Daryl Martinez Lowry had been in a temporary McCormick County foster placement for four days before his July 20 death.

MODOC, S.C. — A 17-year-old faces a murder charge in the death of 13-year-old Daryl Martinez Lowry, who authorities say was cut with a knife during an altercation at a residential lake dock and then held underwater until he died while living in a temporary foster placement in McCormick County.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division charged Landen Austin Moore, 17, with murder on July 20 after the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office asked the state agency to take over the investigation. A second teenager, whose name has not been released because he is 16, was taken into custody by the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. The criminal investigation remains separate from a growing effort by Lowry’s family to determine why the boy was placed in the home, what state officials knew about it and how he was being supervised in the hours before his death.

According to an arrest warrant, Lowry, Moore and the 16-year-old became involved in a physical altercation at a boat dock in Modoc on July 20. Investigators said Lowry suffered knife lacerations during the confrontation. The warrant alleges that Moore and the younger teenager then held Lowry underwater, causing his death. The allegations have not been proven in court, and the publicly released information has not established what started the fight. Authorities have not announced a motive.

McCormick County deputies responded to the Modoc Shores area at about 7 a.m. and found Lowry’s body at the dock, according to local reports based on the investigation. The sheriff’s office requested assistance from SLED, which later said Moore had been booked into the McCormick County Detention Center. The 16-year-old was sent to the state juvenile justice system. SLED has described its investigation as active and ongoing, and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office is responsible for prosecuting the case.

The circumstances surrounding the home quickly became another focus of attention. Lowry had been placed there on July 16, just four days before his death, according to his family’s attorney and local news reports. The home belonged to McCormick County Council Chairman Bernard “Bernie” Hamby, who was serving as a foster parent. Moore and the 16-year-old were also reported to be foster children staying there. Hamby has not been accused of taking part in Lowry’s death, and investigators have not announced criminal charges against him.

Hamby later said he was heartbroken by Lowry’s death and expressed regret that the teenager’s short stay in his home ended violently. Reports have said Hamby was asleep when the confrontation took place. Lowry’s relatives and their lawyer, Tyler Bailey, have focused on whether the children were adequately supervised, how Lowry was matched with that placement and what information was available about the household before he arrived. Those questions are not resolved by the murder charge against Moore.

The family retained Bailey within days of Lowry’s death and began an independent investigation that Bailey said would proceed separately from the SLED criminal inquiry. He has said the family supports the prosecution while also seeking records and answers about the state’s placement decisions. The family wants to know who approved the placement, what was known about other children living at the home and who was responsible for supervising Lowry on the night he died. Bailey has also questioned why the 13-year-old was placed more than 100 miles from his home community in Chester County.

Those concerns became more public after Lowry’s funeral. At a July 31 news conference outside the Chester County Courthouse, relatives remembered him as a joyful child who was often smiling and laughing. His cousin and godmother, Sandrina Sanders, said the family was still struggling to process his death. Bailey said the boy’s relatives should have been preparing him for eighth grade rather than burying him. The family has not asked that its civil inquiry replace the criminal investigation; instead, it has said the two inquiries address different questions.

Bailey has also said records provided in response to the family’s inquiries have left gaps. He has sought information about Lowry’s placement as well as prior incidents associated with the foster home and the children who had stayed there. He has said the family wants to determine whether state social-services officials had notice of any earlier problems before Lowry was sent to McCormick County. Publicly available reports have not established that the South Carolina Department of Social Services knew of a specific danger to Lowry before his placement, and no such finding has been announced by investigators.

The sheriff’s decision to turn the criminal case over to SLED has added another layer to the scrutiny. Sheriff Chad Cox cited a conflict of interest involving the parties when he requested the state agency’s involvement, according to local reporting. The exact nature of that conflict was not publicly detailed. Hamby’s elected position as chairman of the county council has also placed the case before a local government already facing questions from residents, though his public office by itself does not establish wrongdoing in the foster placement or the death.

Public pressure continued a month after Lowry died. His relatives planned to address the McCormick County Council at an Aug. 18 meeting, but county officials canceled the session and said it would be rescheduled at a larger venue because of expected attendance connected to Lowry’s case and a separate controversial development proposal. Days later, a family member organized a protest in McCormick calling for accountability. Only a small number of people attended the protest, but organizers said they intended to continue pressing the issue at a future council meeting.

Lowry’s family has said its central questions remain unanswered: why he was placed in that particular home, why he was sent so far from his family and what supervision was in place during his brief stay. The publicly released criminal documents focus on the alleged actions at the dock rather than the decisions that put the children together in the home. No public finding has established that a placement decision or action by an adult caused Lowry’s death, and the family’s lawyer has described his review as an effort to determine facts rather than a substitute for the criminal prosecution.

Currently, Moore remains accused of murder, while the other teenager’s case is being handled through the juvenile system. SLED has not publicly announced a motive or a final investigative conclusion beyond the allegations contained in the warrant. Lowry’s family, meanwhile, continues to seek information about the foster placement and has indicated that its independent inquiry will continue alongside the state’s criminal case.

Author note: Last updated August 26, 2026.