Double slaying suspect has bond hearing on arson charge

Although the judge set a $25,000 surety bond for Montez Myhell Barker on an arson charge Wednesday., he will remain incarcerated because of the two counts of murder he faces in connection with the Sept. 1 shooting deaths of 32-year-old Talya Poston and 26-year-old Billy L. Hall of Florence.

By: Patricia Burkett | SCNow
Published: September 30, 2009

A Florence man accused of setting a slaying victim’s vehicle on fire in attempt to conceal the crime went before a judge Wednesday morning for a bond hearing on the third-degree arson charge he faces.

Although the judge set a $25,000 surety bond for Montez Myhell Barker, 25, of 1620 Pine St. Ext., he will remain incarcerated because of the two counts of murder he faces in connection with the Sept. 1 shooting deaths of 32-year-old Talya Poston and 26-year-old Billy L. Hall of Florence, Florence County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Nunn said.

Soon after the deaths, deputies found Poston’s green Ford Explorer parked off of First Street in east Florence and burned nearly down to its frame.

Investigators say Barker set Poston’s vehicle on fire after she and Hall were slain and left on Isaiah Street, a dirt road just off of Flowers Road near Pamplico Highway.

Barker, along with Laross Antonio Graham, 27, and Fonnelze Travis Delaine, 26, have been charged in connection with the case.

Graham, of 3020 Dawn St., was arrested near Pine Street in Florence after deputies, acting on tips, had been searching the area for him the afternoon of Sept. 11, Nunn said. Barker was arrested that same night near Gaillard and Kershaw streets in Florence.

Barker and Graham are charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Barker also is charged with resisting arrest, Florence County Detention Center booking reports show.

Both Graham and Barker have criminal records, according to State Law Enforcement Division reports.

Delaine was arrested the night of Sept. 16 off Hoffmeyer Road, near the Florence-Darlington County line, by Florence and Darlington county sheriff’s deputies, SLED agents and U.S. Marshals.

Delaine, of 2045 Belhaven Drive, Darlington, is charged with being an accessory before the fact of a murder, according to Florence County Sheriff’s Office reports.

Both Poston and Hall were well known in Florence and both were the children of local business owners.

Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said he thinks the slayings were drug-related. During the search for Delaine, deputies confiscated drugs, drug paraphernalia and made two drug-related arrests that aren’t linked to the deaths.

All three suspects remain in custody at the jail in Effingham.