RIDGE SPRING, S.C. — Two men have been arrested and charged by state agents in connection with a Saluda County murder.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced late Thursday that it had most recently charged 30-year-old Derrick Cyrus Jr. with accessory after the fact of murder on Monday and previously charged 24-year-old Earl Eugene Valentine Jr. with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime on Feb. 7.
The agency said the charges stem from a shooting death that occurred on Oct. 19, 2018, on Hazzard Circle in Ridge Spring. Warrant affidavits allege that Valentine killed another man, 39-year-old James Patrick Kinard, whom he believed was working with the police. The affidavits said a witness who only knew Valentine and Cyrus by pseudonyms picked both men out of a photo line-up and said they were in the Hazzard Circle area and near the victim not long before the shooting.
An affidavit said more than one person also alleged that Valentine admitted to killing Kinard, with one saying it was because he believed the victim was working with police. The report states witnesses also heard Cyrus saying that Valentine murdered Kinard.
The affidavit for Cyrus's arrest alleged that investigators found a .38 caliber cartridge case in his trash bin that matched one of two possible calibers in Kinard's killing. Cyrus is also known to be a close acquaintance of Valentine, the report said.
Ridge Spring Police requested SLED to assist in the investigation. Cyrus and Valentine are being held at the Saluda County Detention Center, and the 11th Circuit Solicitor's Office will prosecute their cases.
