NC man gets life in prison for Myrtle Beach area death. Victim’s body found in parking lot
A North Carolina man convicted of murder was sentenced to life in prison, according to the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
A jury convicted Marquis Shawn Brown, 32, of Fayetteville, on the charges Wednesday, a press release said.
Judge William H. Seals sentenced Brown to life, the maximum sentence allowed, the release said.
Brown was convicted of shooting and killing Mark Verhasselt, also of Fayetteville. Verhasselt was found shot to death in a parking lot on Bovardia Place, in the Myrtle Beach area, on July 10, 2018.
Brown out on bond for years despite additional arrests
Brown, while awaiting trial, had been out on bond since September 2020 following his June 2019 arrest. He returned to jail in February after violating the condition of his $150,000 surety bond with electronic monitoring.
However, Brown had been arrested twice before his bond was eventually revoked this year. He was arrested in September 2021 in Fayetteville for possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute marijuana and again in December of that year for trafficking in opium/heroin and other charges.
Victim’s body not found until hours after shots reported
The press release said that Horry County Police identified Brown within hours of the murder and had him in custody within days.
However, more than five hours elapsed between reports of shots fired and police arriving on the scene of the shooting death at the Myrtle Beach-area apartment complex.
Verhasselt, 42, was killed at a Magnolia North apartments parking lot. Verhasselt lived in the Myrtle Beach area on and off for several years, Deputy Coroner Michelle McSpadden previously said.
Police found him in the Wild Iris Drive complex, which is on the outskirts of Myrtle Beach.
Verhasselt was a person of interest in a Fayetteville Police Department disappearance case, Spectrum News reported in March.
Another man, Matthew Isaiah Rivera, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2022 for his role in connection to the murder. The North Carolina man pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to a murder.
