EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the first in a series of stories on unsolved cases in Clarendon County.
Lillian Gibson Rantin was an “extremely private person who kept to herself,” older sister Elizabeth Gibson said in 2005.
“She didn’t have any enemies, and as far as we knew, she got along with everybody she met,” said Gibson.
These words came just hours after Rantin, 33, was shot while simply lying in bed in the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2005.
Her husband, Chris Rantin, had been watching TV in the living room. The couple’s two children and a niece were asleep elsewhere in the home. Rantin said he heard something like a gunshot, then five or six more in quick succession. It was about 2:30 a.m. He and his children rushed to his wife’s bedroom, where they found her lying on her side with a gunshot wound to the head. One of the children called 911.
EMS found the woman minutes later in the same position, motionless. She would be pronounced dead at 3:38 a.m. at Clarendon Memorial Hospital.
At the home, police found three bullet holes in Rantin’s bedroom window, and several more bullets embedded in the outside wall. Then-interim Summerton Police Chief Joe Addison said police ultimately found evidence of 11 shots fired at the home.
“The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division processed the scene and took the bullets and casings for analysis,” said Summerton Police Chief Ray Perdue when talking about the case in 2010. That was the same year that Summerton Town Council offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to any arrests and subsequent convictions for those involved in Rantin’s death.
The family had waited five long years for answers. They would continue to wait.
It’s now been 12 years since Ranter’s murder, but SLED and the Summerton Police Department believe someone knows something that could help solve what was once thought to be a random drive-by shooting.
“We did believe at the time of the shooting that it was likely just a random drive-by,” said Special Agent Mark Creech in 2010 when talking to The Manning Times about the case. “But over time, we began to look at the evidence, and we believe that the home was targeted and Rantin’s nephew was the target.”
The nephew, Creech said, was ruled out as a suspect. He was down the street visiting friends for the holiday weekend. When he heard of the shooting, he rushed to his aunt’s side and rode with family to the hospital.
“He was devastated over her death,” said Creech. “He loved his aunt. He was torn up about it. He has been cooperative since day one.”
Creech said in 2010 that evidence at the scene showed the weapon used in the shooting was one of two types of assault rifles that fire high-powered cartridges. He said this type of gun means the shooter wouldn’t have acted alone.
“He didn’t shoot and drive the car,” Creech said. “I feel that whoever shot into that house did so from a vehicle and that the vehicle had to have sped out of that area.”
The home where Rantin was killed has been moved from the lot at 25 Mazyck St. in Summerton. It sat almost directly across from Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. The Rev. O’Donald Dingle was the pastor of the church at the time of Rantin’s death.
“She was quiet; she was a good person,” Dingle said. “The whole neighborhood was disturbed when that happened. Everyone was upset that something like this took place in this neighborhood, especially to someone like her.”
Creech said it’s important for residents to be aware of any conversations in which they’ve heard someone make comments about the shooting, particularly after so many years.
“They could say something like, ‘Isn’t it bad she was killed,’ or ‘I wonder who would have done such a thing,’” he said.
Perdue said in 2010 that he believes wholeheartedly someone knows something.
“The thing is, this person who knows this information, they probably don’t believe that someone close to them could have done something like this,” he said. “It’s hard to believe. But this is a woman who was asleep in her own bed. She was supposed to be safe. It’s hard to believe that anyone would do something like this. But someone out there knows.”
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call the Summerton Police Department at (803) 485-4385. Callers may remain anonymous.
