South Carolina investigators say a chilling discovery has ended a nearly three-year search for a missing man.
Authorities announced the arrest of 21-year-old John Lucas Dale Rice, who now faces a murder charge in the death of Kevin Brookshire, 45.
Brookshire disappeared in December 2021, after leaving Chesnee, near the North Carolina border, for Sevier County, Tennessee. He never completed the 160-mile trip, and months later his red Chevrolet S-10 pickup surfaced in a crash with an unidentified driver. For years, the case yielded no breakthroughs.
That changed in August, when the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office received a disturbing tip: Rice had allegedly shown a friend a decomposing body hidden in a trash can at a Chesnee residence.
Investigators contacted Cherokee County deputies, launched a search, and recovered human remains later confirmed through x-rays and medical records to be Brookshire’s.
During a probable cause hearing, 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette told the court that body parts had been located in “different locations.” Detectives who questioned Rice say he admitted to killing Brookshire, though authorities have not disclosed how or why the homicide occurred.
Brookshire’s disappearance had long haunted his family and the Chesnee community. His death adds to a troubling pattern of unresolved missing-person cases in the region.
Rice was arrested Friday and remains in custody at the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond. Police say the investigation is ongoing.
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