Hiawassee, Ga. – A Murphy, N.C., teenager with an online history of sympathizing with killers is facing multiple charges after a threat was made against Towns County Schools.
The investigation into Jeremiah Andrew Franklin Lloyd, 17, of Gwenmont Circle in Murphy, led law enforcement to filing additional charges concerning his involvement with a 14-year-old girl. His booking report shows Lloyd was arrested on Sept. 20 at the Dollar General store on Sunnyside Road in Hiawassee and charged with felony terroristic threats, disrupting public school, felony sexual exploitation of children, felony enticing a child for indecent purposes, child molestation and statutory rape.
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The Towns County Sheriff’s Office said in a release that Lloyd confessed to all charges during an interview. He is still being held without bond at the Towns County Detention Center.
This isn’t the first time Lloyd has been in trouble with the law, but his records as a juvenile are sealed.
It’s unclear if Lloyd was enrolled in school at the time of his arrest, despite posting online about attending class in the future. He said he went to Murphy High School in the ninth grade but was planning to attend Towns County High School next.
Lloyd is very active on TikTok, making posts almost every day, which eventually got the attention of local law enforcement officials. In the days leading up to his arrest, many posts sympathize with Colt Gray, the 14-year-old charged with killing four people and injuring nine at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., on Sept. 4.
All social media quotes are presented as written.
One of the pinned videos on his account, posted Sept. 11 and titled “We Fight We Wont Stop,” has about 145,000 views, 6,000 likes, 2,000 comments and 700 shares. The caption says, “We won’t stop until Colt Gray gets the justice he deserves … When he needed help the most, nobody stepped up, and now he’s unfairly labeled as the bad guy.
“We will not allow his story to be silenced or overlooked. We stand firmly with Colt Gray, advocating for understanding and compassion in a system that often neglects its youth. Together, lets amplify his voice and strive for the change that is long overdue.”
His last post was made on Sept. 20, the day of Lloyd’s arrest. That post, a slideshow of two photos repeating, is titled, “I Love You bud.”
The caption reads, “Colt Gray is more than just a name in the news; he’s a person with a story that many may not understand … However, my relationship with Colt offers a different narrative, one filled with nuance and a deep understanding of the struggles he has faced throughout his life.”
An obit and an ad
An online search for Jeremiah Andrew Franklin Lloyd led to an item about him on the After.io memorial website, which is usually reserved for obituaries. It includes the seemingly inaccurate dates of April 20, 2004 – Nov. 3, 2023, and says his birthplace is Atlanta.
Under “Jeremiah’s favorite hobbies,” the website says, “Sports, hanging with friends, playing games and spending time with his kids.” Under “Interesting facts about Jeremiah,” it adds, “He was a pure soul that loved everyone and cared for anyone.” There are also seven photos, one that shows Lloyd with a middle finger extended to the camera.
That’s not the only odd item involving the teenager, who is still very much alive.
In early September, Lloyd came into the Cherokee Scout’s office to place a small display advertisement, calling himself an “inspirational speaker for youth” and encouraging readers to visit his social media pages. Since the ad met the usual standards, after he paid for it the ad was published in the Sept. 11 edition. It reads:
“As an inspirational speaker I help people over come anxiety depression, trauma and the juvenile system. In my YouTube video, I explain how to overcome those obstacles with 4 other teens from different counties. I also talk to people in person on mental health and how to overcome and refer them to amazing help without being judged. For my role, I do a lot of videos on mental health and my life story.”
At the time the advertisement was published, Lloyd was not facing any of the recent charges. According to longtime company policy, publishing a paid ad is not – and never has been – considered to be an endorsement on behalf of the Scout.
Family history
That wasn’t the first time Lloyd’s name was featured in the local newspaper.
The Jan. 19, 2022, edition of the Scout included the obituary for his mother – Shirley McClure, 54, of Culberson – who was found dead eight days earlier. Lloyd and his sister, Mycah, discovered her body, which authorities said was in an advanced state of decomposition.
An autopsy concluded that McClure died of asphyxiation from a USB cord wrapped around her neck. The Scout reported on July 31, 2024, that James Tyrone Smith, 57, was sentenced to 26-32 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. During the hearing, Mycah Lloyd called Smith “vile and disgusting,” while Jeremiah Lloyd called Smith a “cold-blooded killer” who will face a more punitive form of justice from other inmates.
On social media, Lloyd has called a man named Robert Barnhill his stepfather and claimed Barnhill was innocent of previous allegations against him. The Scout reported on Oct. 7, 2020, that Barnhill, 46, of Marble, was charged with incest, indecent liberties with a child, forcible rape and forcible sex offense; he was also charged with possession of methamphetamine.
A month before, Barnhill was the subject of a social media firestorm after an alleged admission of the crime appeared on his Facebook page; the post motivated some residents to drive to his property armed with weapons and demand justice. Despite the notoriety of the case, the Scout reported on March 9, 2022, that Barnhill only received 17-30 months in the N.C. Department of Adult Corrections.
On June 7, Lloyd made a TikTok slideshow post of a photo with Barnhill and the words, “I know your innocent but you’ll be home in 2026 I’m dealing with the same thing as u I miss u Popz.”
Mitchell Lloyd, Jeremiah Lloyd’s father, spoke proudly about his son in a Facebook post on Aug. 22, 2023.
“I gotta brag on my son … Today was his last day in the court system after 7 years and after being to jail multiple times and being on house arrest 3 different times and being on it for 2 and a half years and he is almost a year sober this September and now he has a little baby girl on the way,” Mitchell Lloyd wrote.
“I couldn’t be more proud of you and the way u have changed your life around me and your mom in heaven is very proud of u please stay on the right path son, dad loves you.”
Support of McKinney
A complex picture emerges from Lloyd’s social media, which at times is rife with misspellings and abbreviations, but at other times shows a more intelligent, thoughtful person. He showed compassion toward people who had been written off by many others as a lost cause.
Another person who fit that description is Shane Donovan McKinney, who was accused of shooting and killing mentor Johnny Mark Lowery on the evening of Sept. 7, 2018. The Scout reported that six shots were fired at point-blank range inside a vehicle in front of what used to be Nate’s Country Store on Andrews Road, all while a Murphy High School football game was taking place only a half-mile away.
A fundraising page set up for Lowery family is still active at gofundme.com/the-lowery-family.
The March 2, 2021, edition of the Scout reported that Superior Court Judge William Coward dismissed the felony murder charge against McKinney after several doctors determined he would never regain the mental capacity to proceed with a trial. Dr. George Corvin, a forensic psychiatrist retained by defense counsel, testified that McKinney believed Lowery was still alive and people in the jail were trying to kill him by poisoning his food, losing so much weight that it became a medical emergency.
In a TikTok slideshow posted Aug. 16, Lloyd defends McKinney, who was charged by the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office on July 29, 2024, with felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury and felony hit and run inflicting serious injury. Why McKinney was not still in a state facility receiving mental health treatment for his 2018 crime is unknown at press time.
Lloyd writes, “To my Big Brother Shane I don’t blame u for your actions I’ve done things Like u and it’s [because] we have so much anger built up in us And no one talks to us and when we get mad we wanna hurt people instead of [talking] thing out I got you 4L brotha I love you man.”
In a June 7 post, Lloyd posted a slideshow with two photos. The first being a screen shot of a WLOS article about McKinney being apprehended with Lloyd adding text reading, “Kuz to Kuz.”
The second photo is a screenshot of Facebook messages with McKinney dated Dec. 23, 2023, with Lloyd adding text saying, “I’m glad u out of prison and doing good u did what u had to do to survive Love u bro.” McKinney adds, “[Tell] your dad I should be up that way in a few weeks.”
Posts raised warnings
Lloyd made video edit compilations on Sept. 19-20 from the film Zero Day, which is based on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado that ended with 15 people dead and 24 injured. Two of these edits include sensitivity warnings placed there by TikTok.
In addition, Lloyd made an edit posted Sept. 18 of Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people and wounded 17 others on Feb. 14, 2018, at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Edits like these made for TikTok usually aim to praise the person the edit is about.
Lloyd has also made multiple other alarming posts on TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter).
On July 23, Lloyd posted a TikTok slideshow with two photos. The first photo was of him doing a peace sign and saying, “Don’t feel bad Wen My time Komes.”
His X posts on June 26-27 read, “Dead Or in Jail My only 2 Options I got wit da life I Live,” and “my Death date getting closer and closer, I can feel it.”
Lloyd was more focused on what could have been on April 29, when he posted a slideshow on TikTok that included a photo of him on the Murphy Bulldogs’ football team with text saying, “What if I woulda never stopped playing football.”
As of press time Tuesday, Lloyd’s TikTok account has 2,053 followers, which has increased since his arrest, with 46,400 combined “likes” across all of his posts.