Trial set Wednesday for man accused of killing 80-year-old Marion County woman

FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — A final pre-trial hearing was held Thursday ahead of a trial next week for a man accused of killing an 80-year-old Marion County woman in March 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Florence.

Dominique Brand, who is accused of killing Mary Ann Elvington, is scheduled to go on trial at 9 a.m. Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Florence.

Brand chose in August to have a bench trial instead of a jury trial, meaning a judge will hear evidence and decide the outcome of the trial, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Brand, who is from Marion County, allegedly held Elvington at gunpoint in her car and forced her to drive to North Carolina and then to Lakeview before shooting her with a shotgun behind an abandoned grocery store in Marion County.

Elvington’s body was found on Zion Road near Zion Grocery about 10 miles from where her vehicle was found, authorities said.

Brand was charged in a three-count federal indictment with kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in the death of a person in such a manner to constitute murder. 

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