Kwame Fernanders
LILESVILLE — Kwame Fernanders was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2016 death of Lilesville resident Destry Dean Horne.
On Sept. 7, a Polk County jury sentenced Fernanders, 29, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, to mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Horne, 51, a trucker for JJ Haines & Company in Wadesboro, was found dead from a gunshot wound on March 31, 2016, in Polk County after the driver of a tractor-trailer called 911 to report that Horne’s box truck had hit his truck. The officers who responded found Horne deceased in the vehicle, according to an article from the Anson Record.
“For no real reason, they shot him and left him to die,” said Terry Horne, Destry’s brother.
According to an article from ABC 13 News, two other suspects, Quintea Dayrelle Edwards, 23 and Kayla Black, 19, were present at the murder. Fernanders asked Horne for directions, and then proceeded to shoot him.
Fernanders, Edwards and Black would go onto a subsequent crime spree in Gainesville, Florida, after the murder. The trio duct-taped individuals inside a Gainesville residence and forced them to obtain cash from an ATM.
All three faced charges of home invasion and kidnapping in Florida at that time. Edwards and Fernanders were later held in prison on the murder charges from Polk County.
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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected]. To suggest a correction, email [email protected].