Police in Virginia found a 5-year-old South Carolina child who had been missing since Thanksgiving Day. According to the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina, the youngster, Aspen Jeter, was found in Virginia at 12:40 p.m. Friday with her father, Antar Jeter, 47.
Antar was apprehended by US Marshals and Virginia authorities on warrants for murder and grand larceny secured by OCSO detectives. Antar is accused of murdering Aspen’s mother, Crystal Jumper. On Thanksgiving Day, police were asked to do a welfare check at a residence on Louise Drive in Orangeburg and found the lifeless corpse of the child’s mother.
The jumper was thought to have died on November 1 after being shot, according to WLTX, citing arrest warrants supplied by the OCSO. Antar was charged with murder after investigators found enough evidence that he killed Jumper with malice and forethought. According to the request, evidence from the accused’s West Columbia house also tied him to the shooting.
According to the publication, the warrant for grand larceny ranging in value from $2,000 to $10,000 stated that Antar grabbed the victim’s 2015 Mazda 6 and fled the scene soon after the shooting. Police were able to determine Antar’s whereabouts through ATM transactions.
They were able to trace Antar and Aspen down to a hospital parking lot in Danville, Virginia, with the help of US Marshals, according to NBC News. According to investigators, it’s unclear why they were there. Danville police say the father is being held for allegedly escaping justice. Extradition to South Carolina was a virtual certainty.
Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell declined to comment on whether police had discovered a motive in the suspected murder. He stated that detectives are unsure when she was slain. It is unknown where the 5-year-old daughter will be placed following her father’s arrest.
However, Aspen will remain with relatives, according to Justin Bamberg, the attorney for Jumper’s family. “Aspen will not become a ward of the state. We are going to make sure she’s with family,” the lawyer said, according to UPI.
Ravenell has assigned a patrol team with caring for Aspen until she can be reunited with family members. It is not known whether the suspect will face more charges in addition to the preliminary ones he is facing.