Suspect in Gabrielle Swainson’s Kidnapping and Murder Pointed to Her Grave
After 357 days, the only suspect in Gabrielle Swainson’s kidnapping and murder has decided to cooperate with law enforcement. On the evening of Thursday, August 8th, he agreed to help officers find her body.
Freddie Grant, 53, has been the only suspect in Gabbiee’s disappearance for almost a year. He received a lengthy prison sentence for a federal ammunitions charge, and his daughter, Dominique Grant, has been charged with accessory to kidnapping.
Sheriff Leon Lott believes that it was the criminal charges against his daughter that finally convinced Grant to cooperate with law enforcement. He was flown to South Carolina from a federal prison in Kentucky and led investigators to Gabbiee’s grave.
“The monster Freddie Grant took us to a location in Elgin where he buried Gabbiee,” Sheriff Leon Lott said. “This has been 357 days of terror that Gabbiee’s mother and family have endured and that this community has endured. This is not the way we would have liked to end it.”
Grant was officially charged with Gabrielle Swainson’s murder and kidnapping, and quickly went to court on Friday morning, August 9th. Dominique Grant remains in jail on a $300,000 bond.
“This wasn’t a ‘whodunit,'” said Lott. “Almost immediately we were able to determine Freddie Grant was the man responsible for kidnapping Gabbiee. The challenge was we couldn’t find Gabbiee.”
“It kills us because we failed to find her,” Lott continued. “Even though we could not have saved her life, when she was buried. It hurts all of us to know that many, many people walked that area.
“Many, many people looked in the exact same place where we found her.” said Lott. “But the way she was concealed, you wouldn’t know. The type of hole that he dug, the things he put on top of it. The cadaver dog would not have been able to find it at the depth that it was. We just couldn’t find it. There’s just no way of finding it without someone taking us to that area and showing us.”
Lott and Coroner Gary Watts have confirmed that the body found in the Elgin field was Gabrielle Swainson.
In court on Friday morning, Grant said little and his lawyer was not present. Allegedly, he has received a plea deal, but Sheriff Lott says that does not mean Grant himself will receive leniency. Most likely, the plea agreement has to do with his daughter, Dominique.
Other Potential Kidnapping and Murder Charges Against Grant
Freddie Grant has also been linked to the 2011 kidnapping and murder of Adriana Diana Laster, 28, who lived with Grant in Florida. She was last seen with Grant on September 3, 2011, and was reported missing in March 2012 by a family member in Florida.
Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews said that Grant is also a person of interest in the October 2011 shooting death of Lee Wood, 36, of Lugoff, SC. Wood and Laster were in a relationship, according to Matthews.
The Strom Law Firm Prosecutes Criminals On Behalf of Kidnapping and Murder Victims
If you or a loved one are the victims of a serious crime, including kidnapping or murder, it is important that you take the person who hurt you to court – whether it is a criminal trial, or personal injury lawsuit. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm have been based in Columbia, SC for 16 years, and are also licensed to practice in Georgia and New York. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so do not hesitate to contact us for help.803.252.4800
