Diane Grant and her two children, Jatavios DeVore and DeAnna DeVore, were murdered by Anthony Sanders. The case is featured in the latest episode of Murder Decoded on Investigation Discovery.
At around 2:30 am on July 10, 2007, deputies with the Dorchester County Police Department were dispatched to the Archdale Forest Apartment complex on Dorchester Road in North Charleston, South Carolina, after receiving a 911 call about shots fired.
When they arrived at an apartment in building 213, they noticed the front door was ajar so they went inside — that’s when they made a shocking and gruesome discovery. Grant, 44, and her 20-year-old son, Jatavios, were found shot to death while her two grandchildren — an infant and a toddler — were asleep in an upstairs bedroom.
Four hours later, while investigators were scouring the apartment complex for evidence, they encountered the partially clothed body of Grant’s 14-year-old daughter, DeAnna, near building 105. She was also shot dead.
Following an intensive investigation, detectives arrested Sanders after shell casings at the scene matched the ones found at two other crime scenes, both shootings. It was determined that he was involved after a bouncer at Anchor Bar on Spruill Avenue told police that he saw Sanders shooting several rounds into the air near the business.
Sanders was charged with three counts of murder, and he was booked into the Dorchester County jail.
Although Sanders denied being at the apartment complex at the time of the murders and there were no witnesses or a murder weapon, investigators said cell phone records placed him at the scene.
Investigators said they know the crime was not random and it wasn’t a case of mistaken identity, but they were unable to determine a motive for the triple homicide or Sanders’ relationship to the victims.
The circumstances leading up to the murders of Grant and her children remain a mystery.
To avoid the death penalty, Sanders skipped the jury trial and appeals and opted for a bench trial. After a day and a half, Circuit Judge Markley Dennis found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Murder Decoded — Prowling Wolf, airs on Investigation Discovery.
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