NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – A South Carolina man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury found him guilty in a chilling murder-for-hire scheme that unfolded four years ago on the streets of North Charleston.
Quinton Taylor, 40, was sentenced to life in prison on charges of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, officials announced Monday. The verdict follows an intense trial that revealed a plot driven by meticulous tracking, damning digital evidence, and a contract arranged from inside a state prison.
The case centered on the killing of DeAndre Rivers, 27, who was ambushed just after 4:30 a.m. on May 6, 2020, as he left a friend’s house on Gullah Avenue. Investigators said Taylor, acting as a hired assassin, had spent days surveilling Rivers’ movements, even attaching a GPS device to his vehicle to monitor his whereabouts in the lead-up to the shooting.
According to authorities, security footage and witness accounts showed a black Dodge Ram pickup truck circling the crime scene hours before and immediately after the early morning gunfire. Detectives traced the vehicle to a rental agreement under Taylor’s name, complete with his contact information, ultimately connecting him to the events of that day.
Twelve hours following the slaying, Taylor was stopped in the rented truck. Inside, police found a cellphone, a black T-shirt, a purple Crown Royal bag containing a ski mask, and more than $11,000 in cash. The discovery deepened suspicions of Taylor’s role, and further digital forensics turned up a series of text messages sent before and after the shooting—including a terse message sent minutes after Rivers’ death that simply stated, “Done.”
As the investigation progressed, detectives learned that Taylor had not acted alone. Evidence revealed he was contracted by Darrell Williams, a 33-year-old inmate at Evans Correctional Institution, who allegedly orchestrated the hit from behind bars. Authorities said Williams coordinated a payment to Taylor through an intermediary, with cell tower data confirming the two met briefly in West Ashley only hours before Taylor’s arrest.
Crime scene investigators uncovered an unfired bullet at Taylor’s residence that matched the make and caliber of spent shell casings found at the site of Rivers’ killing, further tying him to the slaying.
Williams was charged late last month with accessory before the fact to a felony and was moved from the state prison to the county jail pending a court appearance scheduled for October.
The motive behind the orchestrated killing remains unclear, and authorities have not disclosed why Rivers was targeted.
Taylor, who has a history of previous convictions for burglary, weapons possession, and other offenses, now faces life in prison for his involvement in the deadly plot.
Loved ones remembered Rivers as kind-hearted and loyal, with passions for basketball, sneaker collecting, and travel. He was described as a devoted son and friend, soon to embrace fatherhood before his life was cut short.