Stories Of Abused Men In South Carolina

Criminal domestic violence — Horry County Crime Report 1999 Volume 3

November 2, 1999 — A 19-year-old man and 29-year-old woman argued at a Neely Drive residence in Conway because she said he looked at another woman. He said he grabbed her and threw her on the bed. She said he got a knife and told her to kill him. She tried to get away from him, but he cornered her. She grabbed the knife from him and stabbed him in the chest area. She said he had choked her. She was arrested and he was taken to the hospital, where he received two stitches.

Woman attacks ex-husband in Myrtle Beach

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Criminal domestic violence — Horry County Crime Report 1999 Volume 3

November 27, 1999 — About 5:10 PM, police responded to a domestic situation at 400 N. Ocean Blvd., Unit 806 in Myrtle Beach. When officers exited the elevator, they heard someone yelling for help. Officers entered the residence, which they found in disarray. Police found a woman on top of a man, hitting him and scratching him on the head and shoulders. She yelled at him, “I'm going to kill you!” The woman, who was intoxicated, was arrested for criminal domestic violence.

The fight reportedly started because the woman accused the man of having an affair. She became violent and tore apart the condominium. The victim called the condo's receptionist and asked her to call the police. The victim stated that they had been divorced for more than a year, but had kept in contact with each other after the divorce.

The woman, who is from Columbia, said they had agreed to meet at his condo for the weekend.

Domestic dispute leaves man with bloody nose in Myrtle Beach

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Criminal domestic violence — Horry County Crime Report 1999 Volume 3

November 28, 1999 — A 26-year-old woman said her 25-year-old boyfriend verbally assaulted her and spit on her at a Second Avenue South residence. He denied spitting on her. The man had blood coming from his nose, but she said this was because he yelled so loudly.

Myrtle Beach woman assaults boyfriend and police officer

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Charleston Post and Courier

Criminal domestic violence — Horry County Crime Report 1999 Volume 3

December 11, 199 9 — Police responded about 1:45 AM to 203 Second Ave. S. in Myrtle Beach after a wallet was reported missing. The wallet turned out to be lost.

When police started to leave, a woman and her boyfriend began arguing. The woman began cursing and shouting at her boyfriend and tried to assault him. When the officer stopped her, she hit him in the chin. The woman was taken to jail. She and her boyfriend were drunk.

Stories — 2000-2005

Mount Pleasant woman cut ex-husband, police say

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February 1, 2003 — A 35-year-old woman is accused of slicing off a piece of her ex-husband's scalp with an 8-inch butcher knife during a fight early Friday at their Heathland Way home, police said.

Helen Edgerton also is accused of striking his head with a glass vase, leaving a deep gash, police said. She was drunk when the incident occurred, police said.

Ms. Edgerton, a real estate worker, is charged with assault and battery with intent to kill. Magistrate Jack Guedalia set bail at $20,000 after her lawyer, Andy Savage, said that Ms. Edgerton would move from the home and get counseling.

Ms. Edgerton and her husband, Mike Edgerton, divorced in 1995 after three years of marriage, but began living together again in October by mutual agreement, police said. The Edgertons have two children, ages 9 and 10, Savage said.

Mike Edgerton, 50, told police that his ex-wife returned home at 2:20 AM, rang the doorbell several times and then left. She returned to the house a short time later and tried several times to get in, according to a police report.

Mike Edgerton let her in, and they argued in the kitchen, police said. He told police that she threw a vase at the back of his head as he walked away from her.

Mike Edgerton ran upstairs, but his ex-wife followed him and slashed him with a knife, police said. He struggled with Helen Edgerton, disarmed her and then ran from the house, said Detective Craig Harris.

Mr. Edgerton is 6 inches taller and 60 pounds heavier than his ex-wife, a police report said.

Officers found Helen Edgerton inside a car near the home, Harris said. The knife was found on the lawn of a neighbor's home, police said.

Domestic violence worker kills her whole family in Lexington County

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Abstracted from an article by Clif LeBlanc, Staff Writer

Police theorize depression led to murder-suicide — woman shot her infant son, mother, husband, and self, investigators say

Friday, May 2, 2003 — Tammie Lovett, a 27-year-old social worker in domestic violence for five years at Sistercare, was also a depressed, first-time mother who exploded under the strain of raising an infant, investigators said Thursday.

The violence that destroyed the family took about 10 minutes, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said, explaining a sequence of events he said are the investigators' best guesses from the evidence and neighbors' accounts:

• The shooting started at 1:45 AM in the quiet McGregor Downs Mobile Home Park just off Augusta Highway.

• Ms. Lovett got her .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol and fired twice at her son.

• Somehow, the bullets missed.

• So Ms. Lovett placed a pillow over the baby, who was face down in his bed, and pulled the trigger twice more. “The pillow, we think, was a dehumanizing thing,” Sheriff Metts said. “ She couldn't shoot the child straight on.”

• This time, she shot her 7-month-old infant son, Judah, in the head and back.

• The 27-year-old Tammie then gunned down her mother, Betty Lovett, age 53, who rushed in from another bedroom in the mobile home. Her mother had moved in two months ago to help with the child, and died of shots to the neck, stomach and head fired by her 27-year-old daughter according Lexington County Coroner Harry Harman.

• Wade Henley, Tammie Lovett's 28-year-old husband, never made it from the hallway into the master bedroom. Sheriff Metts said Henley was found dead near the back door from a single gunshot wound.

Things were quiet for about seven minutes according to a neighbor's accounts. Then came the last of what the neighbor described as nine loud knocks.

Tammie Lovett had put the large-caliber gun into her mouth. It was her final shot, the sheriff said.

Almost four days later, deputies found her sitting in a chair across the master bedroom from the crib, the gun in her hand.

Ms. Lovett kept guns and drugs

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The victims' family members told detectives the gun used in the murder-suicide belonged to Tammie Lovett, sheriff's spokesman John Allard said.

While officers haven't found documentation of a purchase, Tammie Lovett and Wade Henley liked going to gun and knife shows, Allard said.

A second gun, a .40-caliber pistol, was found in the glove compartment of Lovett's car, Allard said.

Inside the home detectives found open boxes of .380 ammunition and small amounts of crack cocaine and marijuana, the sheriff said. But investigators didn't yet know whether anyone had used drugs that night.

Sheriff Metts also said he believes Lovett had postpartum depression, but would not say whether Lovett had been diagnosed with the disorder or was taking medication.

The State staff writers Maurice Thomas and Rick Brundrett contributed to this article.

Story last updated at 10:30 PM Thursday, July 10, 2003.

Car strikes couple after fight at bar in Summerville

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by Glenn Smith of The Post and Courier Staff

Summerville police say attack is second in 3 days

Thursday, July 10, 2003, Summerville — A woman slammed her car into two people early Wednesday after a fight at a local bar, sending the pair onto the vehicle's hood and seriously injuring a man, police said.

The incident came just three days after another woman allegedly rammed her car into an ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend at a movie theater after a fight, killing the girl and critically injuring the other.

Summerville police Lt. Craig Legates said there is nothing to connect the two attacks, which have shocked this suburban community.

“It's just a horrible coincidence,” he said. “If you told me Sunday night before I went to bed that all this would happen, I would have told you that you were crazy.”

The latest incident occurred after a dispute involving several women at Meghan O'Malley's bar turned into a fight that spilled into the parking lot of the Bacon's Bridge Road club shortly before 4 a.m., police said.

Michelle Floyd, 29, of Summerville, climbed into her Honda Civic, said, “I'll settle this,” and instructed another woman to climb in with her, according to a police report. She then backed from a parking space, drove forward and struck Kenneth Campbell, 39, and Alison Hubbard, 23, police said.

Hubbard was involved in the dispute that broke out at the bar, and Campbell was trying to break up the quarrel in the parking lot, police said.

The two Summerville residents ended up on the hood of Floyd's car and traveled several feet before Campbell fell off and hit the pavement, police said. Hubbard rode on the hood through the parking lot before falling off at Bacon's Bridge Road and Stallsville Loop, a police report states.

When police arrived, Campbell was lying in the parking lot, bleeding from head injuries. He was taken to Trident Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition Wednesday afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Hubbard had cuts and scrapes on her knees and elbows but was not seriously injured, police said.

Her lawyer, Jim Brauchle, said Hubbard received numerous cuts and visited an emergency room for X-rays.

“She's pretty shook up, and she's kind of in shock that something like this would happen,” he said.

Police arrested Floyd and were finalizing the charges against her late Wednesday, Legates said. She was expected to have a bail hearing today, he said.

Police were trying to determine exactly how the pair ended up on the hood of the car, what sparked the fight and what role alcohol may have played in the incident, Legates said.

“It's a bar at 4 AM, so you can imagine all the statements we're getting,” he said. “We don't have a solid understanding of everything yet, and that's why we're taking our time. We have a lot of work to do to put it all together.”

Brauchle said Hubbard doesn't know Floyd or Campbell. He said he didn't know what prompted the bar fight.

“We're allowing the police to investigate and will let the details come out through their investigation,” he said.

No one at Meghan O'Malley's would discuss the incident Wednesday evening. The bar is a private club in a strip mall.

Jane Leeson, a neighbor of Campbell, described him as a helpful, caring man who lives alone and looks out for his neighbors. When Leeson's husband died, Campbell helped her with mechanical problems and other tasks. She was not sure what he does for a living, but said he has passion for racing a Chevy pickup truck he owns.

“It's tragic,” she said. “You couldn't ask for a better neighbor.”

Just three days before the incident, 17-year-old Cynthia Meagan Bowen and her boyfriend, Curtis Raymond Stock, also 17, were hit by a car outside of the Movies 8 Oakbrook theater on Ladson Road. Bowen died at the scene, and Stock is in intensive care at Medical University of South Carolina.

Rebecca Paige Oswalt, 18, of North Charleston, Stock's ex-girlfriend, remains in jail and could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Witnesses told Summerville police that Oswalt ran over the couple with her car as they walked down the sidewalk after a heated argument between Oswalt and Stock in the theater's parking lot.

“Obviously, the dynamics of these two incidents are completely different, but the coincidence is unreal,” Legates said.

Staff writer Phillip Caston contributed to this story.

Anderson woman kills man in domestic dispute

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Wednesday, October 29, 2003 (AP) — An Anderson man was shot to death in a domestic dispute. Ronald Lee Grant, 34, bled to death Friday after being shot once in the chest at the home he shared with Angela Marie Vaughn, county Deputy Coroner Don McCown said.

In an October 4, 2003, sheriff's report, Ms. Vaughn said Grant grabbed her wrist, twisted her arm, and held her to the ground during an argument. At her trial Ms. Vaughn claimed that she thought Grant was reaching for a gun when she shot him.

Prosecutors said blood patterns and the bullet's path indicated he was sitting on the couch when he was shot from the side.

On January 19, 2006, a jury convicted 39-year-old Angela Vaughn of murder after deliberating for four hours. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison after the two-day trial.

Three charged with trying to help woman cover up killing of her live-in boyfriend in Orangeburg County

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Reproduced under the Fair Use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.

March 24, 2004 — Orangeburg County sheriff's deputies say they have charged three people with helping a woman cover up the killing of her live-in boyfriend.

Sheriff Larry Williams says one of the suspects tried to help Carol Lee McCollum burn the home where she shot and killed Robert Lancaster. Williams says the other two suspects sheltered McCollum from officers.

All three have been charged with accessory after the fact of murder.

Deputies say Ms. McCollum shot Lancaster in the back while he slept last week.

Deputies say Sylvia Ann Murphy helped Ms. McCollum pour gasoline through the house and leave a pan of grease on the stove to ignite the blaze. Ms. Murphy also has been charged with attempted arson.

Deputies say Karen Nettles and John Hydrick Fogle hid Ms. McCollum from authorities after Lancaster's body was found.

Lancaster woman jailed in boyfriend's stabbing

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Reproduced under the Fair Use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.

April 6, 2004 — A 38-year-old woman was in jail Monday after police said she stabbed a man at her Pardue Street home over the weekend.

Rose Cunningham of 605 Pardue St. in Lancaster was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill. She was being held at the Lancaster County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond.

The 48-year-old male victim was flown to a Charlotte hospital but was later discharged.

Around 6 PM Saturday, Lancaster police officers found the man in Cunningham's kitchen with two stab wounds according to a report at the Lancaster Police Department.

He had two steak knife wounds the report stated, one in his upper chest, and one on his right side between the waist and underarm below his rib cage. The man was transported to Springs Memorial Hospital and then airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Officers saw Cunningham standing at the top of the stairs and arrested her, the report stated. Investigators in the case were unavailable Monday to comment on a possible motive.

Cunningham's older sister, Gina Cunningham, said the victim was Rose Cunningham's boyfriend for at least the last six months. “They got along good,” Gina Cunningham said.

Rose Cunningham has a daughter and volunteers at a Christian center in Lancaster, her sister said.

Contact Wendy Bigham at 329-4068 or wbigham@heraldonline.com.

Rock Hill woman pleads guilty in stabbing death of boyfriend

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Abstracted from The State.com

April 8, 2004, York (AP) — A Rock Hill woman pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter after prosecutors said she fatally stabbed her boyfriend.

Loretta Gordon Wilson, 39, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison in the July, 2003, stabbing death of 46-year-old Robert McClure.

Defense attorneys said Ms. Wilson was the victim of abuse and had to defend herself against McClure during a fight. Prosecutors said Wilson planned to kill her boyfriend, laying out three knives and telling witnesses she would get him.

Columbia woman, 64, charged with shooting, killing husband

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April 12, 2004 — Columbia Police say a 64-year-old woman shot her husband in the left shoulder during a domestic dispute on Sunday. He died at 11:30 AM at Palmetto Richland Hospital, and she is charged with murder.

Police say Marrie E. Goodwin shot Tommy Goodwin in the left shoulder at their home on Pine Needle Road in Columbia just after 11:00 AM Sunday.

Marrie E. Goodwin was arrested, charged with murder and taken to a hospital to check her mental state. She is being held in Richland County's Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

Greenwood County woman charged with homicide in death of her boyfriend

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July 8, 2004 — Deputies in Greenwood County have charged a woman with homicide in the death of her boyfriend.

A spokesman for the Sheriff's Office said 50-year-old Rose May Brown shot and killed her boyfriend, 63-year-old James Perrin Thursday, July 7^th , after an argument.

Ms. Brown called for help from a pay phone a few blocks from her house. When a deputy responded it was apparent something was wrong.

“One of our deputies did talk to her. She requested a ride to her residence (and) while he was speaking to her, it was determined something was not right,” said Investigator Marc Cromer, with the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said they found Mr. Perrin on the ground outside Ms. Brown's house on Cedar Grove Road with a gunshot wound to the head. They then took Ms. Brown into custody but don't know the exact motive for the shooting, or where the murder weapon is.

Investigators said it wasn't the first time they have visited the house. “Our uniform patrol has responded to that area for domestics...between the victim and the suspect in the past,” Cromer said.

VAWA immigration scam

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November 6, 2004 — I was arrested for pushing my girlfriend onto the bed after she was punching me and had pushed me up against the window. I thought the glass was going to break and I was going to fall through.

She then called 911 and I was arrested for criminal domestic violence and made to leave my home even though I was the one beaten up. I was out of my own house of 20 years for over two months and had to get a court order to reenter.

My (now ex) girlfriend is from Costa Rica and is presently getting her citizenship, and her son's (he was denied a visa previously), under “The Battered Spouse Clause” of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Also, I now have the victims awareness group and a Spanish group funding her war against me.

I am 54-years old and, other than a speeding ticket, have never been arrested or broken a law in my life. I've paid taxes for almost 40 years. She has never paid a tax dollar but she is now eligible for a grant of $25,000 from the State of South Carolina. Additionally, as far as the court is concerned, it's the State of South Carolina versus. me.

Unfortunately, in South Carolina no judge can appear to be soft on domestic violence. All men so charged are guilty until proven innocent. But proving your innocence is practically impossible after being thrown out of your own home and denied access to virtually everything you own.

Did I mention she had a boyfriend across town?

As for me, I'm awaiting a jury trial for domestic violence.

Edward Eskesen

Stories — 2006-present

Charleston immigrant woman receives 10 years after murder for hire conviction

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WIS10TV.com

January 4, 2006 (AP) — A Russian immigrant in Charleston convicted of trying to hire a man to kill her former lover has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison.

44-year-old Victoria Yaitsky was convicted last June of plotting to kill Paolo Milinesky, one of her former employees. The man she tried to hire for $50,000 tipped off the FBI.

Yaitsky was sentenced in federal court in Charleston on Tuesday, getting the maximum penalty sought by prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Ms. Yaitsky was a doctor who emigrated from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia ten years ago.

Gray Court man shot, killed by wife

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WIS10TV.com

January 5, 2006 (AP) — A Gray Court man has been shot to death and Laurens County sheriff's deputies have arrested his wife.

Deputies were called to the home of 58-year-old Michael Tumblin Tuesday night.

Sheriff Ricky Chastain says emergency medical service workers treated Tumblin but he died a short time later. Coroner Nick Nichols says Tumblin died about 9:00 PM from a single gunshot wound to the lung.

57-year-old Judy Tumblin has been charged with murder. Chastain says the couple had argued before the shooting. Deputies found a gun they think was used in the shooting.

Belton woman accused of beating common-law husband to death with vacuum cleaner

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According to the March 1, 2006, edition of the Charlotte Observer, police have charged a woman with murder after the coroner said she used a vacuum cleaner to beat her common-law husband, then choked him to death. Evelyn Tina Pressley, 54, was arrested Sunday after police found Jerome Powers, 53, dead at the home the two shared in Belton.

A preliminary autopsy report shows Ms. Pressley hit Powers with the vacuum, knocking him unconscious, then choked him with her knee or hands, Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said.

Deputies noted that some of the vacuum's attachments might also have been involved.

Sumter woman pleads guilty to stabbing former boyfriend to death

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April 21, 2006 (AP) — A Sumter woman has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after she pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors say 21-year-old Shemeka Haynesworth stabbed 20-year-old Tyrell Bradley with a kitchen knife in the bedroom of another woman's home.

Ms. Haynesworth arrived at the woman's home on the night of the stabbing in August 2003 and found Bradley hiding inside.

Prosecutors say Ms. Haynesworth stabbed Bradley in the chest, piercing his left lung and heart.

York County woman gets five years in prison for threatening judge, other officials after domestic violence and assault convictions

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April 22, 2006 (AP) — A York County woman appeared set to get probation for threatening a judge and several officials until she told the judge that would be a mistake. He then sentenced her to five years in prison.

Brandi White, 28, is serving a 15-year prison sentence for threatening her probation officer after domestic violence and assault convictions.

She pled guilty but mentally ill Friday for making written threats against the same probation officer, as well as a jailer and Circuit Judge John C. Hayes III. Hayes sentenced her in the original case.

Public defender Melissa Inzerillo said Ms. White made the threats after she stopped taking her medication around the anniversary of the 2004 sentencing.

Camden woman sought in murder of ex-husband

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May 18, 2006 — Lexington County Sheriff's investigators are searching for a 50-year-old Camden woman who is wanted on arrest warrants for murder and possessing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the killing of her 62-year-old ex-husband on Wednesday night at his home on Bushberry Road near Pelion.

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts says investigators are working to find and arrest Ann Baxley Smith. The sheriff has requested assistance from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and US Marshals Service.

Lexington County deputies think Ms. Baxley may be in her hometown of Camden or in the area of her sister in Georgia

Investigators think Smith might be driving a gray or silver 2003 Ford F-150 extended cab pickup, with South Carolina license plate 736-PRU. Smith is described as 5'2” tall and weighing around 140 pounds. She has gray hair and hazel eyes.

Woodrow Smith was pronounced dead at Lexington Medical Center on Wednesday night. A Lexington County EMS crew had transported him to the hospital for medical treatment.

Woodrow Smith had been working in his yard when Ann Smith showed up at his home, Metts said. After being shot, Woodrow told a witness that Ann had shot him and asked the witness to call 911.

The victim's daughter says her father called deputies often about his ex-wife's behavior, “She constantly harassed us, threatening phone calls, threatening to burn our house down, kill us, left messages on machines threatening my daddy trespassing property at his job.”

Camden woman confesses to killing ex-husband

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May 19, 2006 (AP) — Police say a 50-year-old woman wanted in the shooting death of her ex-husband has confessed to killing him.

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts says Ann Baxley Smith has been charged with murder and possessing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Smith is scheduled to be in court Sunday for her first hearing on charges of murder.

Deputies say in Ann Smith's confession she said that after she shot her ex she tried to shoot herself, but the gun did not work.

Accused murderer Ann Smith was arrested at a relatives home in Millen, Georgia nearly 24 hours after the shooting. Investigators found a handgun at another relatives home near Millen and think it was used in the killing.

In a Georgia court Friday afternoon, Smith waived her right to an extradition hearing. She came back to Lexington County late Friday afternoon to face murder and weapons charges.

Ann Smith has a criminal background including a charge of domestic violence. That's something Sheriff James Metts finds unusual, “It's highly unusual you have a man. It's usually turned around and it's a woman in the case. You do have domestic violence cases on both sexes but more often on the female than the man.”

Sonya Smith said her father constantly called deputies about his ex-wife's irrational behavior. “She constantly harassed us, threatening phone calls, threatening to burn our house down, kill us, left messages on machines, threatening my daddy, trespassing property at his job.”

Neighbor David Hildebrand said the victim asked him to help build a gate at his driveway to keep out his ex-wife, “In a nutshell his ex wouldn't leave him alone. She was leaving notes at his home, sending letters in the mail.”

Hildebrand thinks the motive for the killing was jealousy. “Woody” Smith had started a new relationship. His girlfriend was inside his home cooking dinner when he was killed.

Ann Smith isn't the only person in trouble. Sheriff Metts says the relatives who tried to hide her in Georgia could also face charges.

Lugoff woman charged with hiding sister who is charged with murder

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June 2, 2006 — Deputies say 53-year-old Mary Linda Knight arranged for Ann Baxley Smith to get out of town, and then she hid the gun Smith used to kill her ex-husband, 62-year old Woody Smith.

Wife charged with murder in death of Shaw Air Force Base airman

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July 17, 2006 — A domestic dispute ended with a Shaw airman dead and his wife in jail. She says it was self defense, but authorities say it was murder.

Tech Sgt. Jaime Thomas was a military man for 13 years and also a father and husband. On Sunday, all that ended abruptly. His wife, Linda, is charged with murder after driving to the emergency room and telling officers she had stabbed her husband during a fight.

Sheriff Anthony Dennis says, “She stated that, you know, there was an altercation, that she had been struck several times, and that she picked up the knives pretty much to defend herself.”

Officers responded to the couple's Sumter home after a hang up call to 911. Officers kicked in the carport door and saw Jamie Thomas on his side. He'd been stabbed several times in the chest and back.

Officers say Thomas also had cuts to his arms, his shirt soaked with blood, and that they found a number of knives around his body on the floor.

Linda Thomas told investigators the knives were already in the den because she had been cleaning them earlier.

Sheriff Anthony Dennis says she told them that at one point her husband stopped fighting and went to the restroom, “It appeared that she had then followed him and stabbed him several times in the back.”

The sheriff is trying to figure out if the killing was pre-meditated.

Two of Linda Thomas' gym buddies can't believe the couple even had problems.

Her friend Frances tells WIS, “When her children are home, she rearranges her schedule around her children so she can be home with her husband and everything.”

At Shaw Air Force Base, the victim's coworkers are also confused, trying to cope. Major Bailey is trying to help his squadron, “I met with each member of my squadron this morning, had counselors and a chaplain on the site.”

The Air Force also appointed a liaison to help the Thomas family. The couple's two children are staying with relatives. As the sheriff points out, there's more than one victim in this case, “It's almost like, children losing both parents in this case.”

West Columbia woman charged with killing her boyfriend

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July 24, 2006 (AP) — A 35-year-old woman has been charged with murder in connection with the death of her boyfriend Sunday morning.

Beulah R Butler of West Columbia also was charged with possession of a knife during commission of a violent crime in the death of 33-year-old Tarquinius Leonard Russell of Columbia.

West Columbia police Chief Dennis Tyndall says officers responded to a domestic dispute call at Butler's home about two Sunday morning.

Russell was found with a stab wound on his right side, just below his arm. He died later at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital.

Columbia woman in jail after stabbing boyfriend

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August 13, 2006 — A Columbia woman was arrested Saturday night after trying to stab a man to death.

According to Richland County Deputies, the incident happened at 10:00 PM Saturday night at the Hunter's Way Apartment Complex located at 325 Percival Road, near Ft. Jackson. Officials say Forty-two-year-old Denise Dickens was arrested for stabbing her boyfriend, 37-year-old Lloyd Clark, in the leg.

Clark was transported to Palmetto Health Richland with non-life threatening injuries.

Dickens is currently in jail, facing charges of assault and battery with intent to kill.

Husband shot to death in Greenville, wife charged with murder

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WYFF.com

August 16, 2006 — A 54-year-old Greenville County man was shot to death early Wednesday morning and his wife is charged with killing him, deputies said.

Gracie Frazier Brown, 53, has been charged with murder in the death of her husband, Frankie Brown, Greenville County Sheriff's Lt. Shea Smith said.

Deputies said they believe an argument between the husband and wife led to the shooting at the home on Dobbins Ridge Drive at about 12:30 AM.

When deputies arrived, they found Frankie Brown had a gunshot wound.

His wife was taken to the Greenville County Law Enforcement Center and is being held without bond.

Woman charged with murder in Clover stabbing

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January 2, 2007 (AP) — A 32-year-old woman has been charged with the stabbing death of a man on New Year's Eve. York County deputies say Iris Gilmore and the victim, 35-year-old Carlos Latta, went to a Clover home around 8 PM Sunday with their 12-year-old daughter.

Investigators say Ms. Gilmore accused Latta of assaulting the girl, then got a steak knife and stabbed him in the chest.

Deputies say Iris Gilmore remains behind bars awaiting a bond hearing on a murder charge.

Pickens woman gets 15 years in prison for killing boyfriend

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January 25, 2007 (AP) — A Pickens woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her boyfriend with a knife.

Thirty-eight-year-old Tammy Cox pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter Wednesday, minutes before closing arguments in her murder trial.

Ms. Cox testified earlier this week that she was trying to protect herself and her children when she threw a knife into Michael Darrell Lusk's chest in 2005. Defense attorney Scott Robinson says Cox wanted to close what he called a “terrible chapter in her life and her daughters' lives.”

Prosecutor Lucas Marchant said Ms. Cox killed Lusk on purpose and gave three different stories to investigators.

Whitmire woman charged with setting ex-husband on fire

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February 23, 2007 (AP ) — A woman has been arrested after Union County deputies say she poured kerosene on her husband and set him on fire.

Sheriff Howard Wells says 51-year-old Magnolia Sims of Whitmire was charged Friday with assault and battery with intent to kill.

Wells says Ms. Sims told deputies she wanted her ex-husband, Leroy Hill, to die.

The 56-year-old Hill and Sims' 32-year-old brother, Thomas Chick, were both burned in the incident and taken to the Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia. Sheriff Wells says Mr. Chick was injured trying to help Hill.

A third man in the home escaped unharmed.

Woman pleads guilty in 2005 Myrtle Beach stabbing death of her boyfriend

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February 27, 2007 — A Middletown, Connecticut, woman was sentenced in Conway to 20 years in prison Tuesday for stabbing her boyfriend to death in Myrtle Beach.

Prosecutor Brad Richardson says Nearim Grace Blackwell pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Kenny Selim in June 2005.

Richardson says Ms. Blackwell initially lied to police about her name, but later admitted to stabbing Selim during a fight.

Bluffton man assaulted after writing on sleeping wife

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June 11, 2007 (UPI) — Words can hurt as a man found out when he was bitten by his wife after he scrawled profanities on her body as she slept.

Beaufort County sheriff's deputies said the woman was released from jail Friday following the donnybrook that broke out last week at a home in Bluffton, the Hilton Head Island Packet reported

The newspaper said that the unnamed woman woke up Thursday and found that her husband had written coarse words on her arms, legs, and back with a pen while she slept.

The husband told officers that his wife went ballistic over his handiwork, biting him on the stomach and back as they wrestled and then threatening to hit him with a board.

Piedmont woman peppered into submission after threatening with a knife

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July 23, 2007 — Rolled up windows and a car's locked doors were no help to a Piedmont woman Thursday as authorities attempted to arrest her.

Anderson County Sheriff's deputies used a small opening in a car window to cover Juela Maria Pate, 43, with pepper spray before unlocking a passenger door, according to a police report.

Ms. Pate is charged with resisting arrest and criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

Between 12:01 AM and 12:30 AM Thursday, Ms. Pate used a knife to confront residents at her home on 2231 Firetower Road in Piedmont, according to the report.

She was “threatening to kill everyone in the house,” and a man in the house used a cane to knock the knife from her hands, according to the report.

Belton woman accused of ramming boyfriend's truck in liquor store parking lot

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October 18, 2007 — Kelly Duncan of Belton is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing involving the charge of criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature at 10 this morning in Anderson County Magistrate Court.

The charge was filed on September 18 when Ms. Duncan, 40, was driving to court for another hearing.

She was behind her 28-year-old boyfriend, who pulled into the parking lot of the ABC store on Abbeville Highway, officials said.

According to a police report, she rammed her car into his truck.

Anderson woman guilty of domestic violence

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November 6, 2007 — A 39-year-old Anderson woman was ordered to pay $2,125 or spend 30 days in jail for hitting a 27-year-old man in his face and threatening to beat him with a baseball bat.

Krystal Powell, found guilty of criminal domestic violence, told Anderson Municipal Court Judge Hugh Welborn that Jay Hammerbacher shoved her head into a wall.

“All I done was push him in the face,” she said during a court hearing on Tuesday.

The incident was reported about 11 PM Monday on F Street in Anderson.

During an argument with Mr. Hammerbacher, Ms. Powell ordered him to let her out of a vehicle and that he should be gone from their home when she arrived or face a beating with a baseball bat.

Mr. Hammerbacher “hid all of the baseball bats so that she could not locate them” before opening the door and getting punched in his face, Officer Jade Burgin wrote in the report.

Divorce ignites violence against husband and deputy and leaves Anderson woman in custody

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November 20, 2007 — A domestic dispute caused by a request for a divorce has left a Honea Path woman in custody after she threatened to kill her husband and an Anderson County Sheriff's deputy who tried to stop her.

Susan Elizabeth Meredith, 48, was arrested about 7:30 AM Friday at her home on Amity Road.

According to records at the Anderson County Detention Center, Mrs. Meredith is charged with second-degree burglary, criminal domestic violence, assault and battery and resisting arrest. She is being held under an $18,000 property bond.

After Mark Meredith, 41, asked his wife for a divorce, the 115-pound Mrs. Meredith reportedly pursued her 230-pound husband to a neighbor's house. There she allegedly kicked in the door and made additional threats to kill him. She also asked the neighbor to kill Mr. Meredith, according to the incident report.

In his report, Deputy A. D. Hendrix said Mrs. Meredith punched him in the chest and then hit her husband in the face before the deputy tackled her.

“She started kicking me in the shins and telling me that she was going to kill me,” Deputy Hendrix wrote. After she kicked the patrol car's bumper, window and roof, Deputy Hendrix used his Taser gun on her twice.

When another deputy used his Taser to keep Mrs. Meredith from escaping the patrol car, she reportedly told the deputy that she was “the walking dead and anything we do to her did not have an effect on her.” A fourth and final use of a Taser brought Mrs. Meredith to the ground, according to the report.

Richland County deputies say woman stabbed boyfriend during a fight

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December 12, 2007 — Richland County deputies have arrested and charged a woman who they say stabbed her boyfriend during a fight.

Trina Miller, 46, has been charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

The stabbing happened about 6 AM on E.L. Hunter Road off Hard Scrabble Road.

Deputies say Ms. Miller cut herself when she tried to force herself through a window of a home on the road. Deputies say she then got into a verbal fight with a a man inside who deputies say was her boyfriend.

According to investigators, Miller then stabbed her boyfriend. His injuries are reportedly non life-threatening.

Deputies say they still in the preliminary stages of their investigation, and they're not sure what the fight was over.

Girlfriend confesses to killing on-again off-again boyfriend on Christmas morning in Lee County

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December 28, 2007 — Lee County deputies have arrested Tippy Retana, 37, the girlfriend of the man who was found shot to death in his home Christmas morning.

“We weren't surprised of this outcome,” said Capt. J.D. Dillinger of the Lee County Sheriff's Office. “We were grateful that we were able to get a written statement and bring closure to this for the family.”

He was talking about the family of 30-year-old Kenith Wilson — Retana's on-again, off-again boyfriend and the father of her 20-month-old son.

“She indicated that this had been an ongoing domestic situation that just kept going until it just escalated to this tragic event on Christmas morning,” Dillinger said.

In a written confession, she told deputies that at about one that morning, she put both the baby and her teenaged son in the car, went back in the house and shot Wilson three times. Originally, though, she said she left the house because Wilson was snoring.

“She was just fearful and didn't know what to do and she took her kids and left and went back to her mother's and just thought and worried about what she was going to do and somewhere along the line that story came up, and she tried to stick with it,” Dillinger explained.

For two days, the only evidence investigators had from the house where the murder took place was the banged-up front door. They said Retana told them the killer must have kicked it in, but, during her confession, deputies said she said Wilson was the one who did it, just hours before she shot him.

Orangeburg County candidate for sheriff not guilty of criminal domestic violence

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March 25, 2008 — A jury spent less than 10 minutes on Monday deciding the fate of John Cokley, a candidate for Orangeburg County sheriff who was charged last year with assaulting his wife.

The former Orangeburg County narcotics captain was found not guilty of a misdemeanor charge of criminal domestic violence.

“I'm just glad it's over. To be the victim, and to be the one to get arrested, that is something hard to deal with,” Cokley said.

“Thank God the truth came out, and the jury saw that” he said. “The short time (deliberating) testified to that.”

Cokley kneeled down to pray after the verdict was handed down. As jurors filed passed, one leaned over the emotional former defendant to say, “It will be all right.”

As far as his campaign for the office of sheriff, Cokley said, “I'm leaving here right now to go pay my filing fees.” He later filed to run against Sheriff Larry Williams in the June 10 Democratic primary.

“When I'm sheriff, the way CDV cases will be handled will be different,” he said.

Last Friday marked one year since the 46-year-old Cokley announced his intention to seek office.

Six months after that announcement, on September 24, 2007, he was charged in connection with an incident in which his wife, Latisha Cokley, accused him of pushing her over an exercise machine and choking her.

Latisha Cokley, an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety officer, left the building within moments of the verdict being read.

The prosecuting attorney, Jim Bogle of the S.C. Attorney General's Office, said he wouldn't argue the verdict.

“We had a case that was fair, the judge was fair,” Bogle said. “The jurors did what they were supposed to do.”

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe turned the case over to the Attorney General's office for prosecution because of John Cokley's law enforcement background and potential to become the county's top law enforcement officer.

The charge stemmed from an altercation that occurred Sept. 23-24, 2007, between Cokley and his estranged wife, who left the home about 11 days prior.

“There's always two sides to a story,” defense attorney Carl Grant said during opening arguments. “There is a felony that happened in this incident, it's called assault and battery with intent to kill. When you throw a brick at somebody, that's assault and battery with intent to kill.”

Meantime, Bogle said in his opening statement that the assault was done by John Cokley.

“She gets shoved over an exercise machine, she gets choked,” Bogle said. “What does she do? She calls the police. That's what this case is about. It is our contention there was an assault.”

On the stand, Latisha Cokley testified that at sometime between 11 PM and midnight, she went to their jointly-owned home on St. Matthews Road to retrieve some belongings when she came upon Cokley and a woman he described as his spiritual advisor. That woman then left the residence.

“He came in and started calling me a stupid-a - - b - - - -,” Latisha Cokley said. “He said, 'I am running for sheriff. Don't you know that?' I said, 'To hell with you.'"

It was then the shoving took place, she said.

“I fell back over the chair, the machine,” Latisha Cokley said. “So I came up swinging.”

She contended her husband then choked her.

“One hand? Both hands?” Bogle said.

“Both,” Latisha Cokley said.

The conflict then spilled out into the front yard, where Latisha Cokley admitted to having thrown a large brick or rock through a car window as John Cokley attempted to leave.

Under cross-examination, Grant attacked Latisha Cokley's testimony, suggesting she actually may have made the first aggressive move. The resulting testimony may have been a pivotal moment in the six-hour trial.

“Did you swing at him with the intent to hurt him?” Grant asked several times before requesting an order from the bench.

“The witness will answer the question,” said Orangeburg County Magistrate Rita Brown.

“Did you swing at him to hurt him?” Grant repeated.

“You could say that,” Latisha Cokley said.

“Yes or no,” Brown said.

“Yes.”

Taking the stand himself, John Cokley testified the woman at his house was his brother's out-of-state acquaintance and a spiritual advisor who had parked her car at the Cokley residence during a football game.

During his closing arguments, Grant continued to hammer away at the prosecution's case by pointing out the photographs taken of Latisha Cokley's injuries to the inside of her arms the night of the incident.

“That represents a blow that is offensive,” Grant said. “When you have injuries to the outside, that is trying to block a blow.”

To the jurors, Grant specifically stated, “She wants to use you as a tool of vengeance. Don't let her do it.”

However, the state saw it differently.

“I'm going to submit to you that as tragic as this is for the Cokley family, that man committed a crime,” Bogle said.

Asked if he felt his wife should have been charged, the former Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office captain said, “I'm not going to comment on that. All I've got to say is the evidence was there.”

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

Aiken woman accused of hiring man to kill her husband

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April 25, 2008 — Aiken County deputies have arrested a woman they say was plotting to have her husband killed.

Margaret Stephens, 41, is charged with solicitation to commit a felony-murder.

Deputies say Stephens intended to hire someone to murder her husband. About a week ago, deputies say they learned of the plot from an independent source, then used an undercover agent to uncover the scheme.

Investigators say Stephens met an undercover investigator in the parking lot of the Save-a-Lot at the corner of York Street and Hampton Avenue in Aiken.

“Mrs. Stephens told our investigator she wanted the death to look like an accident and agreed to a price,” said Sheriff Michael Hunt said in a written release. “We gave her a chance to change her mind, but she chose not to do it.”

Deputies say the woman was upset about what they call a “family situation” and that she was trying to regain control of the family finances.

She faces up to 10 years in prison.

Lexington County woman charged with shooting and killing her husband

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WLTX TV

May 2, 2008 — Deputies say Lesley Dorn, 31, shot and killed her husband, 36-year-old Michael Dorn. She has been charged with murder.

The shooting took place just before midnight at an apartment on Riverbend Drive.

Mrs. Dorn called officers to say that her husband had been shot. When they arrived they found her kneeling over her husband's body.

Michael Dorn was pronounced dead at the scene. The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

Wife, another man charged with killing her husband in Myrtle Beach

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May 13, 2008 (AP) — The wife of a man found dead not far from his Horry County condominium has been charged with murder along with another man.

Authorities say 52-year-old Sherry Engel and 41-year-old Timmy Rogers were arrested in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, and are awaiting extradition hearings.

Police say they found Fred Engel's glasses and a pool of blood near his mailbox, then found his body in woods about 100 yards from his home in late April.

The coroner's office has not released how he died.

Marietta woman says Jesus told her to kill her common-law husband

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May 28, 2008 — A Marietta woman accused of killing her common-law husband told authorities her husband had used the Lord's name in vain too many times and that she shot him because “Jesus told me to do it,” according to court testimony Wednesday.

The afternoon of April 6^th 52-year-old Gary Parnell was found slumped over in a chair with a shotgun wound to the stomach in the home he and Ms. Redding shared on 172 Parnell Bridge Road in the mountains of Marietta.

Parnell's brother and grandson were outside Parnell's Marietta home when they heard a loud noise, then saw Redding running outside yelling, “I shot Gary, I shot Gary,” Tessitore said. The two found Parnell inside the home shot in the stomach, Tessitore said.

Donna Marie Redding, age 35, began quoting “all kinds of Scripture” and told investigators that she killed her husband, Gary Dean Parnell, after the two had argued over whether to play rock or country music and over who would roll a marijuana cigarette, Greenville County Sheriff's investigator Chris Miller testified in court.

In her confession, Ms. Redding told investigators that Parnell “is the devil” and that Jesus had told her to kill him, Miller testified during a preliminary hearing in which the prosecution presents for the first time a general outline of its case against a defendant.

“She was asked why he was the devil,” Miller testified. “She said, 'Because he says the Lord's name in vain.'”

Redding's defense attorney, Scott Robinson, asked Miller if anyone saw Redding shoot Parnell and whether any wiring cable that might have been used to threaten her was found at the desk where Parnell was found slumped over in a chair.

Miller testified that Ms. Redding told investigators that Gary Parnell had not made any threatening gestures before she shot him.

On the afternoon of the shooting Parnell's brother and great-nephew were working on unclogging a natural spring outside the home that was the source of water to the household, Miller testified.

The nephew went inside for a short while and saw Parnell working at his desk in a master bedroom welding wire, and both Parnell and Redding seemed fine, Miller testified. Fifteen minutes later, the nephew and brother heard a loud noise and thought Redding, who was known to burn garbage outside, might have thrown an aerosol paint can into a fire, Miller testified.

The two went in to check and Ms. Redding told them she had killed Parnell. When authorities entered the bedroom, they found Parnell with a shotgun wound to his upper abdomen, slumped over in his desk chair and his feet under a desk drawer, Miller testified.

On the bed were a shotgun and pellet gun and two shotgun casings, one spent and the other unused, he testified. Ms. Redding was then arrested and charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Chief Magistrate Diane Cagle ruled that prosecutors have enough probable cause that the charges should be passed along to a grand jury to consider indictment.

Donna Redding gets 18 years in boyfriend's slaying

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Abstracted from article by Eric Connor, Greenville News

Couple had spent day doing meth, she tells court

October 16, 2009 — Circuit Judge Ned Miller sentenced Redding to 18 years in prison after she pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for dropping a charge of murder in the April 2008 shooting of her common-law husband, Gary Parnell.

Before her sentencing, Redding told the judge that she feared Parnell whenever he became angry but that she loved him.

Redding told the judge that she agreed with the facts presented against her, except that “Jesus told me to do it.”

Prosecutors told the judge that Redding had been evaluated to determine competency and that her actions, including religious proclamations after the shooting, were a result of drug impairment and not insanity.

Newberry County woman accused of poisoning husband

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June 13, 2008 — A Newberry County woman charged with trying to murder her husband was indicted in Prosperity on charges of administering or attempting to administer poison on Friday.

Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said Mary Susan Brooks, of Prosperity, was arrested and charged with attempt to commit murder on February 24^th .

Investigators say the 60-year-old Brooks put some type of crushed medicine in her husband's drink.

On December 1, 2008, 8^th Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace, Mary Susan Brooks entered a guilty plea for attempt to poison. Investigators say Brooks tried to poison her husband, Mark Hanners, with some type of medicine.

Sheriff Lee Foster says friends of the couple reported Brooks was trying to poison Hanners' drinks at Marx Marina Bar and Grill, a business they own together on Lake Murray.

“She had told people she wanted to poison her husband through different medications she could get her hands on. She said she could probably make it look like a heart attack or stroke,” Foster said.

Hanners says he's still trying to figure out why his wife is out of jail after pleading guilty to trying to poison him. “I'm outraged. I can't see why nobody else is.”

Hanners told investigators he went to the doctor because he felt ill, but he recovered.

Brooks' five-year sentence on the attempted poisoning charge was suspended to 36 months probation.

“She didn't succeed and kill me so we slap her on the hands? What if I had died?” Hanners asked.

Hanners says his problems don't stop with Monday morning's decision. He has filed for divorce and worries about the future of his business.

Man stabbed with kitchen knife in Columbia, ex-girlfriend arrested

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September 7, 2008 — 20-year-old Whitney D. Howard is accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend Saturday morning at the Austin Woods Apartment Complex off Garners Ferry Road.

Investigators say Ms. Howard stabbed the man in the leg with a kitchen knife while arguing with him about another woman.

The victim was taken to Palmetto Health Richland with non-life threatening injuries.

Whitney Howard is being held at the Richland County Jail and charged with aggravated assault.

Spartanburg woman pleads guilty in plot to murder her husband

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September 24, 2008 (AP) — A Spartanburg County woman pled guilty to charges of conspiring to have her husband killed.

Angela Dawn Fowler, 38, faces up to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping, conspiring to kill her husband, and accessory after the fact of murder.

The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported that Circuit Judge Paul Burch agreed to delay sentencing Fowler until the end of Robert Lee Heydman's trial, which was to begin Wednesday.

Heydman is been charged with murder in the beating death of Angela Fowler's 34-year-old husband, Richard Craig Fowler.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette said Angela Fowler and Robert Heydman had become friends and she had talked about growing discontent in her marriage. Barnette said Heydman said he could take care of her problem.

Ridgeland woman gets prison after eighth domestic violence conviction

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October 9, 2008 — A Jasper County woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison for attacking her husband with pruning shears.

The Island Packet of Hilton Head reports that 40-year-old Eloise Simmons of Ridgeland was convicted this week of high and aggravated criminal domestic violence. It was her eighth domestic violence conviction.

Prosecutors said she stabbed her husband of 21 years just two days after being released from jail in August. His injury required six stitches.

A national report released last month ranks South Carolina second nationwide based on population in the number of women killed by men. Prosecutor Duffie Stone said the case shows that men can be the victims of domestic violence, too. [Gee, she might be waking up to the facts!]

Woman accused of hitting boyfriend with a car in Columbia

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November 23, 2008 — Richland County deputies say a 23-year-old woman is behind bars after she hit her boyfriend with a car early Sunday morning.

Around 2:00 AM deputies were called out to a home on Forestwood Drive in Northeast Columbia.

Authorities say that Princess Killingsworth hit her boyfriend with a vehicle. The victim, who was not identified, suffered a broken leg and was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Ms. Killingsworth has been charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and driving under suspension. Bond has not been set at this time.

Girlfriend accused of stabbing and killing her boyfriend in Columbia

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December 7, 2008 — Columbia Police have arrested a 19-year-old woman and charged her with murder after they say she stabbed her boyfriend Friday night.

Police responded to a domestic call at the Hampton Park Apartments on Blossom Street around 11:00 PM where they found 22-year-old Calvin R. Griffin, who had been stabbed in the upper body.

Authorities say Griffin was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

19-year-old Teagra Ann Perry has been charged with murder. Authorities say Perry and Griffin were girlfriend and boyfriend.

Ms. Perry is being held at the Richland County jail.

Stories — 2009-2010

Greenville woman charged in murder-for-hire case

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WISTV

June 11, 2009 (AP) — A 47-year-old woman faces charges after police say she tried to hire someone to kill her husband.

Vickie Lavern Walker of Taylors was being held Thursday at the Greenville County jail. She is charged with solicitation to commit a felony and conspiracy to commit a felony. No bond was set.

Authorities say they were informed that Walker was trying to find someone she could hire to kill her husband. An undercover officer posed as a person Mrs. Walker could hire and she was arrested after agreeing on a price.

Greenville woman charged with hiring hit man to hurt hubby after witch doctor fails

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Apparently the witch doctor was just taking too long.

August 10, 2009 (AP) — Multiple media outlets reported that a 71-year-old South Carolina woman has been arrested and accused of trying to hire a hit man to hurt her husband.

A police report states that Sieglinda Falk Bass of Greenville thought a Voodoo witch doctor was taking too long to put a spell on her husband, whom she accused of cheating on her.

An arrest warrant states Bass approached a man August 1, 2009, and offered him up to $500 to hurt her husband. The man went to police.

Mrs. Bass has been released from a Greenville jail on a $10,000 bond on a charge of solicitation to commit a felony. No telephone listing for her could be found and jail officials didn't know if she had an attorney.

For additional details see this article.

Gaffney woman charged with murder of boyfriend

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November 1, 2009 — A woman has been arrested and charged with murder after a stabbing early Sunday morning in Gaffney.

Cherokee County Sheriff's investigators arrested 50-year old Patricia Sprouse after she stabbed a man at a residence on Marietta Road. Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler identified the victim as 48-year old Michael William Carpenter, of 131-B Marietta Road in Gaffney.

In a prepared release, Fowler said that Carpenter sustained a fatal stab wound to the chest during an altercation at the residence around 5:30 AM and was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The victim and a reported live-in girlfriend were reportedly arguing when the incident escalated to violence,” Fowler said. “A female suspect was taken into custody at the scene by Sheriff's authorities.”

Fairfield County deputy dismissed after domestic incident

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November 10, 2009 — A Fairfield County deputy has been dismissed after a November 2^nd incident at her home in Ridgeway according to Sheriff Herman Young.

An incident report says 33-year-old Goya Price tried to grab her husband, 36-year-old Curtis Price, around the neck and hit him in the jaw.

Goya admits she got hostile when she thought her husband was cheating. “I know, I know it was a bad choice, bad decision,” said Goya.

Mrs. Price admits she dumped pink paint on her husband's military uniform and smashed out his windows, using a sculpture he brought her back from Iraq. The incident report says her husband called 911, saying Goya also tried to grab him around the neck and strike him in the jaw.

The report says Goya's fellow deputies handcuffed her and her husband.

The husband asked to press charges, then changed his mind. Officers did not separate the couple, and no one was arrested.

“I am human,” said Goya. “ I made a mistake.” The next day, Sheriff Young fired her. “For what took place and her actions, I do not see where that person should remain at the sheriff's office,” said Young.

“He said well, you're not going to be charged with anything, and we're just gonna have to let you go,” said Goya.

If Goya did not work for the sheriff's department, would deputies have charged her? Sheriff Young says no. “I did not give her any preferential treatment because of her being a deputy,” said Young. “We do not do that.”

When asked why her actions were strong enough to dismiss her and not arrest her, Sheriff Young reiterated that there was no special treatment. “They made a decision not to make an arrest and that's what I have to go on,” said Young.

Goya says she's bummed that she lost her job over this. As for her relationship, she says they're working it out and promises nothing like this will ever happen again. [Not a bet we would take!]

Salley woman pleads guilty in murder-for-hire plot

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October 7, 2009 (AP) — A South Carolina woman pled guilty to trying to have her estranged husband and his son killed at their North Carolina home.

The Aiken Standard reported that 42-year-old Judy W. Dickson of Salley pled guilty Tuesday to murder for hire.

Dickson admitted she agreed to pay a man $10,000 to burn the Shallotte, North Carolina, home of Raymon Dickson, and his son, Ryan Dickson, while they slept. The man alerted Raymon Dickson and the FBI.

Court documents state Judy Dickson wanted to collect the insurance and retirement savings of her husband.

She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Spartanburg woman tries to run down boyfriend with her car

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WYFF4.com

November 23, 2009 — Spartanburg deputies were called to the parking lot of Libby's Bar on Gossett Road just after midnight. The deputies said they found that a Ford Escort had struck a GMC Sierra pickup truck.

Deputies said the driver of the Escort, Kay Parks Jones, used her car to try to strike her boyfriend, Jason Chad Prosser, who was standing next to his truck along with Rodney Dewayne Harris. Both men were able to move out of the way of the vehicle, but the Escort did crash into the truck. The pickup truck sustained damage to the doors and the Escort's front bumper and hood were damaged. No one was injured.

Ms. Jones is charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and assault of a high and aggravated nature.

The criminal domestic violence charge was based on the relationship between Jones and Prosser. The other assault charge was given because Jones had no relationship with Harris.

Ms. Jones was released on a $10,000 bond.

Richland County woman sought after stabbing her ex-husband

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December 22, 2009 — Richland County deputies are searching for a woman who they say stabbed her ex-husband.

The incident took place Monday at a home on Base Hill Road near the town of Hopkins.

Deputies say 34-year-old Roshelle Jackson and her ex-husband had a verbal fight, and that the man told the woman to leave the home. Instead, investigators say she grabbed a knife and stabbed the man in the upper body.

Ms. Jackson is wanted on a warrant for criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

Wife arrested in Cowpens after shooting husband

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December 28, 2009 — Officers have a woman under arrest in a shooting that sent a man to the hospital. Spartanburg County Sheriff's Deputies said they found Timmy Joe Mullinax with a gunshot wound to the abdomen at a home on Foxfire Drive in Cowpens just before 11 o'clock Sunday night. After questioning, deputies booked Sondra Louise Mullinax, 41, Cowpens, into jail around 2 o'clock Monday morning.

Mrs. Mullinax is charged with assault and battery with intent to kill. Deputies have not given a motive for the crime nor have they released information on the victim's condition. Investigators say the couple have been married for two years. Deputies believe the shooting was a result of a domestic argument between the two. Timmy Joe Mullinax was transported to Spartanburg Regional for treatment of a single gunshot wound from a .357 handgun.

Sondra Mullinax's bond was set at $25,000. Timothy Joe Mullinax is in serious condition at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

Spartanburg woman charged with slicing boyfriend's privates with razor

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January 26, 2010 — Authorities on Tuesday arrested a Spartanburg woman accused of cutting the private area of her live-in boyfriend with a razor Monday night.

According to an incident report, Brenda Kelly Ferguson, 47, of 111 Hanover Place, Apt. 65, was charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature. Ms. Ferguson was booked at the Spartanburg County jail about 12:15 PM Tuesday. Online records show she was being held on $10,000 bond.

Spartanburg Public Safety officers responded to the apartment about 10:10 PM Monday.

According to an incident report, the 46-year-old victim said he put paper towels on the wound, pulled up his pants and ran to his mother's house so she could take him to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. The victim told police the wound required six stitches.

The report states Brenda Ferguson gave police a voluntary statement in which she told them her boyfriend, with whom she's lived for about five years, had been gone for three days. Ferguson said she suspected him of cheating on her, but the boyfriend came home and asked for oral sex.

Brenda Ferguson is accused of cutting the victim with a razor and telling him to go to the other woman. Ms. Ferguson told police she told the victim that he needed to go check himself and called 911 until the victim asked her to call his mother.

Ms. Ferguson said the victim asked for a beer and drank it while bleeding. He then asked for a cigarette as he was going out the back door.

Anderson policewoman on unpaid leave after being charged with criminal domestic violence

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WYFF4.com

April 18, 2010 — An officer with the Anderson Police Department was arrested late Friday night.

Anderson County deputies were called to a home on Poplar Lane in reference to a domestic incident. They said a man told them his live-in girlfriend, 28-year-old Sherrie Burdette, assaulted him.

According to an incident report, deputies saw a scratch on the man's neck and determined Burdette was the primary aggressor in the incident.

Deputies took Ms. Burdette into custody and charged her with criminal domestic violence.

Burdette is on administrative leave from the police department without pay.

The Anderson Police Department and the Anderson County Sheriff's Office are conducting separate investigations .

Rock Hill man stabbed, wife charged with stabbing him and filing false report

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July 13, 2010 — Police have charged a Rock Hill woman with filing a false police report in connection with the stabbing of her husband Monday night.

Kristen Whitesides, 27, faces the felony charge and possibly others in connection with the 5:45 PM stabbing of her husband, Keith Whitesides, 30, at their Yesebehena Circle Drive residence, according to a York County Sheriff's Office report.

Keith Whitesides was taken to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment after being stabbed in the chest and the arm. York County Sheriff's Office Lt. Mike Baker said the victim has a collapsed lung. His condition at the Charlotte hospital is not available.

Deputies met firefighters at Lesslie Fire Department on Neely Store Road Monday night where the met Kristen and Keith Whitesides, the report said. The Whitesides told police they came home from grocery shopping, and Keith Whitesides went to get the mail.

Keith Whitesides told police three young man approached him and asked for a cigarette, the report said. When he refused, he told police one of them punched him in the mouth. He said he struck back and was stabbed by one of the other subjects, the report said.

He said the men ran from the location, the report said. And Keith Whitesides then sought medical attention.

That differs from evidence at their house and witness reports, the report said. A witness told police there was blood inside the house and a knife on the floor. Another witness said he didn't see a fight at the mailbox outside the house.

Officers obtained a search warrant to search the house, the report said. The investigation shows information provided by Kristin Whitesides about three subjects attacking her husband was false, Baker said,

The incident remains under investigation. Kristin Whitesides could face additional charges, Baker said.

Winnsboro community development and grant administrator arrested for threatening to kill ex-husband and his fiance

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December 28, 2010 — A department director for the town of Winnsboro is in legal trouble after deputies say she threatened to kill her ex-husband and his fiancée

Connie Shackelford, 50, of Forest Hills Circle, was arrested December 28^th by Fairfield County Sheriff's deputies, serving a warrant issued from Columbia County, Georgia.

According to the police report, on Christmas day, Shackelford telephoned Antoinette Marie Greening, of Romeoville, Illinois, and told her, “My mission is to see you dead.” Greening is engaged to Shackelford's ex-husband, Vernon Scott Shackelford, of Martinez, Georgia, the report stated.

The report also said that Connie Shackelford threatened to kill her former husband and also sent a text message to his son, stating, “You need to spend some time with your father, because he won't be around much longer.”

She has been charged with terrorist threats and acts and is awaiting extradition to Columbia County, Georgia, to face those charges.

Mrs. Shackelford has been the Community Development/Grant Administrator for the Town of Winnsboro since late 2008.

Stories — 2011 to present

PIckens County woman kills her two sons, ex-husband, and stepmother for insurance money

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October 25, 2011 — A Pickens County woman killed her two sons, her ex-husband and her stepmother, then tried to make it look like one of her sons was the gunman.

PIckens County woman kills her two sons, ex-husband, and stepmother for insurance money

Susan Hendricks, 48, killed her sons Matthew, 23, and Marshall, 20, as well as her ex-husband and next-door-neighbor Mark Hendricks, 52, and her stepmother Linda Burns, 64.

Prosecutors say she had life insurance policies on all four people she killed in neighboring homes on October 14.

Investigators said Hendricks was in one of the homes the night the shootings happened. She told deputies her youngest son had been using drugs and was suicidal. Officers found a gun by his body, and Hendricks said he left her a note on the kitchen table.

This isn't the first time someone has been shot and killed in Hendricks' home. But in that case in April 2006 investigators ruled she acted in self-defense.

Hendricks admitted in April 2013 that she initially misled police about the crimes when she pled guilty but mentally ill to the murders in a plea deal that earned her life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sumter woman attacks husband with screwdriver

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September 25, 2013 — A Sumter woman is charged with criminal domestic violence after she attacked her husband with a screwdriver.

42-year-old Jerelene Pack Boatwright was arrested at her home on Naimah Lane Monday night after deputies were called to the home at about 10:30 PM. She is charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

According to the incident report, Mrs. Boatwright got into an argument with her husband after he accused her of infidelity. The Boatwrights' daughter told police her mother first grabbed a hammer and threatened to “beat the skin” off her husband.

The daughter also told investigators she used her cell phone to record video of the fight, and when Mrs. Boatwright tried to grab the phone away from her daughter, her husband tried to separate them and she attacked him with the screwdriver.

Mrs. Boatwright's husband was treated by EMS.

Richland County woman stabs her fiance on Christmas Day after argument over wedding color scheme

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December 25, 2013 — A man was stabbed Christmas Day after an argument with his fiancé over their wedding colors.

Sgt. Curtis Wilson with the Richland County Sheriff's Department said deputies responded to a home in the 100 block of Twin Pond Road around 8:30 PM near Blythewood and found the man had been stabbed in the upper body.

Deputies determined that a verbal altercation occurred between the couple over the wedding color scheme.

The man tried to leave the home and that's when 34-year-old Krysta James stabbed him.

The victim was transported to Providence Hospital by witnesses at the scene and then transported Palmetto Health Richland where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries, Wilson said.

Ms Krysta James was arrested and charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature. She was later released on $10,000 bond.

Branchville fire chief stabbed to death by his wife and two other women

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WACH Fox News Center

December 31, 2013 — Three women have been arrested in the stabbing death of the Branchville fire chief.

The State Law Enforcement Division says 40-year-old Melody Oakley was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder and conspiracy in the death of her husband, Branchville Fire Chief Alan Oakley.

Two Orangeburg women, 47-year-old Ann M. Anderson and 25-year-old Carrie Ashley Brown, were also arrested on the same charges.

Police say the 48-year-old chief was stabbed to death on Saturday. Arrest warrants say the three women “planned and carried out the murder of Alan Oakley by stabbing him in the neck resulting in his death.”

State police did not immediately respond to a question on if the women had attorneys, and warrants did not list that information. A judge denied bond for all three of them.

North Augusta wife kills her husband

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by WACH Fox News Center and other sources

September 2, 2014 (AP) — A North Augusta woman has been arrested and charged with killing her husband at their home.

Multiple media outlets reported that 59-year-old Deborah Morris was arrested Monday and charged with shooting and killing her husband.

North Augusta police Lt. Tim Thornton said officers were called to the couple's home around noon Monday and found 63-year-old Stephen A. Morris dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

When Mrs. Morris was asked by officers about what happened, she told them she and her husband were having marital problems, according to the North Augusta Department of Public Safety incident report.

Officers reportedly asked Mrs. Morris if she had found her husband in the condition officers found him in, and she stated “I actually did it”.

Deborah Morris also is charged with possession of a gun during a crime. It was not clear if she has an attorney. Reportedly the couple had been married nearly 40 years.

Thornton said investigators have not determined a motive in the shooting.

Isle of Palms woman charged in fatal shooting of husband

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