has increased in recent years, driven by an increase in intimate partner femicide committed with a firearm.
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