WALTERBORO, SC (August 19, 2022) – A 24-year-old Walterboro man has been given three life sentences for the 2017 triple murder of a Ruffin family that left a husband, wife and their son dead, and two young children fearing for their lives at the bloody crime scene.
Kenneth Mar’Keith Chisolm was also found guilty Friday by a Colleton County General Sessions jury of attempted murder and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime. He received maximum sentences – 30 years and five years, respectively – for those offenses. The sentences will be served concurrently.
“This was a crime of unspeakable evil,” said Assistant Solicitor Tameaka Legette of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case. “Not even children were spared from Mr. Chisolm’s savage rampage. I thank God for the people who stopped and tried to help in the immediate aftermath instead of passing on by, and for the community that came together and arrived at this verdict.”
On May 16, 2017, Chisolm entered the home of Phillip and Lori Miller, ages 46 and 52, respectively. He shot them to death, along with their 13-year-old son, Vincent Miller. A 9-year-old relative of the Millers also was shot but survived the attack. After she was struck, she hid in the house along with another young family member until Chisolm departed.
The case was investigated by the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office and the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division.
Legette called 25 witnesses during the five-day trial. DNA testing conducted by SLED and cellphone analysis by the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office intelligence unit helped place Chisolm at the crime scene.
Circuit Court Judge Perry Buckner handed down the sentence.
Lashay Jaire Aiken, 24, drove Chisolm away from the crime scene in her car. In December 2021, she pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of an armed robbery and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Additionally, Chisolm faces two murder charges from an unrelated incident. As with all defendants in criminal matters, Chisolm is presumed innocent of those charges until and unless proven guilty in court.
Legette is a member of the Solicitor’s Office Career Criminal Unit, which prosecutes the circuit’s most violent and habitual offenders. The Career Criminal Unit has earned convictions against 419 of 451 defendants it has prosecuted since its inception in 2009.
