HAMPTON, SC (Feb. 2, 2023) – A 38-year-old Colleton County man who tried to set fire to the mobile home where his ex-girlfriend lay dead has been convicted of her killing.
Jarvise Terrell Jenkins of Round O was found guilty Wednesday by a Hampton County General Sessions Court jury of murdering Anelia Simone Garvin, 27, in December 2018. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Hunter Swanson of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office prosecuted the case.
Garvin and Jenkins dated several months before Garvin broke off their relationship. A short time later, Jenkins strangled Garvin in the home on Varnville’s Pepper Street, where she lived with her grandfather and other relatives. Jenkins also used gasoline to start a fire around the underpinning beneath the corner of the mobile home where Garvin’s body was found, although the flames did not penetrate the interior.
The Varnville Fire Department responded to the initial call after Garvin’s grandfather was awakened around 3:30 a.m. by the smell of smoke. The Varnville Police Department and the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division investigated the crime. Jenkins’ DNA was discovered on a cigarette butt found by investigators on the edge of the bathtub where Garvin’s body was found.
Swanson called 20 witnesses in two days of testimony at the Hampton County Courthouse. Among them were SLED special agent Katie McAllister. Another of Jenkins’ ex-girlfriends also testified and described to jurors his abuse of her, which included choking.
Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller handed down the sentence.
Jenkins’ criminal history includes convictions for possession of marijuana, driving under suspension, false imprisonment, criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and unlawful carry of a firearm.
Swanson is a member of the Career Criminal Unit, which prosecutes the circuit’s most violent and habitual offenders. That team has earned convictions against 437 of the 472 defendants it has prosecuted since its inception in 2009.
Swanson also is the leader of the Solicitor’s Office Special Victims Unit, which is part of the 14th Circuit Victims Services Center. There, community partners provide critical services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and other crimes against vulnerable people. Help is available to anyone who needs it, even if they are not participating in the investigation or prosecution of a crime.
For assistance, call 843-790-6220.
