October 5, 2025 • 52 mins
In 2017, a beloved young man who had a remarkable comeback story was the victim of an evil trap. What he thought would be an innocent meet up with a young lady did not go as planned. His loving family frantically searched for him until the sinister plan was discovered.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
For over three hundred and fifty years, the state of
South Carolina has been the setting for some of the
most horrendous crimes ever committed. Some have gained global notoriety,
some have been forgotten, and others have been swept under
the rug completely. Now, two South Carolina natives and true
(00:26):
crime enthusiasts have teamed up to examine these heinous acts
in detail, giving their perspective of the evil that has
resided in the Palmetto State. You're listening to Carolina Crimes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two forty two.
I'm one of your hosts, Matt Hires, along with Danielle Myers,
and we're over the moon thrilled that you joined us
here today. Thank you so much. We appreciate all the
feedback on last week's episode. That crazy one out of
the nineteen twenties from Little Old Shavern, South Carolina, and
(01:06):
you said.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That's a local folklore in rock Hill. But I was like,
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Really rock Hill, but in York County. I mean a
lot of people from York have heard it, and you know,
people have heard their grandparents, great grandparents talk about it
through the years. And I was wisened up to it,
smartened up by my buddy Tim Jones. And the more
you go down the rabbit hole, you're like, wow, this
thing really drew national media attention.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well because it just gets weirder and crazier and you
never know what direction it's going to go into.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, and credit the law enforcement officers, you know, Sheriff
Quinn and also Frank Faulkner, the York Chief of Police
and doctor Burst. He was doing the best he could
there and Sharon and he was topped with a lot.
But yeah, they figured it out, and it too hard
(02:00):
once all the lions stopped.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And yeah, if.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Raf King would have shut up, he might have gotten
away with it. But the more he talked, the more
he just kind of proved himself to be dishonest.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Just couldn't help himself, couldn't.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Help himself, couldn't help himself. But if you haven't listened
to last week's episode, go back check that thing out.
It was a wild one for sure, and we've got
another wild one on tap here today in episode two
forty two. Before we get started, just want to say
a couple of things. If you're not alread following us
on social media, check us out on Facebook at Carolina
(02:34):
Crimes Podcast. Also over on Twitter at sc crimes pod. Also,
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little something you like about the show over on Apple.
What's you having for dinner? Your pet's names, you know
(02:55):
the drill. Also, if you're looking to support the show
and get some for fall, just had to get some.
My daughter and one of her roommates requested some and
I gotta get some for them, and head on over
to Carolina crimestore dot com. Got a bevy of nice wares.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
For you, nice paraphernalia.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So, Danielle, you let me know that this story was
gonna be from Beach Island, South Carolina. I think we've
only mentioned Beach Island in one previous episode, and I'm
gonna tell you about it at the end of my
little introduction of this place. And first things first, Beach
Island is not an island, So let me go and
(03:44):
throw that out there. Beach Island is actually an unincorporated
community It's located in achin South Carolina, over on the
western portion of the state. Two episodes ago we were there.
It borders Georgia across right across the Savannah River from
that horse country. We've given them long histories of Aikin
County before, but Beach Island itself. The origin of the
(04:10):
name Beach Island comes from more than likely the abundance
of beech trees in the area. That's b ee c
ch not like a beach. But it was probably called
Beach Highland, Okay, And over the years just mispronunciation, you know,
(04:34):
our tongue laziness we get into sometimes in the English language,
it transformed into Beach Island from Beach Highland. Now, originally
this was an agricultural community, grew corn, soybeans, wheat and
cotton up until the nineteen fifties when a Kimberly Clark
(04:55):
factory was actually built, providing much needed manufacturing jobs. That's
a big name, yes, and today the biggest employer for
residents of Beach Island is the Savannah River site. Of course,
like a lot of people in the region, that's just
a sprawling complex. Fascinating. I'd love to do a deep
dive into that one time. I don't know if there's
(05:16):
any crimes, but I just I'm interested in the makeup
of that place. Beach Island. It has a population today
of around fourteen hundred, and the most famous resident and
from Beach Island, South Carolina, had a forty acre sprawling estate,
was the Godfather Soul James Brown.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
That's where he was from. Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Know that, but we did an episode about him.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Well, I know, I just I guess maybe I forgot
that's possible, yes, but I seen to be.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Pressure James Brown. We one of our earliest episodes. It
was on Father's Day, and since he was a godfather soul,
we did all his his stories and crimes and tribulations
and he he was one interesting character. I think the
most interesting thing. You know, Yeah, James Brown broke a
(06:12):
couple of laws, he did some unsafe things. He did
some very bad things with you know, criminal or domestically
and uh. But the most wild thing out of that
story was his unwavering, undying friendship with stromp Ther. I
(06:35):
was like, do what and I didn't really. I was like,
I'm gonna take that with a grain of salt till
you started seeing pictures of them like hanging out and
browing down, like on the porch and stuff, and I was,
I was, like, James Brown and strom Thurmon seriously, But
I mean they got along, and I think that's wonderful.
I think that's great common they did. But just odd bedfellows,
(07:02):
it struck me as weird. But go back and listen
to that James Brown episode back in the archives. It's fantastic.
So Beach Island, Danielle, go ahead and let us know
what we're gonna be talking about today.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So at the beginning, right before we started recording, I
told you, I'm not sure of how to describe this one,
like kind of open it up a little bit, and
I said, up, maybe we could say it's a cautionary
tale of online dating communications, not completely knowing who it
(07:42):
is that you think you're talking to, because people can
portray themselves to be somebody. They can be anything on
the Internet, like Internet, all the dating apps, it is,
hook up apps. I mean, people can just be whoever
they want to be. And you think that you're talking
to one person and you're really talking to someone else.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, just cat I mean, Catfish is a whole show
fast TV show. Yeah, and we were bat and back
and forth about this, and I mean, I'm I guess
I'm old school, but with my my girls just cautionary
tale and around the house, I am a wealth of
(08:28):
misinformation when it comes to statistics, and I like to
excuse statistics kind of tongue in cheek around the house.
That's become what I'm kind of known.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
For, exaggerate a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, So I told my girls, I was like, hey,
online dating. I was like, I know, I host a
true crime podcast. Online Dating said ninety five percent of
the time you're gonna end up dead and ninety nine
percent of the time you're gonna end up right, So
be careful and just.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
And then you said that that's your thing, and.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Go for it if that's how you want your story
to end. But no, that's I don't know the statistics,
but I'm going to that's probably not true. Just trying
to scare them and trying to be a good dad
the best way I know how. Just be careful Online.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yes, scary, but no, there are people I do know
people who have met online and they're still to get
very successful. So it's not a yes, it's not all
bad It's just one of those like this is kind
of how I would possibly wrap this story up, is
like a cautionary tale.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, so that's it.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Just be aware.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, don't put that on the state. Now. Local podcasters
said ninety five percent of the people that go on
online dates get.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Murdered, and the quote Matt I did not say that. Yeah, yes,
so we'll start back a ways. So when Mark Keith
Williams learned that he was going to be a father,
like most people when they are an expected parent, he
was absolutely ecstatic and when his son, Julian was born,
(10:00):
he was ready to take on that role. For reasons unknown,
I did not see anything, hear, anything, read anything where
it explained how it came to be. But Markeith ended
up being a single father, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
And it's name's Mark.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Keith, yes, Mr Keith.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
And he decided, after living in Baltimore, Maryland for a while,
that he was going to move down to Augusta, Georgia.
He figured it would be a better place to raise
his son, and he had family there, his mother, his sisters,
so he would have a lot of.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Support and support system in place.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And Mark Keith moved down to Augusta, Georgia and eventually
ended up getting married. I didn't put remarried because I
don't know if he was married the first time, but
married to a woman named Brenda, and the two, along
with help from extended family, all helped to raise Julian.
He grew to I put a whopping five to one,
(11:02):
five to two. His sister said that he did not
suffer from little man syndrome. He was a very big personality.
And I think that that's funny because my dad was
five to three, yeah, and I'm five to four, and
so I'm like, I'm taller than he was. And people
think that's the craziest thing. But I can see that
(11:23):
because my dad's personality made up for his short stature.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
It sure did. It sure did. Now the five one
are we talking about?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Marquis Julian grew up to be. I said, a whopping
five to one, five to two. He was shortened stature, okay,
But they said that he had a personality that made
up for that, and he was very energetic. He was
always having fun. You just knew when he was in
a room. But at the age of seventeen, Julian's life
(11:52):
would take a drastic turn. One day, he you know,
being a high school kid, he was over at a
friend's house. There's a group of guys there and they're
all playing video games, and this other teenager shows up
who Julian did not know who he was. He probably
was a friend of somebody at the house, and it
(12:16):
was later described that Julian was getting the better of
this guy. Verbally, I would think it's kind of you're
probably just talking shit, you know, like you're playing video games.
You're like, oh, you're gonna I don't know what they're playing, but.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I don't know anything about that. Foreign to the.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Concept I am as well, But no, I just.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I love bantering back and forth.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah, I mean, it's with anything. And I think he
was just talking junk and just trying to hide, you know,
that's just that competition.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, apparently this person didn't read the room and did
not appreciate the fact that he was, in essence, getting
embarrassed in front of these people, and he pulled out
a gun and shot Julian once in the chest.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Uh. Julian was rushed to the hospital and directly into surgery.
His family was told that Julian had been struck in
his left ventricle of his heart and had about a
twenty percent chance of surviving. They said that most people
who have that type of injury die within minutes, but
(13:26):
Julian surprised everyone and made a full recovery. He was
in the hospital for a while, but he ended up
making a full recovery and was referred to his family
as the miracle child. Awesome, but he was not left
completely unscathed because he had such huge blood loss. He
did have delays in his cognitive and his motor skills,
(13:50):
and he had with that came short term memory loss.
His sister said that he would get in the shower,
come out, get dressed, and then a few minutes later ago,
I'm gonna go take a shower, like just kind of
forgot that he had done it. It was just I
think of fifty first dates, okay kind of thing, but
not to not to that extent, but there were little
things where he kind of needed somebody there, not to
(14:10):
fully care for him, but just to watch out for him.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Kind of peculiarities.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Yeah, I guess, little quirk. Well, this incident occurred during
Julian's senior year of high school, so he had missed
a lot of time and was probably not going to graduate.
It was going to be behind. But his aunt decided
to take on the role of tutoring him, and he
basically had to relearn the whole year all over again.
(14:39):
I mean, can you imagine, no, wow, your senior year.
I didn't want to do it the first time. I
definitely am not going to want to do it the
second time. But he did it, and he managed to
graduate with his class on time. And after graduation, he
decided he wanted to be a little bit more independent
and wanted to move out of his dad's house and
(14:59):
get his own place, and his dad thought that that
would be a good idea. He didn't move too far
from him and the family would still regularly check in
just to make sure that he was okay, but allowed
him his space.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, you know, and every young man needs that. That's
great that he could he could do that on his own.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, and he was, I mean fully aware. It's just
little things here and there that he needed help with.
And by twenty seventeen, Julian was twenty two at the time,
and things were going really well for him. He's thriving.
I don't know, I didn't see anywhere where it said
if he was going to school or not. But he
(15:37):
I think was working and he was thriving living on
his own, but that would soon change. And we're gonna
do a quick break so that I can get into
the big part of this and we can take this
break and then we'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
All right, folks, We'll be right back after this quick
word from our sponsors. Hi friends, Matt Hires here. One
of my favorite parts of bringing you Carolina Crimes each
week is spotlighting the many wonderful towns and communities within
(16:15):
our great state. And today I'm proud to encourage you
all to check out one of my personal favorites. Rather
on a road trip or a weekend getaway, discover Mullins.
Once a vibrant depot town and the former tobacco capital
of South Carolina, Mullins is a hidden treasure in the
PD region. Explore our offerings by savoring a cup of
(16:37):
coffee at our delightful coffee shop, enjoying lunch at any
of our charming restaurants, visiting Old Brick Square, and shopping
at our quaint retail stores, which include an antique market
located in a repurposed tobacco warehouse. Your visit would not
be complete without a stop at the South Carolina Tobacco Museum,
(16:57):
situated in the historic train depot in downtown Mullins, South Carolina.
Here you can explore various exhibits such as models of
tobacco plants at each growth stage, a blacksmith shop, a
log tobacco barn filled with cure tobacco, a farmhouse kitchen
showcasing vintage equipment, and a photo gallery highlighting contemporary tobacco practices.
(17:20):
The Mullins Room honors our town's origins and its swift
growth driven by the railroad and the tobacco industry. Additionally,
in late June twenty twenty five, the Reverend Daniel Simmons
Museum will open its doors to the public. Within the
Tobacco Museum, Reverend Simmons was one of the victims of
the Mother Emmanuel nine tragedy, and he spent his childhood
(17:42):
in Mullins and worked in its tobacco warehouses. Thanks to
a generous loan from his daughter Rose, we will exhibit
many of his personal belongings, including his beloved Bible. The
documentary of his life. One last breath will be continuously
streamed in the museum. It's for a road trip or
a weekend getaway. Mullins is a perfect place to visit
(18:05):
and a place to call home. Visit Mullins, South Carolina,
(18:29):
and welcome back to Carolina Crimes. Episode to forty two
out of Beach Island, South Carolina. And this young man,
Julian Williams seemed he's overcome.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
The odds, Yes, very much.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
He had a loving father who took him from Baltimore
down South Carolina, raised this young man.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
He's in Augusta, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
We want in Augusta, Georgia. I'm sorry raised this young man.
A senseless gun violence attack by another youth, something that
plagues our society to this day. I just read something
from a pastor friend of mine talking about youth and
gun violence, and it's just it's absurd, it is. But Julian,
(19:18):
he got shot and left ventricle of his heart, but
was able to survive and had a few complications, it
seems like, but was able to move out on his
own start an independent life. And that's where we left off.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Well. In March twenty fifth of twenty seventeen, twenty two,
year old Julian spent the night with his sister. The
two of them spent the evening, not the night. The evening,
the two of them hung out and went to a
local basketball game, and his sister said that she noticed
that he wasn't paying very much attention to the game.
He was mostly focused on his phone. Where she was,
(19:55):
he was texting some girl the whole time that had
his attention. Well, after the game, she dropped him off
at his apartment and then she went home. Well, because
of his accident at seventeen, Julian would have trouble sleeping.
I don't want to say he was insomniac, but he
would stay up late odd hours, just didn't fall asleep
(20:18):
like most people. And she was kind of the same way.
And so she said that they would kind of text
back and forth two three in the morning. I mean,
it seems weird, but it was a normal thing for them.
And she said that, you know, during that one night,
she decided to text him and he didn't respond, and
she waited about twenty minutes or thirty minutes and send
him another message and he still didn't respond. And you know,
(20:41):
it was three in the morning at this point. You
would think maybe he fell asleep, but she for some
reason was just nagging of it. Just seems unlike him,
but I'll hopefully just talk to him in the morning. Well,
the next morning, his sister still couldn't get in touch
with him, so she called her dad and asked if
(21:01):
he had heard from Julian, and you know, he said no,
he hadn't, and he tried to call and at this
point his phone was just going to voicemail, and the
dad figured he forgot to charge his phone, which is
something that I have done. And I wake up and
I'm like, why is my battery so low? And I'm like,
I didn't have this plucked then yeah, so he figured, okay,
his phone must be dead. So he decided to swing
(21:22):
by his apartment and check it out. I guess he
had a key, and he goes in and nothing looks
out of place, but he did notice food on the
counter on a plate, almost as if he was in
the middle of eating, and then like left quickly, and
it was apparent that Julian did not spend the night
at his apartment, so he thought that was a little
weird that he had spent the whole night out somewhere
he is twenty two, but they still worry about him
(21:45):
with certain things.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh yeah, even in the twenties, we keep worrying.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, you're a testament that doesn't end. Huh No, if anything,
it amps it up, I would think. Yeah, So Markeith
decided to get with the apartment manager and you know,
they said, we have video surveillance, so maybe they can
see about when he left, and it looked like he
left not maybe an hour or so after his sister
dropped him off from the game, and it was very
(22:13):
clear that he was standing on the corner and he
was waiting for a ride a taxi. It said taxi cab.
It didn't say like Uber or anything like that, So
that's it said. He was clearly looking waiting for his
ride to show up.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Now what year are we talking about.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
This is twenty seventeen, okay, so not too far away
Uber was popping off, Yeah, and he was, I guess,
decided to still use a cab, and so you know,
they were like, okay. So by then the family has
kind of come around and they're like, all right, what
can we do to figure it out? Because he's not
answering his phone and his aunt's like, well, what if
(22:47):
we try to go in the area it is called
Broad Street where he got picked up and see if
we can maybe hopefully find the person who picked him
up to see where they took him. So the family
goes down to this area and they're looking around and
they'd been there for a while and they're getting ready
to wrap it up and leave when they saw another taxi.
(23:07):
The ant flagged him down and the taxi driver, you know,
they get his attention, and they were like, you showed
a picture of Julian and said have you seen this guy?
Did you give him a ride? And he said, oh, yeah,
I remember that little guy. They're like, okay, so this
is the guy that gave him a ride. And he said,
(23:28):
I wonder what happened to him? And they were like what,
that's not a typical thing to say, and so they're like, well,
what can you tell us, Like where was he going?
Where'd you drop him off? Did he say what he
was doing? And he said he told him that he
picked Julian up on Broad Street and took him over
(23:49):
the bridge over the Savannah River into South Carolina to
Beach Island to a place called Spiderweb Road, and the
dry I ever said that. He asked, Julian, are you
sure this is the place, and he said yes, So
he goes, but I didn't feel right about it. But
this is where he wanted to go, and he dropped
(24:10):
him off. Anyways, the reason he didn't feel good about
this is because spider Web Road had a reputation. It
was very desolate. There were only a couple homes on
this road. The rest is just littered with abandoned trailers.
I would think, of course, there's like I think there
are people who might squad in them, probably trap house.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Drug use, trappy activity.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, so it wasn't very odd place for Julian to
go to, and that's why the guy was a little
you know, weird about it, especially the time of night.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, I want to get dropped off.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Well, they said there are no you know, there's no
gas stations, there's no stores, and if you're going there,
it's because you're looking for drugs or prostitutes. Like there's
just nothing good about being in that area, specifically at
that time of night early morning. Right, So his family
was very dumb struggles to find out why was he
(25:12):
in this area. We don't know why he would be
over here. But his sister was like, he's been texting
this girl last night. I wonder if he was coming
to meet someone. So the family piles into their vehicles
and they drove over to look for Julian in this
area where he was supposedly dropped off, and they Brenda,
(25:37):
the stepmom, said that Marquith went around and he is
he kicked indoors of all the abandoned trailers and was,
you know, looking through all the rooms calling his name.
They looked in nearby woods, they looked in ditches to
see if they could find him, and they didn't find anything.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Mark Heath is a good man. Oh I've never met
him here, but I mean he's doing all the things
a father should.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Well and he's not sitting back. And his wife was like,
he was constantly doing stuff. She's like, he didn't stop
because he knew that if he had to, if he stopped,
he would probably be too much in his own mind.
So he's like, well, I'm gonna, you know, be out
here doing what I can do. I know something's wrong,
and they did. It was a show on Discovery idea
(26:22):
about it. I kind of stumbled upon and yeah, you
can just I mean you can see, like you can
just tell in his voice in the way he is
like he just you know, radiated love for his son.
And he was gonna be like, well, I'm you know,
not just gonna sit back and wait for him to
come home. Well three days past before Julian was finally
reported missing. I know some people there are some things
(26:44):
about why did it take so long, But there are
a lot of people who do have this belief because
of TV and stuff that you have to wait forty
eight hours and then they're like, well, this person's an adult.
Maybe they wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I don't know. I mean, even though they didn't officially
report him, they were still actively out looking for him. Yeah,
(27:04):
And it wasn't until three days past that they were like,
this is this is something that's probably a little bit
bigger than what we can handle.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, we got to call the pros and.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
They ended up going to making an official missing persons
report at the rich Mund County Sheriff's apartment which is
in Augusta, and detectives spoke with a cab you know.
At this point, you know, they have even have a
show on A and E which I love. It's the
first forty eight those are the most crucial hours. At
(27:35):
this point, he's been missing for three days, so they're
already a little bit behind. So they got to get
as much as they can about Julia, what his last
movements were, and that's when they heard about the taxi driver.
So they spoke to him, and the taxi driver, you know,
gave his same account and he said, you know, he
he made multiple phone calls while he was in the
(27:55):
back seat, but apparently the person wasn't picking up. He
thought maybe it was an issue with his so he
even used my phone, but he never ended up talking
to someone. So they're like, all right, well, we don't
have his cell phone, but we can subpoena his cell
phone records, right, And that's what they did. And while
they were waiting for them to come back, Mark Keith
received a weird text message out of the blue from
(28:18):
a number he didn't know, and it read, I know
where your son at, but just his ex paid me
to kidnap him because he was talking to another female.
But I told him to meet me on Beach Island.
I beat him up and I made him walk home.
So his dad is thinking, all right, is he alive
(28:40):
and he's being held somewhere someone's doing something to him,
or is this somebody who's trying to throw me off the.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
End they get me to quit looking, and.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
They ended up taking this to the police department, and
detectives believed it was the latter. They were like we
They believed, without saying it to the family, that they
believe a violent crime had occurred and that this was
a person trying to turn the direction somewhere else. And
Detective Freeman of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was the
(29:12):
lead investigator on this case, and he ends up learning
that the number that texted Mark Heath that weird text
message was actually a spoof number. It was developed in
a program that allows you to send a message from
one number to someone else and make it look like
it came from another number.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I got you, some some unknown caller, Kendre Lacari kind
of yes.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I have not I probably don't blash me. I'm getting there.
It's new, but I have kind of figured out, you know, spoiler,
I think I did kind of get it. But yeah, yes,
but that no, but it's.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Like, that's wild that they even exist.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, I mean it's just I don't know. I guess, like,
is it one of those like I guess explained to me,
like I'm five, Is it one of those where you like,
somebody can make it look like a MAT's texting me,
But it's.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Really from my understanding, is you download an app, ye
through that app, it texts through that app from a
number that's not yours to hide your number, okay, which
is wild. And I mean, I know there's technology out
there called like local touch. That's what these spam callers
call from where.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
It looks like it's from a local area because you're
more likely to pick up if it's like an eight
hundred number, right, So.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Getting calls about loans you've been preapproved for from somewhere
in Delaware and it comes up Winnsboro, South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, I just don't, like, I don't know that number.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
And I've actually gotten some from Beach Islands up and
I'm like, what is this?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
It was my number? Yeah, So that was apparently like
all right, this isn't even a real number. And they
also learned that the number had been created on the
day that Julian went missing, and it was it stopped
being used a few days later, So then it's like, well,
this was made specifically for this person this purpose. Yeah,
(31:15):
it still doesn't answer who was the one that created
this number and lured which is what they believe now
Julian to this desolate road in Beach Island, South Carolina. Well, detectives,
the only thing that they really had at this point
was the person named Kenny Rooney or Ronnie. He was
(31:38):
the one that shot Julian back in twenty eleven. Okay,
so they're thinking, all right, so they learned Julian was
a witness at this guy's trial where this guy was
found guilty and he was he did serve jail time
because of it. So now did this guy get out.
That's a good motive for revenge.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, I mean again, but did you you pulled the trigger,
You controlled your actions. You got to be responsible, do
the crime, you do your time. All right, it's over.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Well, and you know a lot of people don't like
to take response responsibility, or they don't like the fact
that certain actions have consequences. Well, they were able to
quickly rule him out because he was actually incarcerated for
a different crime at the time Julian went missing. So
they're like, well it's not him, okay, but they just
(32:32):
you know, you gotta check all your boxes, you gotta
look everywhere you can.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
So this rooney guy maybe he did except responsibility. This
is clear that he's like, all right, it's squashed.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, he's like, I'm I'm in jail. I didn't do that.
So now they're back at square one. They've got this
spoof number. They're believing that this number was created for
this one purpose. Well, what they do know was, Okay,
apparently we think his sister said he's been texting this.
We believe that he was going out there under the
pretense of meeting with a girl, but he never spoke
(33:06):
to her on the phone. Through the phone wreckers, they
never saw where these two actually communicated on the phone.
It was all through text, which his dad's like, I mean,
I don't know why you're gonna go out and meet
somebody you didn't even talked to on the phone.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
But yeah, you hadn't heard her voice, shit or anything. Little.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Well, yeah, it's just I think it was just with technology,
like people want to FaceTime. I just I feel like
there's so many opportunities where text doesn't have to be
the only way that you communicate, but teach their own
some people that's what they prefer. No, Well, twelve days
had passed since Julian went missing, had been missing when
Detective Freeman discovered something. There was a photo on Julian's
(33:48):
phone that had been sent by this female, and it
was a picture of a female like she's sent like
this is what I look like. And one of Julian's
friends said that Julian had actually told him that this
is a girl who reached out to me. She's from Baltimore,
(34:09):
and that he was gonna go up with her, go
meet up with her, and it was actually the night
that he disappeared, so that again is verified. So now
they have a face, but they still don't have a name.
And Detective Freeman's hands were tied because he believed something
bad had happened, but that bad thing possibly happened in
(34:31):
South Carolina, which is outside of his jurisdiction.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Gotcha, that's where Beach Island comes.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
So that's where he's like, I can't I can only
do so much, So he enlisted the help of the
Akin County Sheriff's Office. An investigator, Chuck Kane, was very
familiar with Spider web road and knew nothing good could
come from someone going over there, and you all of
a sudden, here they've turned up missing. He's like hmmm,
(35:01):
He's like, this isn't this isn't a place that you
need anybody needs to be. So they got a crew
together and decided to go and use their resources. Detective
Freeman's there with his people and they're gonna do an
official search of this area. And this time they brought
out cadaver dogs. So they learned that Okay, the cab
(35:26):
driver had previously told them that he had driven down
the road he dropped Julian off at an abandoned trailer
before turning around and leaving. So the search began at
that trailer, okay, and both of the dogs are sniffing
the area, and they both end up making a beeline
(35:48):
around behind the trailer, and that's when the handler announced
that they hit on something. And we're gonna take a
quick break and see where this leads.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Well, we'll be right back after this quick word from
our sponsors, and welcome back to Carolina Crimes, Episode two
(36:30):
two and a story that took a dark turn. We
were all kind of anticipating that before the break young
Julian Williams like he had been lured out to a
not so reputable place on Beach Island or at Beach Island,
(36:52):
South Carolina, and his family, his father loved to so
much searching for him, and when they got the authorities involved,
he said, they brought the dogs out and did make
a discovery behind one of those abandoned mobile homes on Spiderwebroad.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Yes, and what they hit on was what looked to
be to law enforcement a shallow grave. And once on earth,
they found the body of Julian Williams. He was decomposed,
he was barefoot, and he had a gold wrist watch
(37:37):
on his wrist that matched the one that had been
described by his family, and it was apparent that he
had been shot. Shell casings were found at the scene,
but his cell phone was never recovered. An autopsy was
later conducted and it was determined Julian had been shot
once in the back of the head, which would have
(37:59):
killed him instant, and he also had two additional shots
to his body gosh. So then police had the task
that all law enforcement hates to have to do, which
is to make that death notification, and Detective Freeman was
(38:21):
the one that started this case, and he said he
wanted to be there when they told the family, and
he said, when we showed up, you could tell. I
think they knew what we were there for, but you know,
they still had to tell him. And it's one of
those mix of extremely upset that that's not the outcome
(38:41):
that you wanted, but a little bit of relief knowing
that he's been found. Yeah, And detectives go back to
the photo of the girl that had been sent to
Julian's phone, and they knew that he had been talking
to a girl texting to out prior to going missing,
(39:03):
and they were able to pull that number and it
tied to a young female who they brought in for questioning.
She told them that she had implied to Julian. You know,
they did talk previously, and she had implied to him
at one point that she was interested in a relationship,
and she had been to his apartment a few times. Oh,
(39:27):
and she was pregnant with his child, whoa She also
told them that I also I live in Beach Island,
not far from Spiderweb Road with my boyfriend and our
two children, oh dear, And she told them her boy
(39:53):
to Julian. No, I don't believe, so wow, And you know,
she told she did tell detectives that she had told
her boyfriend that she was pregnant and she thought, there,
you know, there was a possibility that it could be
this guy Julian's and she believed that her boyfriend was
responsible for Julian's disappearance.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, good for her for being honest and I guess
coming forward with that information.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yeah, And she told them that it was her boyfriend
was twenty four year old Antonio Simpkins. So detectives drove
to Antonio's home and they interviewed him there in their vehicle.
I know it was recorded. I don't know what determines
bringing someone down to the station versus I guess they
(40:45):
figured we might not have enough, but let's maybe go
to him and that'll help. And they asked him if
he knew who Julian was, and he said that he didn't,
but that he was being set up and his girl
was lying on him. Detectives tell Antonio, look, you're living
(41:06):
with your lady. Y'all have two kids together, and then
she comes to you and says she's pregnant and it
may not be yours that has to piss you off. Yeah,
and he said, I told her, you know, once this
baby's born, we're gonna get a DNA test. But he
wasn't gonna hurt a man over a woman. There were
(41:27):
plenty of fish in the sea, okay. And they're like, okay, well,
you know, can we look at your phone to see
if you've had any kind of correspondence. And he held
up his phone and showed it to him. He said,
you wanted to look at it, but he wouldn't unlock it.
And Detective Freeman's like, okay, so I can't just force
(41:51):
you to do that, but you know, he said I could.
He could charge He knew he could charge him with
murder if he could prove that he lured Julian into
South Carolina. Wrecked with a warrant, Antonio's phone was obtained
and after searching through it for three or four days,
they were able to find an app that Antonio they
believe thought that he deleted. I know, I've heard sever
(42:15):
these shows where people say when you think something that
you like is deleted is not deleted. It's stored somewhere
and you just have to have the right technology to
get it, which law enforcement does, and they were able
to locate the picture of the girl that Julian had
received on his phone, of who he believed he was
meeting that night.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
They were also able to determine the text to Julian
from the woman came from Antonio's phone. So on April
twenty sixth, just over months since Julian went missing and
was murdered, Antonio Simpkins was arrested and charged with first
degree murder and kidnapping. He was questioned again at Aikin
(42:59):
County Sheriff's apartment and in the interview, they told Antonio,
you know, the photo that was sent came from your phone,
but he said he wasn't the one that sent it.
So they decided to go a little bit harder on him,
and they, you know, they were like, dude, your girl
is messing around with you. She may be pregnant with
(43:20):
another man's baby, and she's throwing it into your face
and this made you mad, and you shot him three times,
so then it's not a question, it's a straight up accusation, right,
And that's when he said no. Julian grabbed the gun
and it went off.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
In the back of his head and he.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Said it was an accident, and they went so, because
it was an accident, you proceeded to shoot him two
more times, and he said, no, he didn't shoot him
any I mean it went off, but the autopsy had
already proven that that was not true. And then Antonio
said that he didn't mean for it to happen, but
(44:04):
he panicked, and he said afterwards he threw the gun
in a pond, but then he changed that story and
said he actually hid it in a shack that was
behind his grandmother's home, and he later ended up leading
law enforcement to the shed or the shack where the
gun was recovered. So detectives put together what they believe
(44:25):
happened that night. When Antonio learned about his girlfriend being
pregnant and it was possible that it was Julian's, he
developed a plan to get rid of him. He made
the spoof number, He got a photo online of a
random girl and began texting Julian, acting like a girl
from Baltimore wanting to meet up, and gave him a
(44:48):
specific address. That night, other people had testified that Antonio
had left his home several times and would come back
with friends and family, and the last time he came back,
he changed into all black clothes, got his gun and left.
(45:09):
The last thing the taxi driver saw was Julian walking
towards the trailer, and behind the trailer, Antonio was waiting,
armed with a handgun, and once Julian came around the back,
he was shot and killed. And this was clearly premeditated.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yes, I mean, that's the exact definition of premeditated.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Well, Antonio pled decided to plead not guilty, and he
went and he went to trial in April of twenty nineteen,
and after three days of testimony, Antonio was found guilty
of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison,
and he is currently at Broad River. In a twist,
(45:50):
during the investigation, when detectives were putting all this together,
they asked Antonio's girlfriend to take a pregnancy test, but
she refused and they later found out that she was
never pregnant. What and it did say that she never
faced any charges, which I put I think is a
(46:12):
little baffling.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I think, I mean, I don't know what you would
charge her.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
With, but that's I do believe that there was some
kind of relationship between her and Julian. They had spoken
that's where they ended up getting her number from. She
(46:38):
had been to his apartment. They had had some kind
of relationship while she was still continuing this relationship with
her living boyfriend. I don't know if there was a
possibility she thought she might be pregnant, or it could
have been maybe in that heat of the moment. Apparently
this her and Antonio had this history where they'd get
(47:01):
in a fight. Sometimes it'd get a little violent. They'd
been together for about eight or nine years, but they'd
split up it they'd always get back together. And you know,
sometimes when you get really mad, you want to get
someone to their core. You say something, even if you
don't mean it, just to just to get a reaction.
And there's the possibility she could have thrown that out.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Right, And that's kind of what I was thinking. Maybe
she wanted to end it with Antonio, didn't know a
way to. Maybe she wanted to make him jealous for
some reason. I don't We could sit here and spit
out hypothesis all day long, and.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
It could be a way of saying, you're not the
only person out there that wants me, But you know it,
there was some kind of relationship going on or had
been going on between her and Julian, but the pregnancy
was not a truth. I think it was something that
she just threw out. And unfortunately, you know him being
(47:58):
obviously it sounds like he's a reactive person. He doesn't
rationalize things right, took that to another level where he
felt that he needed to get rid of the competition.
I guess you could say, and I mean.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
You we talked briefly at the beginning, and it just
makes it. I mean, it's a terrible tragedy, but all
the more tragic. I mean, Julian's family, his sister dad
that we talked about. They loved him very very much. Yes,
they would go His father especially seemed like he'd go
(48:38):
to the ends of the earth like his son, and
even more so after the tragedy where he was shot
the first time and he pulled through. Yeah, just a
strong young man. And that's heart goes out with him.
That's wow.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
And I mean and his his dad did say, you know,
I mean, during this whole thing, they were kind of
out in the community, putting out flyers, talking to people.
So even though police were conducting their investigation, the family
was kind of doing their own thing. They weren't just
sitting by letting the police handle it. They were doing
what they could to help try to get answers. And
(49:20):
you know, his dad said. The good thing I get
about him pulling through with that first shooting was he is,
I got it, gave me five more years, and his
dad does have. He showed it. His dad does have.
He was able to get back and he kept the
wrist watch that Antonio, I mean, I'm Julian was found
with and in his grave and he was able to
(49:44):
keep that as a I guess memento is something.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
To hold on to to remember his son by.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Yeah, but it's and it's a senseless thing.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (49:57):
His dad had made some kind of comment where he's like,
I believe that with this, you know, him having these
these issues after the first shooting, I think that it
would be hard for him to rationalize that somebody would
be setting him up. You wouldn't look at it that way.
He would look at it.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
As that's it. I mean, that's far fetch When.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
You just say there's someone and I want to meet them.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
I mean, it's it's far fetched to think that, oh,
someone might be setting me up their prey.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Well, and you know, I don't think you have to
have any kind of you know, cognitive disability or anything
like that to to not have it run through your
head that, you know, because you don't want to believe
that somebody would be doing that. It was a very
innocent thing on his part, but unfortunately on Antonio's part,
(50:50):
it was not, and it was it was a straight
up He lured him there. It was completely intentional, and
fortunately they were able to find him and he was
able to be found guilty at.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
Least some form of justice. But then unfortunately that doesn't
bring you back.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
Yeah, it's sad, and they you know, they still remember
him like anyone does when you talk about these things.
But yeah, it's just a tragic end, especially to someone
who had such a tragic thing happened to them at
such a young age, being seventeen, and then you get
a second chance, and then somebody takes that from you.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Awful, awful. Well, you said it best at the beginning
of cautionary tale, use discernment, tell people where you're going,
tell people who you're going with. It goes a long way.
But Danielle, thank you for bringing that to us. Folks,
(51:51):
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
It' that's a heartbreaker. It is, and please pray for
that family still continuously. They've been through it, they've been
through it well. We appreciate you being here listening to
us this week. If you're not already following us on
social media, check us out at Carolina Crimes Podcast. Also
(52:14):
over on Twitter at sc crimes pod. If you're listening
on Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, please throw us
five star review, mash that purple subscribe button, tell us
a little something you like about the show. Also, if
you're looking to get into some hoodies or some warm
weather or cold weather gear, I am head on over
to Carolina Crimestore dot com. We'd greatly appreciate you checking
(52:37):
out the merch over there, and until next week, thank
you for listening to Carolina Crimes
For over three hundred and fifty years, the state of
South Carolina has been the setting for some of the
most horrendous crimes ever committed. Some have gained global notoriety,
some have been forgotten, and others have been swept under
the rug completely. Now, two South Carolina natives and true
(00:26):
crime enthusiasts have teamed up to examine these heinous acts
in detail, giving their perspective of the evil that has
resided in the Palmetto State. You're listening to Carolina Crimes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two forty two.
I'm one of your hosts, Matt Hires, along with Danielle Myers,
and we're over the moon thrilled that you joined us
here today. Thank you so much. We appreciate all the
feedback on last week's episode. That crazy one out of
the nineteen twenties from Little Old Shavern, South Carolina, and
(01:06):
you said.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That's a local folklore in rock Hill. But I was like,
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Really rock Hill, but in York County. I mean a
lot of people from York have heard it, and you know,
people have heard their grandparents, great grandparents talk about it
through the years. And I was wisened up to it,
smartened up by my buddy Tim Jones. And the more
you go down the rabbit hole, you're like, wow, this
thing really drew national media attention.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well because it just gets weirder and crazier and you
never know what direction it's going to go into.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, and credit the law enforcement officers, you know, Sheriff
Quinn and also Frank Faulkner, the York Chief of Police
and doctor Burst. He was doing the best he could
there and Sharon and he was topped with a lot.
But yeah, they figured it out, and it too hard
(02:00):
once all the lions stopped.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And yeah, if.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Raf King would have shut up, he might have gotten
away with it. But the more he talked, the more
he just kind of proved himself to be dishonest.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Just couldn't help himself, couldn't.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Help himself, couldn't help himself. But if you haven't listened
to last week's episode, go back check that thing out.
It was a wild one for sure, and we've got
another wild one on tap here today in episode two
forty two. Before we get started, just want to say
a couple of things. If you're not alread following us
on social media, check us out on Facebook at Carolina
(02:34):
Crimes Podcast. Also over on Twitter at sc crimes pod. Also,
if you're looking to support the show and want to
do so for free, if you're listening on Spotify, Apple iTunes,
Apple Podcasts, make sure to throw us a five star
review and mash that purple subscribe button. Tell us a
little something you like about the show over on Apple.
What's you having for dinner? Your pet's names, you know
(02:55):
the drill. Also, if you're looking to support the show
and get some for fall, just had to get some.
My daughter and one of her roommates requested some and
I gotta get some for them, and head on over
to Carolina crimestore dot com. Got a bevy of nice wares.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
For you, nice paraphernalia.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So, Danielle, you let me know that this story was
gonna be from Beach Island, South Carolina. I think we've
only mentioned Beach Island in one previous episode, and I'm
gonna tell you about it at the end of my
little introduction of this place. And first things first, Beach
Island is not an island, So let me go and
(03:44):
throw that out there. Beach Island is actually an unincorporated
community It's located in achin South Carolina, over on the
western portion of the state. Two episodes ago we were there.
It borders Georgia across right across the Savannah River from
that horse country. We've given them long histories of Aikin
County before, but Beach Island itself. The origin of the
(04:10):
name Beach Island comes from more than likely the abundance
of beech trees in the area. That's b ee c
ch not like a beach. But it was probably called
Beach Highland, Okay, And over the years just mispronunciation, you know,
(04:34):
our tongue laziness we get into sometimes in the English language,
it transformed into Beach Island from Beach Highland. Now, originally
this was an agricultural community, grew corn, soybeans, wheat and
cotton up until the nineteen fifties when a Kimberly Clark
(04:55):
factory was actually built, providing much needed manufacturing jobs. That's
a big name, yes, and today the biggest employer for
residents of Beach Island is the Savannah River site. Of course,
like a lot of people in the region, that's just
a sprawling complex. Fascinating. I'd love to do a deep
dive into that one time. I don't know if there's
(05:16):
any crimes, but I just I'm interested in the makeup
of that place. Beach Island. It has a population today
of around fourteen hundred, and the most famous resident and
from Beach Island, South Carolina, had a forty acre sprawling estate,
was the Godfather Soul James Brown.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
That's where he was from. Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Know that, but we did an episode about him.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Well, I know, I just I guess maybe I forgot
that's possible, yes, but I seen to be.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Pressure James Brown. We one of our earliest episodes. It
was on Father's Day, and since he was a godfather soul,
we did all his his stories and crimes and tribulations
and he he was one interesting character. I think the
most interesting thing. You know, Yeah, James Brown broke a
(06:12):
couple of laws, he did some unsafe things. He did
some very bad things with you know, criminal or domestically
and uh. But the most wild thing out of that
story was his unwavering, undying friendship with stromp Ther. I
(06:35):
was like, do what and I didn't really. I was like,
I'm gonna take that with a grain of salt till
you started seeing pictures of them like hanging out and
browing down, like on the porch and stuff, and I was,
I was, like, James Brown and strom Thurmon seriously, But
I mean they got along, and I think that's wonderful.
I think that's great common they did. But just odd bedfellows,
(07:02):
it struck me as weird. But go back and listen
to that James Brown episode back in the archives. It's fantastic.
So Beach Island, Danielle, go ahead and let us know
what we're gonna be talking about today.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So at the beginning, right before we started recording, I
told you, I'm not sure of how to describe this one,
like kind of open it up a little bit, and
I said, up, maybe we could say it's a cautionary
tale of online dating communications, not completely knowing who it
(07:42):
is that you think you're talking to, because people can
portray themselves to be somebody. They can be anything on
the Internet, like Internet, all the dating apps, it is,
hook up apps. I mean, people can just be whoever
they want to be. And you think that you're talking
to one person and you're really talking to someone else.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, just cat I mean, Catfish is a whole show
fast TV show. Yeah, and we were bat and back
and forth about this, and I mean, I'm I guess
I'm old school, but with my my girls just cautionary
tale and around the house, I am a wealth of
(08:28):
misinformation when it comes to statistics, and I like to
excuse statistics kind of tongue in cheek around the house.
That's become what I'm kind of known.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
For, exaggerate a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, So I told my girls, I was like, hey,
online dating. I was like, I know, I host a
true crime podcast. Online Dating said ninety five percent of
the time you're gonna end up dead and ninety nine
percent of the time you're gonna end up right, So
be careful and just.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
And then you said that that's your thing, and.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Go for it if that's how you want your story
to end. But no, that's I don't know the statistics,
but I'm going to that's probably not true. Just trying
to scare them and trying to be a good dad
the best way I know how. Just be careful Online.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yes, scary, but no, there are people I do know
people who have met online and they're still to get
very successful. So it's not a yes, it's not all
bad It's just one of those like this is kind
of how I would possibly wrap this story up, is
like a cautionary tale.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, so that's it.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Just be aware.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, don't put that on the state. Now. Local podcasters
said ninety five percent of the people that go on
online dates get.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Murdered, and the quote Matt I did not say that. Yeah, yes,
so we'll start back a ways. So when Mark Keith
Williams learned that he was going to be a father,
like most people when they are an expected parent, he
was absolutely ecstatic and when his son, Julian was born,
(10:00):
he was ready to take on that role. For reasons unknown,
I did not see anything, hear, anything, read anything where
it explained how it came to be. But Markeith ended
up being a single father, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
And it's name's Mark.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Keith, yes, Mr Keith.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
And he decided, after living in Baltimore, Maryland for a while,
that he was going to move down to Augusta, Georgia.
He figured it would be a better place to raise
his son, and he had family there, his mother, his sisters,
so he would have a lot of.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Support and support system in place.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And Mark Keith moved down to Augusta, Georgia and eventually
ended up getting married. I didn't put remarried because I
don't know if he was married the first time, but
married to a woman named Brenda, and the two, along
with help from extended family, all helped to raise Julian.
He grew to I put a whopping five to one,
(11:02):
five to two. His sister said that he did not
suffer from little man syndrome. He was a very big personality.
And I think that that's funny because my dad was
five to three, yeah, and I'm five to four, and
so I'm like, I'm taller than he was. And people
think that's the craziest thing. But I can see that
(11:23):
because my dad's personality made up for his short stature.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
It sure did. It sure did. Now the five one
are we talking about?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Marquis Julian grew up to be. I said, a whopping
five to one, five to two. He was shortened stature, okay,
But they said that he had a personality that made
up for that, and he was very energetic. He was
always having fun. You just knew when he was in
a room. But at the age of seventeen, Julian's life
(11:52):
would take a drastic turn. One day, he you know,
being a high school kid, he was over at a
friend's house. There's a group of guys there and they're
all playing video games, and this other teenager shows up
who Julian did not know who he was. He probably
was a friend of somebody at the house, and it
(12:16):
was later described that Julian was getting the better of
this guy. Verbally, I would think it's kind of you're
probably just talking shit, you know, like you're playing video games.
You're like, oh, you're gonna I don't know what they're playing, but.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I don't know anything about that. Foreign to the.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Concept I am as well, But no, I just.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I love bantering back and forth.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah, I mean, it's with anything. And I think he
was just talking junk and just trying to hide, you know,
that's just that competition.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, apparently this person didn't read the room and did
not appreciate the fact that he was, in essence, getting
embarrassed in front of these people, and he pulled out
a gun and shot Julian once in the chest.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Uh. Julian was rushed to the hospital and directly into surgery.
His family was told that Julian had been struck in
his left ventricle of his heart and had about a
twenty percent chance of surviving. They said that most people
who have that type of injury die within minutes, but
(13:26):
Julian surprised everyone and made a full recovery. He was
in the hospital for a while, but he ended up
making a full recovery and was referred to his family
as the miracle child. Awesome, but he was not left
completely unscathed because he had such huge blood loss. He
did have delays in his cognitive and his motor skills,
(13:50):
and he had with that came short term memory loss.
His sister said that he would get in the shower,
come out, get dressed, and then a few minutes later ago,
I'm gonna go take a shower, like just kind of
forgot that he had done it. It was just I
think of fifty first dates, okay kind of thing, but
not to not to that extent, but there were little
things where he kind of needed somebody there, not to
(14:10):
fully care for him, but just to watch out for him.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Kind of peculiarities.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Yeah, I guess, little quirk. Well, this incident occurred during
Julian's senior year of high school, so he had missed
a lot of time and was probably not going to graduate.
It was going to be behind. But his aunt decided
to take on the role of tutoring him, and he
basically had to relearn the whole year all over again.
(14:39):
I mean, can you imagine, no, wow, your senior year.
I didn't want to do it the first time. I
definitely am not going to want to do it the
second time. But he did it, and he managed to
graduate with his class on time. And after graduation, he
decided he wanted to be a little bit more independent
and wanted to move out of his dad's house and
(14:59):
get his own place, and his dad thought that that
would be a good idea. He didn't move too far
from him and the family would still regularly check in
just to make sure that he was okay, but allowed
him his space.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, you know, and every young man needs that. That's
great that he could he could do that on his own.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, and he was, I mean fully aware. It's just
little things here and there that he needed help with.
And by twenty seventeen, Julian was twenty two at the time,
and things were going really well for him. He's thriving.
I don't know, I didn't see anywhere where it said
if he was going to school or not. But he
(15:37):
I think was working and he was thriving living on
his own, but that would soon change. And we're gonna
do a quick break so that I can get into
the big part of this and we can take this
break and then we'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
All right, folks, We'll be right back after this quick
word from our sponsors. Hi friends, Matt Hires here. One
of my favorite parts of bringing you Carolina Crimes each
week is spotlighting the many wonderful towns and communities within
(16:15):
our great state. And today I'm proud to encourage you
all to check out one of my personal favorites. Rather
on a road trip or a weekend getaway, discover Mullins.
Once a vibrant depot town and the former tobacco capital
of South Carolina, Mullins is a hidden treasure in the
PD region. Explore our offerings by savoring a cup of
(16:37):
coffee at our delightful coffee shop, enjoying lunch at any
of our charming restaurants, visiting Old Brick Square, and shopping
at our quaint retail stores, which include an antique market
located in a repurposed tobacco warehouse. Your visit would not
be complete without a stop at the South Carolina Tobacco Museum,
(16:57):
situated in the historic train depot in downtown Mullins, South Carolina.
Here you can explore various exhibits such as models of
tobacco plants at each growth stage, a blacksmith shop, a
log tobacco barn filled with cure tobacco, a farmhouse kitchen
showcasing vintage equipment, and a photo gallery highlighting contemporary tobacco practices.
(17:20):
The Mullins Room honors our town's origins and its swift
growth driven by the railroad and the tobacco industry. Additionally,
in late June twenty twenty five, the Reverend Daniel Simmons
Museum will open its doors to the public. Within the
Tobacco Museum, Reverend Simmons was one of the victims of
the Mother Emmanuel nine tragedy, and he spent his childhood
(17:42):
in Mullins and worked in its tobacco warehouses. Thanks to
a generous loan from his daughter Rose, we will exhibit
many of his personal belongings, including his beloved Bible. The
documentary of his life. One last breath will be continuously
streamed in the museum. It's for a road trip or
a weekend getaway. Mullins is a perfect place to visit
(18:05):
and a place to call home. Visit Mullins, South Carolina,
(18:29):
and welcome back to Carolina Crimes. Episode to forty two
out of Beach Island, South Carolina. And this young man,
Julian Williams seemed he's overcome.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
The odds, Yes, very much.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
He had a loving father who took him from Baltimore
down South Carolina, raised this young man.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
He's in Augusta, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
We want in Augusta, Georgia. I'm sorry raised this young man.
A senseless gun violence attack by another youth, something that
plagues our society to this day. I just read something
from a pastor friend of mine talking about youth and
gun violence, and it's just it's absurd, it is. But Julian,
(19:18):
he got shot and left ventricle of his heart, but
was able to survive and had a few complications, it
seems like, but was able to move out on his
own start an independent life. And that's where we left off.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Well. In March twenty fifth of twenty seventeen, twenty two,
year old Julian spent the night with his sister. The
two of them spent the evening, not the night. The evening,
the two of them hung out and went to a
local basketball game, and his sister said that she noticed
that he wasn't paying very much attention to the game.
He was mostly focused on his phone. Where she was,
(19:55):
he was texting some girl the whole time that had
his attention. Well, after the game, she dropped him off
at his apartment and then she went home. Well, because
of his accident at seventeen, Julian would have trouble sleeping.
I don't want to say he was insomniac, but he
would stay up late odd hours, just didn't fall asleep
(20:18):
like most people. And she was kind of the same way.
And so she said that they would kind of text
back and forth two three in the morning. I mean,
it seems weird, but it was a normal thing for them.
And she said that, you know, during that one night,
she decided to text him and he didn't respond, and
she waited about twenty minutes or thirty minutes and send
him another message and he still didn't respond. And you know,
(20:41):
it was three in the morning at this point. You
would think maybe he fell asleep, but she for some
reason was just nagging of it. Just seems unlike him,
but I'll hopefully just talk to him in the morning. Well,
the next morning, his sister still couldn't get in touch
with him, so she called her dad and asked if
(21:01):
he had heard from Julian, and you know, he said no,
he hadn't, and he tried to call and at this
point his phone was just going to voicemail, and the
dad figured he forgot to charge his phone, which is
something that I have done. And I wake up and
I'm like, why is my battery so low? And I'm like,
I didn't have this plucked then yeah, so he figured, okay,
his phone must be dead. So he decided to swing
(21:22):
by his apartment and check it out. I guess he
had a key, and he goes in and nothing looks
out of place, but he did notice food on the
counter on a plate, almost as if he was in
the middle of eating, and then like left quickly, and
it was apparent that Julian did not spend the night
at his apartment, so he thought that was a little
weird that he had spent the whole night out somewhere
he is twenty two, but they still worry about him
(21:45):
with certain things.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh yeah, even in the twenties, we keep worrying.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, you're a testament that doesn't end. Huh No, if anything,
it amps it up, I would think. Yeah, So Markeith
decided to get with the apartment manager and you know,
they said, we have video surveillance, so maybe they can
see about when he left, and it looked like he
left not maybe an hour or so after his sister
dropped him off from the game, and it was very
(22:13):
clear that he was standing on the corner and he
was waiting for a ride a taxi. It said taxi cab.
It didn't say like Uber or anything like that, So
that's it said. He was clearly looking waiting for his
ride to show up.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Now what year are we talking about.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
This is twenty seventeen, okay, so not too far away
Uber was popping off, Yeah, and he was, I guess,
decided to still use a cab, and so you know,
they were like, okay. So by then the family has
kind of come around and they're like, all right, what
can we do to figure it out? Because he's not
answering his phone and his aunt's like, well, what if
(22:47):
we try to go in the area it is called
Broad Street where he got picked up and see if
we can maybe hopefully find the person who picked him
up to see where they took him. So the family
goes down to this area and they're looking around and
they'd been there for a while and they're getting ready
to wrap it up and leave when they saw another taxi.
(23:07):
The ant flagged him down and the taxi driver, you know,
they get his attention, and they were like, you showed
a picture of Julian and said have you seen this guy?
Did you give him a ride? And he said, oh, yeah,
I remember that little guy. They're like, okay, so this
is the guy that gave him a ride. And he said,
(23:28):
I wonder what happened to him? And they were like what,
that's not a typical thing to say, and so they're like, well,
what can you tell us, Like where was he going?
Where'd you drop him off? Did he say what he
was doing? And he said he told him that he
picked Julian up on Broad Street and took him over
(23:49):
the bridge over the Savannah River into South Carolina to
Beach Island to a place called Spiderweb Road, and the
dry I ever said that. He asked, Julian, are you
sure this is the place, and he said yes, So
he goes, but I didn't feel right about it. But
this is where he wanted to go, and he dropped
(24:10):
him off. Anyways, the reason he didn't feel good about
this is because spider Web Road had a reputation. It
was very desolate. There were only a couple homes on
this road. The rest is just littered with abandoned trailers.
I would think, of course, there's like I think there
are people who might squad in them, probably trap house.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Drug use, trappy activity.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, so it wasn't very odd place for Julian to
go to, and that's why the guy was a little
you know, weird about it, especially the time of night.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, I want to get dropped off.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Well, they said there are no you know, there's no
gas stations, there's no stores, and if you're going there,
it's because you're looking for drugs or prostitutes. Like there's
just nothing good about being in that area, specifically at
that time of night early morning. Right, So his family
was very dumb struggles to find out why was he
(25:12):
in this area. We don't know why he would be
over here. But his sister was like, he's been texting
this girl last night. I wonder if he was coming
to meet someone. So the family piles into their vehicles
and they drove over to look for Julian in this
area where he was supposedly dropped off, and they Brenda,
(25:37):
the stepmom, said that Marquith went around and he is
he kicked indoors of all the abandoned trailers and was,
you know, looking through all the rooms calling his name.
They looked in nearby woods, they looked in ditches to
see if they could find him, and they didn't find anything.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Mark Heath is a good man. Oh I've never met
him here, but I mean he's doing all the things
a father should.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Well and he's not sitting back. And his wife was like,
he was constantly doing stuff. She's like, he didn't stop
because he knew that if he had to, if he stopped,
he would probably be too much in his own mind.
So he's like, well, I'm gonna, you know, be out
here doing what I can do. I know something's wrong,
and they did. It was a show on Discovery idea
(26:22):
about it. I kind of stumbled upon and yeah, you
can just I mean you can see, like you can
just tell in his voice in the way he is
like he just you know, radiated love for his son.
And he was gonna be like, well, I'm you know,
not just gonna sit back and wait for him to
come home. Well three days past before Julian was finally
reported missing. I know some people there are some things
(26:44):
about why did it take so long, But there are
a lot of people who do have this belief because
of TV and stuff that you have to wait forty
eight hours and then they're like, well, this person's an adult.
Maybe they wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I don't know. I mean, even though they didn't officially
report him, they were still actively out looking for him. Yeah,
(27:04):
And it wasn't until three days past that they were like,
this is this is something that's probably a little bit
bigger than what we can handle.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, we got to call the pros and.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
They ended up going to making an official missing persons
report at the rich Mund County Sheriff's apartment which is
in Augusta, and detectives spoke with a cab you know.
At this point, you know, they have even have a
show on A and E which I love. It's the
first forty eight those are the most crucial hours. At
(27:35):
this point, he's been missing for three days, so they're
already a little bit behind. So they got to get
as much as they can about Julia, what his last
movements were, and that's when they heard about the taxi driver.
So they spoke to him, and the taxi driver, you know,
gave his same account and he said, you know, he
he made multiple phone calls while he was in the
(27:55):
back seat, but apparently the person wasn't picking up. He
thought maybe it was an issue with his so he
even used my phone, but he never ended up talking
to someone. So they're like, all right, well, we don't
have his cell phone, but we can subpoena his cell
phone records, right, And that's what they did. And while
they were waiting for them to come back, Mark Keith
received a weird text message out of the blue from
(28:18):
a number he didn't know, and it read, I know
where your son at, but just his ex paid me
to kidnap him because he was talking to another female.
But I told him to meet me on Beach Island.
I beat him up and I made him walk home.
So his dad is thinking, all right, is he alive
(28:40):
and he's being held somewhere someone's doing something to him,
or is this somebody who's trying to throw me off the.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
End they get me to quit looking, and.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
They ended up taking this to the police department, and
detectives believed it was the latter. They were like we
They believed, without saying it to the family, that they
believe a violent crime had occurred and that this was
a person trying to turn the direction somewhere else. And
Detective Freeman of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was the
(29:12):
lead investigator on this case, and he ends up learning
that the number that texted Mark Heath that weird text
message was actually a spoof number. It was developed in
a program that allows you to send a message from
one number to someone else and make it look like
it came from another number.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I got you, some some unknown caller, Kendre Lacari kind
of yes.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I have not I probably don't blash me. I'm getting there.
It's new, but I have kind of figured out, you know, spoiler,
I think I did kind of get it. But yeah, yes,
but that no, but it's.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Like, that's wild that they even exist.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, I mean it's just I don't know. I guess, like,
is it one of those like I guess explained to me,
like I'm five, Is it one of those where you like,
somebody can make it look like a MAT's texting me,
But it's.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Really from my understanding, is you download an app, ye
through that app, it texts through that app from a
number that's not yours to hide your number, okay, which
is wild. And I mean, I know there's technology out
there called like local touch. That's what these spam callers
call from where.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
It looks like it's from a local area because you're
more likely to pick up if it's like an eight
hundred number, right, So.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Getting calls about loans you've been preapproved for from somewhere
in Delaware and it comes up Winnsboro, South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, I just don't, like, I don't know that number.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
And I've actually gotten some from Beach Islands up and
I'm like, what is this?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
It was my number? Yeah, So that was apparently like
all right, this isn't even a real number. And they
also learned that the number had been created on the
day that Julian went missing, and it was it stopped
being used a few days later, So then it's like, well,
this was made specifically for this person this purpose. Yeah,
(31:15):
it still doesn't answer who was the one that created
this number and lured which is what they believe now
Julian to this desolate road in Beach Island, South Carolina. Well, detectives,
the only thing that they really had at this point
was the person named Kenny Rooney or Ronnie. He was
(31:38):
the one that shot Julian back in twenty eleven. Okay,
so they're thinking, all right, so they learned Julian was
a witness at this guy's trial where this guy was
found guilty and he was he did serve jail time
because of it. So now did this guy get out.
That's a good motive for revenge.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, I mean again, but did you you pulled the trigger,
You controlled your actions. You got to be responsible, do
the crime, you do your time. All right, it's over.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Well, and you know a lot of people don't like
to take response responsibility, or they don't like the fact
that certain actions have consequences. Well, they were able to
quickly rule him out because he was actually incarcerated for
a different crime at the time Julian went missing. So
they're like, well it's not him, okay, but they just
(32:32):
you know, you gotta check all your boxes, you gotta
look everywhere you can.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
So this rooney guy maybe he did except responsibility. This
is clear that he's like, all right, it's squashed.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, he's like, I'm I'm in jail. I didn't do that.
So now they're back at square one. They've got this
spoof number. They're believing that this number was created for
this one purpose. Well, what they do know was, Okay,
apparently we think his sister said he's been texting this.
We believe that he was going out there under the
pretense of meeting with a girl, but he never spoke
(33:06):
to her on the phone. Through the phone wreckers, they
never saw where these two actually communicated on the phone.
It was all through text, which his dad's like, I mean,
I don't know why you're gonna go out and meet
somebody you didn't even talked to on the phone.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
But yeah, you hadn't heard her voice, shit or anything. Little.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Well, yeah, it's just I think it was just with technology,
like people want to FaceTime. I just I feel like
there's so many opportunities where text doesn't have to be
the only way that you communicate, but teach their own
some people that's what they prefer. No, Well, twelve days
had passed since Julian went missing, had been missing when
Detective Freeman discovered something. There was a photo on Julian's
(33:48):
phone that had been sent by this female, and it
was a picture of a female like she's sent like
this is what I look like. And one of Julian's
friends said that Julian had actually told him that this
is a girl who reached out to me. She's from Baltimore,
(34:09):
and that he was gonna go up with her, go
meet up with her, and it was actually the night
that he disappeared, so that again is verified. So now
they have a face, but they still don't have a name.
And Detective Freeman's hands were tied because he believed something
bad had happened, but that bad thing possibly happened in
(34:31):
South Carolina, which is outside of his jurisdiction.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Gotcha, that's where Beach Island comes.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
So that's where he's like, I can't I can only
do so much, So he enlisted the help of the
Akin County Sheriff's Office. An investigator, Chuck Kane, was very
familiar with Spider web road and knew nothing good could
come from someone going over there, and you all of
a sudden, here they've turned up missing. He's like hmmm,
(35:01):
He's like, this isn't this isn't a place that you
need anybody needs to be. So they got a crew
together and decided to go and use their resources. Detective
Freeman's there with his people and they're gonna do an
official search of this area. And this time they brought
out cadaver dogs. So they learned that Okay, the cab
(35:26):
driver had previously told them that he had driven down
the road he dropped Julian off at an abandoned trailer
before turning around and leaving. So the search began at
that trailer, okay, and both of the dogs are sniffing
the area, and they both end up making a beeline
(35:48):
around behind the trailer, and that's when the handler announced
that they hit on something. And we're gonna take a
quick break and see where this leads.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Well, we'll be right back after this quick word from
our sponsors, and welcome back to Carolina Crimes, Episode two
(36:30):
two and a story that took a dark turn. We
were all kind of anticipating that before the break young
Julian Williams like he had been lured out to a
not so reputable place on Beach Island or at Beach Island,
(36:52):
South Carolina, and his family, his father loved to so
much searching for him, and when they got the authorities involved,
he said, they brought the dogs out and did make
a discovery behind one of those abandoned mobile homes on Spiderwebroad.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Yes, and what they hit on was what looked to
be to law enforcement a shallow grave. And once on earth,
they found the body of Julian Williams. He was decomposed,
he was barefoot, and he had a gold wrist watch
(37:37):
on his wrist that matched the one that had been
described by his family, and it was apparent that he
had been shot. Shell casings were found at the scene,
but his cell phone was never recovered. An autopsy was
later conducted and it was determined Julian had been shot
once in the back of the head, which would have
(37:59):
killed him instant, and he also had two additional shots
to his body gosh. So then police had the task
that all law enforcement hates to have to do, which
is to make that death notification, and Detective Freeman was
(38:21):
the one that started this case, and he said he
wanted to be there when they told the family, and
he said, when we showed up, you could tell. I
think they knew what we were there for, but you know,
they still had to tell him. And it's one of
those mix of extremely upset that that's not the outcome
(38:41):
that you wanted, but a little bit of relief knowing
that he's been found. Yeah, And detectives go back to
the photo of the girl that had been sent to
Julian's phone, and they knew that he had been talking
to a girl texting to out prior to going missing,
(39:03):
and they were able to pull that number and it
tied to a young female who they brought in for questioning.
She told them that she had implied to Julian. You know,
they did talk previously, and she had implied to him
at one point that she was interested in a relationship,
and she had been to his apartment a few times. Oh,
(39:27):
and she was pregnant with his child, whoa She also
told them that I also I live in Beach Island,
not far from Spiderweb Road with my boyfriend and our
two children, oh dear, And she told them her boy
(39:53):
to Julian. No, I don't believe, so wow, And you know,
she told she did tell detectives that she had told
her boyfriend that she was pregnant and she thought, there,
you know, there was a possibility that it could be
this guy Julian's and she believed that her boyfriend was
responsible for Julian's disappearance.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, good for her for being honest and I guess
coming forward with that information.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yeah, And she told them that it was her boyfriend
was twenty four year old Antonio Simpkins. So detectives drove
to Antonio's home and they interviewed him there in their vehicle.
I know it was recorded. I don't know what determines
bringing someone down to the station versus I guess they
(40:45):
figured we might not have enough, but let's maybe go
to him and that'll help. And they asked him if
he knew who Julian was, and he said that he didn't,
but that he was being set up and his girl
was lying on him. Detectives tell Antonio, look, you're living
(41:06):
with your lady. Y'all have two kids together, and then
she comes to you and says she's pregnant and it
may not be yours that has to piss you off. Yeah,
and he said, I told her, you know, once this
baby's born, we're gonna get a DNA test. But he
wasn't gonna hurt a man over a woman. There were
(41:27):
plenty of fish in the sea, okay. And they're like, okay, well,
you know, can we look at your phone to see
if you've had any kind of correspondence. And he held
up his phone and showed it to him. He said,
you wanted to look at it, but he wouldn't unlock it.
And Detective Freeman's like, okay, so I can't just force
(41:51):
you to do that, but you know, he said I could.
He could charge He knew he could charge him with
murder if he could prove that he lured Julian into
South Carolina. Wrecked with a warrant, Antonio's phone was obtained
and after searching through it for three or four days,
they were able to find an app that Antonio they
believe thought that he deleted. I know, I've heard sever
(42:15):
these shows where people say when you think something that
you like is deleted is not deleted. It's stored somewhere
and you just have to have the right technology to
get it, which law enforcement does, and they were able
to locate the picture of the girl that Julian had
received on his phone, of who he believed he was
meeting that night.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
They were also able to determine the text to Julian
from the woman came from Antonio's phone. So on April
twenty sixth, just over months since Julian went missing and
was murdered, Antonio Simpkins was arrested and charged with first
degree murder and kidnapping. He was questioned again at Aikin
(42:59):
County Sheriff's apartment and in the interview, they told Antonio,
you know, the photo that was sent came from your phone,
but he said he wasn't the one that sent it.
So they decided to go a little bit harder on him,
and they, you know, they were like, dude, your girl
is messing around with you. She may be pregnant with
(43:20):
another man's baby, and she's throwing it into your face
and this made you mad, and you shot him three times,
so then it's not a question, it's a straight up accusation, right,
And that's when he said no. Julian grabbed the gun
and it went off.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
In the back of his head and he.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Said it was an accident, and they went so, because
it was an accident, you proceeded to shoot him two
more times, and he said, no, he didn't shoot him
any I mean it went off, but the autopsy had
already proven that that was not true. And then Antonio
said that he didn't mean for it to happen, but
(44:04):
he panicked, and he said afterwards he threw the gun
in a pond, but then he changed that story and
said he actually hid it in a shack that was
behind his grandmother's home, and he later ended up leading
law enforcement to the shed or the shack where the
gun was recovered. So detectives put together what they believe
(44:25):
happened that night. When Antonio learned about his girlfriend being
pregnant and it was possible that it was Julian's, he
developed a plan to get rid of him. He made
the spoof number, He got a photo online of a
random girl and began texting Julian, acting like a girl
from Baltimore wanting to meet up, and gave him a
(44:48):
specific address. That night, other people had testified that Antonio
had left his home several times and would come back
with friends and family, and the last time he came back,
he changed into all black clothes, got his gun and left.
(45:09):
The last thing the taxi driver saw was Julian walking
towards the trailer, and behind the trailer, Antonio was waiting,
armed with a handgun, and once Julian came around the back,
he was shot and killed. And this was clearly premeditated.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yes, I mean, that's the exact definition of premeditated.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Well, Antonio pled decided to plead not guilty, and he
went and he went to trial in April of twenty nineteen,
and after three days of testimony, Antonio was found guilty
of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison,
and he is currently at Broad River. In a twist,
(45:50):
during the investigation, when detectives were putting all this together,
they asked Antonio's girlfriend to take a pregnancy test, but
she refused and they later found out that she was
never pregnant. What and it did say that she never
faced any charges, which I put I think is a
(46:12):
little baffling.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I think, I mean, I don't know what you would
charge her.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
With, but that's I do believe that there was some
kind of relationship between her and Julian. They had spoken
that's where they ended up getting her number from. She
(46:38):
had been to his apartment. They had had some kind
of relationship while she was still continuing this relationship with
her living boyfriend. I don't know if there was a
possibility she thought she might be pregnant, or it could
have been maybe in that heat of the moment. Apparently
this her and Antonio had this history where they'd get
(47:01):
in a fight. Sometimes it'd get a little violent. They'd
been together for about eight or nine years, but they'd
split up it they'd always get back together. And you know,
sometimes when you get really mad, you want to get
someone to their core. You say something, even if you
don't mean it, just to just to get a reaction.
And there's the possibility she could have thrown that out.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Right, And that's kind of what I was thinking. Maybe
she wanted to end it with Antonio, didn't know a
way to. Maybe she wanted to make him jealous for
some reason. I don't We could sit here and spit
out hypothesis all day long, and.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
It could be a way of saying, you're not the
only person out there that wants me, But you know it,
there was some kind of relationship going on or had
been going on between her and Julian, but the pregnancy
was not a truth. I think it was something that
she just threw out. And unfortunately, you know him being
(47:58):
obviously it sounds like he's a reactive person. He doesn't
rationalize things right, took that to another level where he
felt that he needed to get rid of the competition.
I guess you could say, and I mean.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
You we talked briefly at the beginning, and it just
makes it. I mean, it's a terrible tragedy, but all
the more tragic. I mean, Julian's family, his sister dad
that we talked about. They loved him very very much. Yes,
they would go His father especially seemed like he'd go
(48:38):
to the ends of the earth like his son, and
even more so after the tragedy where he was shot
the first time and he pulled through. Yeah, just a
strong young man. And that's heart goes out with him.
That's wow.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
And I mean and his his dad did say, you know,
I mean, during this whole thing, they were kind of
out in the community, putting out flyers, talking to people.
So even though police were conducting their investigation, the family
was kind of doing their own thing. They weren't just
sitting by letting the police handle it. They were doing
what they could to help try to get answers. And
(49:20):
you know, his dad said. The good thing I get
about him pulling through with that first shooting was he is,
I got it, gave me five more years, and his
dad does have. He showed it. His dad does have.
He was able to get back and he kept the
wrist watch that Antonio, I mean, I'm Julian was found
with and in his grave and he was able to
(49:44):
keep that as a I guess memento is something.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
To hold on to to remember his son by.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Yeah, but it's and it's a senseless thing.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (49:57):
His dad had made some kind of comment where he's like,
I believe that with this, you know, him having these
these issues after the first shooting, I think that it
would be hard for him to rationalize that somebody would
be setting him up. You wouldn't look at it that way.
He would look at it.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
As that's it. I mean, that's far fetch When.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
You just say there's someone and I want to meet them.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
I mean, it's it's far fetched to think that, oh,
someone might be setting me up their prey.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Well, and you know, I don't think you have to
have any kind of you know, cognitive disability or anything
like that to to not have it run through your
head that, you know, because you don't want to believe
that somebody would be doing that. It was a very
innocent thing on his part, but unfortunately on Antonio's part,
(50:50):
it was not, and it was it was a straight
up He lured him there. It was completely intentional, and
fortunately they were able to find him and he was
able to be found guilty at.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
Least some form of justice. But then unfortunately that doesn't
bring you back.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
Yeah, it's sad, and they you know, they still remember
him like anyone does when you talk about these things.
But yeah, it's just a tragic end, especially to someone
who had such a tragic thing happened to them at
such a young age, being seventeen, and then you get
a second chance, and then somebody takes that from you.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Awful, awful. Well, you said it best at the beginning
of cautionary tale, use discernment, tell people where you're going,
tell people who you're going with. It goes a long way.
But Danielle, thank you for bringing that to us. Folks,
(51:51):
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
It' that's a heartbreaker. It is, and please pray for
that family still continuously. They've been through it, they've been
through it well. We appreciate you being here listening to
us this week. If you're not already following us on
social media, check us out at Carolina Crimes Podcast. Also
(52:14):
over on Twitter at sc crimes pod. If you're listening
on Apple iTunes, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, please throw us
five star review, mash that purple subscribe button, tell us
a little something you like about the show. Also, if
you're looking to get into some hoodies or some warm
weather or cold weather gear, I am head on over
to Carolina Crimestore dot com. We'd greatly appreciate you checking
(52:37):
out the merch over there, and until next week, thank
you for listening to Carolina Crimes
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