Man accused of killing person, setting fire may be connected to similar crime

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCBD) – A man accused of killing a person and then setting fire to a home in Summerville may be connected to a similar crime in a nearby community.

A bond court hearing was scheduled for Wednesday for Roger Levar Smalls. He appeared via video from the Dorchester County jail.

Smalls was arrested following a vehicle pursuit and faces a slew of charges including murder and arson.

Officers from the Summerville Police Department responded to a structure fire on Halcyon Drive on Tuesday morning. Firefighters entered the home and found a deceased individual.

Circumstances surrounding the fire and the suspicious-looking wounds on the victim raised some concerns. The victim’s vehicle was also missing.

Police sent out a BOLO for the vehicle, and the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office initiated a pursuit when the vehicle was located. Smalls was driving the vehicle.

Smalls confessed to murdering the victim on Halcyon Drive, according to police.

The coroner told the victim’s family that he would be releasing the victim’s identity during a press conference scheduled for Thursday morning, and the Moncks Corner Police Department will be on hand for that announcement.

Law enforcement sources tell News 2 that Smalls was also the prime suspect in a similar homicide that happened in Moncks Corner about two years ago. Authorities were unable to definitively connect him to the crime at that time.

Officials say the homicide he has confessed to is similar in nature to the Moncks Corner homicide two years ago, which is why Moncks Corner police will be at the press conference.

The judge during Wednesday’s bond hearing did not allow cameras in the courtroom. The hearing was quick.

Smalls was charged with murder, arson, first-degree burglary, grand larceny, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and desecration of human remains.

After reading those charges, the judge told Smalls that he would be denying bonding in this case. Only a circuit court judge or general sessions court judge can give bond for a murder charge.

Smalls has a November 12 general sessions court date.