Human remains in backyard lead to confession and arrest 3 years later, SC cops say

Human remains found in the backyard of a South Carolina home belong to a man who went missing more than three years ago, a sheriff’s office said.

Now John Lucas Rice, a 21-year-old Shelby, North Carolina resident, is charged with the murder of Kevin Scott Brookshire, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

Rice is representing himself as of Sept. 22, court records show. His contact information was not immediately available.

Brookshire’s remains were found on Aug. 22 by Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies searching a home in Gaffney, South Carolina, with cadaver dogs, the sheriff’s office said in a Sept. 20 news release shared with McClatchy News. Gaffney is about a 45-mile drive northwest from Rock Hill.

On Sept. 15, the remains were identified as Brookshire, who had been missing from Chesnee, according to authorities.

“Investigators worked relentlessly to identify a person of interest in this case which led them to John Lucas Rice,” Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Mueller said in a statement.

After investigators picked Rice up in Shelby, North Carolina, the sheriff’s office said he “confessed” to killing Brookshire in December 2021.

He was arrested on a murder charge on Sept. 19, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies located Brookeshire’s remains after a tip from the Spartanburg County Cold Case Unit, the sheriff’s office said.

They learned Rice was accused of showing decomposing human remains in a trash bag to another person at the home in Gaffney, WHNS reported.

Deputies ultimately found parts of Brookshire’s body scattered in different locations, according to the TV station.

Rice, who was booked in the Cherokee County Detention Center, was denied bond at a Sept. 20 hearing, according to the sheriff’s office.

The connection between Rice and Brookshire is unclear.

The sheriff’s office said it “will not divulge a possible motive or provide any further information at this time due to the ongoing investigation.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Human remains in backyard lead to confession and arrest 3 years later, SC cops say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.