Remains belong to missing man
McClellanville man who led deputies to body charged as accessory in 8-year-old murder
The body of Ala Hassan Sarhan lay undisturbed in the trunk of his own car at the bottom of Wambaw Creek in McClellanville for eight years.
Sarhan's body would have stayed in its murky grave and his disappearance would have remained a mystery if Mount Pleasant police hadn't picked up a McClellanville man on traffic charges last month.
Jason Ward Cumbee, 28, wanted to make a deal, authorities said. He told police he knew about a drug-money homicide that happened eight years ago. He said he knew who pulled the trigger and where the body had been dumped.
On July 2, Charleston County Sheriff's Office divers found Sarhan's car just where Cumbee said it would be. When the trunk was popped, detectives found skeletal remains later identified as Sarhan's.
On Friday, they arrested Cumbee as an accessory after the fact of murder. Detectives said Cumbee helped push Sarhan's car into the water.
Jeffrey Michael Herrmann, 27, of Ladson, is charged with murder.
Sarhan was 31 when he disappeared. His girlfriend reported him missing in 2000, Charleston County sheriff's Maj. John Clark said. Sarhan was from North Carolina but had a local address.
"It was always handled as a missing persons because we never got any new information," Clark said Saturday.
Affidavits filed Friday finally revealed details of what happened.
Witnesses told detectives that Herrmann owed Sarhan a substantial amount of money for past drug dealings and was unable to pay him.
Sarhan picked up Herrmann on U.S. Highway 17 in McClellanville between July 15 and Aug. 31 in 2000. Herrmann told a witness that he thought Sarhan was going to kill him, so he pulled a gun and shot Sarhan in the head.
Herrmann put Sarhan's body in the trunk of his car and contacted Cumbee to enlist his help in pushing the car down a boat ramp.
Eight years later, divers found Sarhan's car submerged in about 15 feet of water near a boat landing off Rutledge Road in McClellanville. An examination of the skeletal remains from the trunk indicated Sarhan was shot in the head.
Clark said detectives don't know anything about how Sarhan, an Iraqi national, arrived in the U.S. Charleston County clerk records show that North Charleston police arrested Sarhan on June 12, 2000, for assault and battery with intent to kill after he reportedly cut a man during a bar fight and tried to run over him.
Bail has been set at $25,000 for Cumbee. A circuit judge must set bail on a murder charge.
Reach Nita Birmingham at 937-5433 or nbirmingham@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
MRSCVS (anonymous) says...
All I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
August 10, 2008 at 12:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Cid95 (anonymous) says...
Pretty bizarre. I can remember several stories about cars being underwater and unnoticed for long(ish) periods of time at boat landings. One was even at the busy Shem Creek landing several years ago.
It would seem boaters / fishermen / passersby would notice at low low tides, but I suppose it only takes 5' or so of water to conceal a car?
August 10, 2008 at 5:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MyMcClellanville (anonymous) says...
It sounds like this happened very close to Germantown and that McClellanville was used for easy reference, but is about 10 miles away.
August 10, 2008 at 6:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jeff61 (anonymous) says...
Looks as if justice was servered all around here.
August 10, 2008 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
10216340 (anonymous) says...
According to the story, "Clark said detectives don't know anything about how Sarhan, an Iraqi national, arrived in the U.S. Charleston County clerk records show that North Charleston police arrested Sarhan on June 12, 2000, for assault and battery with intent to kill after he reportedly cut a man during a bar fight and tried to run over him."
So, here is my question about this.......Why was this Sarhan guy allowed to stay in the US if he is an iraqi AND was arrested for assault and batter with intent? Why wasn't he shipped back home instead of being allowed to stay?
Seriously, can anyone answer these questions. I guess I niavely assumed that once a nonUS citizen was arrested for breaking a law they where deported.
August 10, 2008 at 8:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SomeTruthPlease (anonymous) says...
I find it nearly amusing that the dipsh*t that gave the information, gave it to get some reduction on "traffic charges", and ends up being charged with Accessory after the fact. Interesting. Herrmann was only 19 when he killed Sarhan? An Iraqi dope dealer? There's a cheesy novel here, somewhere. I hope to hear more about this, and see photos of those involved.
August 10, 2008 at 9:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jeff61 (anonymous) says...
I thought the same thing also 102, he show have been deported back then. Probably would have taken out by either side by now anyway. Same here Sometruth, they must have been some hellish traffic charges to cop to accessory to murder charge.
August 10, 2008 at 9:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jeff61 (anonymous) says...
should have been deported....
August 10, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
I sure hope there is more evidence than this guy's word.
If this man is the person I think he is, then he was gone from this area for quite awhile. I can't remember exactly when he did leave, but it was sometime around or after the time of this murder.
August 10, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
PalmettoDP (anonymous) says...
Maybe it's supposed to read "trafficking" charges.
August 10, 2008 at 10:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Picky (anonymous) says...
Author: WHAT were the traffic charges that Cumbee was trying to avoid???
August 11, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justbeingme (anonymous) says...
Sounds like a TV murder mystery to me.....
August 11, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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