November 16, 2025 • 45 mins
In 1989, a young man ran afoul of the law and needed legal representation. His family got him the best of the best. With light sentences behind him, he re-entered society but still didn't fly right. His criminal exploits landed him several life sentences but that's far from where the story ends.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
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
(00:25):
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 (00:41):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two forty eight.
I'm one of your hosts, Matt Hyers. And guess what.
Danielle's on administrative leave this week and filling in for
is Ashley Harder. Yes, Ashley h but not my Ashwell,
one of our dear friends for years and years and years.
(01:04):
She's a loyal listener to the podcast. We appreciate you, Ashley,
thank you for filling in.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So happy here, daniel It's going to be fun.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It is, and this is gonna be wild. Fortunately, this
is not a very macab one, but a wild tale,
nonetheless about a guy that just keeps on running. All right,
it is. But before we get started a little bit
of housekeeping as we usually do. Thank you so much
for those of you that have following us on social media.
(01:33):
If you're not already, check us out on Facebook at
Carolina Crimes Podcast. Also over on Twitter at sc Crimes Pod.
If you're looking to support the show and you're listening
on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcast, please throw us a
five star review, mash that purple subscribe button and let
us know a little something you like about the show. Also,
(01:55):
if you're looking to get some warm weather hoodies, the
temperatures of dip except for today it's the seventies.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh your weekend. It's been great.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yes it has, Yes it has. So if you're looking
for some sweet Carolina Crimes paraphernalia to put on your back,
head on over to Carolina Crimesstore dot com. I want
to say I appreciate all the feedback from last week's episode.
That was just a terrible, horrible tale.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Just.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
The murders of Sturtvant and that the young lady she
had to live with the rest of her life. That
was that was absolutely terrible. But we do appreciate the feedback,
and I gotta say I feel all the same way
the same feelings that you do about Corey Skolnik and
(02:47):
Mary Sturdavant, those murders, and it's horrendous, horrendous, but appreciate
you listening in. That's a story that needs to be told,
A cautionary tale for sure, to if you say something,
see something, or see some abnormal activity, be vigilant. There's
really nothing they could do to prevent that. It's just
a crazy, crazy person, evil person. Also want to say
(03:12):
hello and thank you to some fans I got to
meet this week. Got to speak at a fundraiser for
one of our substance abuse centers here in York County.
Thank you to Gina, I didn't catch your last name, Gina,
to Todd and Alexis Ellis and the Caroline Clark. Those
are ones that came up and said, oh my gosh,
I love your podcast, amongst a few more that I
couldn't quite catch their names, but those are ones that
(03:34):
I do remember. Thank you so much. And since last time,
I think some of you may have seen it, saw
it on social media. Saint it it, Yes, you done,
sainted on the Facebook. But got to have a very
nice conversation. It was pretty brief because my wife wanted
to cut it off with Governor Henry McMaster about his
(03:57):
role in Operation Jackpot.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
That's the best story. And whenever you said today our
story was not going to be macabre, but it was
going to be wild. That's kind of that's kind of
the standard for wild. Whenever, Yeah, that.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That is the standard for wild. If you haven't go
back in the archives and look at that. It's a
four parter. It is absolutely one of my favorites. When
people say which one should I start with, I'm like, hey,
check out Operation Jackpote, check check out Sue log you
know Pee Wee Gaskins. If you're into the blood and
guts and gore, I mean it's those are some of
(04:36):
the standards.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And Danny McBride is listening, or if anyone knows Danny McBride.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
We need a yeah, we need a Jackpop movie.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That would be like an amazing a mini series or whatever.
But he would do a great job of just the insanity.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Of him and Walt Goggins. Yes, maybe playing the two
protagonists or antagonists in that story. They were criminals, but
that's that's the most lovable crazy crazy. So today's episode,
episode two forty eight is gonna take place in Richland County,
South Carolina, and we've been there several times, so just gonna,
(05:16):
you know, give you a brief history of where we're
talking about. For those not familiar with the state of
South Carolina, well, Richland County is very centrally located middle
of the state. Most people would say, if you're looking
at the state of South Carolina, kind of that upside
down triangle, it's right in the center that bullseye. But
Richland County was formed in seventeen eighty five at a
(05:37):
portion of the Camden District. Now post Revolutionary War, the
state started getting kind of reorganized. They started breaking up
all these little districts forming counties. You saw new towns
pop up as people moved throughout the upstate in the midlands,
like in Richland. And one of the byproducts of kind
(06:01):
of this state reorg was, of course, the formation of
Richland County. And a year later, in seventeen eighty six,
the South Carolina legislature voted to move the capital from
Charleston to a more centralized location, which eventually was Columbia,
which is right there in the heart of Richland County.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'm getting some great South Carolina history lessons right now.
But I am sad to say I never knew.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yes, and you grew up here, Yes.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Up here, Yes, very much of South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Now, there wasn't a real original naming process when it
came to naming Richland County, it really genuinely was rich Land.
It was fertile soil for farmland. And what contributed to
that being such a good place to have a farm
(06:58):
was right there in Richland County. That's where the Broad River,
Saluta River, Congree River, Watery River, and all their tributaries
kind of flow through. So you've got a good water source,
got some of that sandy loamy soil kind of starting
to mix with some of the blackjack dirt from the
from the low country, and it's all right there. It was.
(07:20):
It was great for farming. Now, Richland County itself, it's
the seat of South Carolina State government. Of course, the
home to the University of South Carolina, Prisma Health, Blue Cross,
Blue Shield today, and of course Fort Jackson and some
of the attractions around Richland County. You got Riverbank, Zoo,
(07:40):
the South Carolina State Museum, Congrey National Park, Sesquith Centennial.
I love that word my state park. You could say
that Sessquith Centennial. I think that means I think that
means two hundred and fifty years. I think or one
hundred and fifty one of the two. Correct me on
social media. Please. Also, it's home to the South Carolina
(08:02):
State Fair, right across from WILLIAMS. Brice Stadium. So that
being said, we're going to dive into this one, and
I am going to start this one with kind of
a disclaimer. Characters we talk about week in and week
out on this show are attorneys. Sometimes you know, they're
(08:26):
they're fun to joke about. Sometimes they not always have
the best rap, not often light, but attorneys are very
needed and they serve a very necessary role in our society. Now.
Our constitution provides that everyone's entitled to a competent defense
in court, even the worst of the worst, even some
(08:50):
of the ones we've talked about on here. I mean,
the constitution says, hey, you're you've got the right to
be defended in court by someone.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
And in a lot of different countries all over the world,
like here, we call them lawyers, or we call them attorneys,
but so many other places in the world they call
them advocates. Because that's exactly what they are.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Are barristers. They have all kinds of different names, but yeah,
that's what they are. Advocates. You know, it takes a
special breed to be an attorney, especially a criminal defense attorney.
I know I couldn't do it. It takes a special
breed a person to kind of separate your own personal
(09:31):
moral compass from your profession. It's a professional calling that
I don't have, that I'll never have, and I do
admire that about attorneys. Hey, you know, you got to
go up there and you got to stick up for
some folks who have done some horrible, horrible things. So
that being said, that's kind of my disclaimer about this.
(09:53):
So I don't want to hear anything as we get
longer in the story about Hey good that guy he
you know, he defended the worst of the worst. No stop.
So our story's gonna start off in nineteen eighty nine,
and we're gonna talk about a young man, nineteen year
old Jimmy Causey Junior, who really from that age he
(10:20):
lived life on the edge of the law. He came
from what was considered a good family, well known around
the Richland County area, and he was mischievous, and what
was mischievous acting out soon turned into legal trouble. Now
I can only hypothesize. I mean, hey, they everything I
(10:43):
read was, hey, this family was good. I don't know.
If he was maybe spoiled, rebelling, felt entitled, I don't know.
But for some reason, this guy just continued to run
a foul of the law.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What kind of charges are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh, we're going to get into that, okay, Yeah, we
had to build an episode, so we're just introducing the guy.
So in nineteen eighty nine, Jimmy he started facing some
very serious charges. He had a charge of second degree burglary,
which carried a possible sentence of fifteen years. And the
(11:21):
Causey family, they said, well, we got to get him
some help. He he's in trouble, so we're gonna have
to kind of pull our resources together. And Jimmy's grandfather
reached out to a friend of theirs that was an attorney.
But his granddad's friend he wasn't your run of the
(11:43):
mill lawyer. He was an attorney that's been mentioned in
at least a dozen episodes here on Carolina Crimes. Oh boy,
and his name is Jack Swirling Jack Swirling and Jack.
He was a criminal of defense attorney. He started practicing
law in South Carolina in nineteen seventy three. And he
(12:06):
looks the part. Let me tell you this. He if
you're casting a movie and you wont an attorney Jack
Swirling looks like it, he really does. He's a tall guy,
six foot four. At one time he had just this
huge frame. He was like three hundred and twenty pounds,
and then he pared it down where he was just
(12:27):
still huge and menacing, but just this big, handsome.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Guy rolling in big courtroom presence.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yes, yes he was. He was handsome. He was a
good looking, confident, and he was smooth as silk in
front of a judge and Jerry, he really got the
job done. And Jack Swirling he also had the reputation
of taking on some of the most difficult cases in
South Carolina history. And as we mentioned in that little disclaimer,
(12:58):
he defended the absolute worst of the absolute worst. You
go back to episode fifty. He was one of the
defense attorneys for Larry Jene Bell, for Richard Starrett that
we've talked about, and also for Pee Wee Gaskins. So
that's a that's a tough those are tough ones to defend,
(13:25):
and he took on so many of these virtually impossible
cases and tried to do the best he could with it.
And there was a joke I read an article. They
were like, you know, Jack Swirling, he sent more people
to the electric chair than any of these judges in
South Carolina. But it was just because he took on
such a challenging case load.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
So he wasn't afraid to necessarily lose.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
No, no, and he just he did what he had
to do, what his profession called. And in his heart
he knew what these people did weren't right. But the
Constitution of the United States he upheld that and he said, hey,
you know we they got.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
To have defense, and he knows this criminal law.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, why not me? So back to young Jimmy Causey.
You know, he was in line to get the best
of the best representing him in court. So when Causey
did go on trial and started looking at all these
charges against him, the second degree burglary charge, Swirling he
(14:29):
actually was able to brok her a deal under the
South Carolina Youthful Offender Act, and this allowed for a
very minimal sentence. He did have to spend some time
Jimmy did for the second degree burglary. I don't know
if it wasn't clear whether he was able to plead
that down or not, but he was eventually released, still
(14:54):
had his whole life in front of him. But not
too long after his release from his sentence, Jimmy Causey
found himself in major hot water again. He was arrested
again for burglary in the early nineteen nineties, and this
burglary was considered a violent offense. The Causey family again
(15:16):
they retained the services of Jack swirling Well, the famed attorney.
He swooped in and got prosecutors to lessen the charges
to a non violent burglary, both shortening Jimmy sentence and
shedding the violent offender classification from his client. He also
(15:38):
received the opportunity for parole to come much earlier. And
for those of you listening, you know, violent and nonviolent
offenders are treated much differently in the prison system, So
this was going to make prison easier. He was going
to be able to go to a much less secure
(15:58):
place to serve as time time. He was probably going
to be able to be on you know, like a
work or an outside work crew, a road crew something
like that, where violent offenders they have to stay back
in prison and do manual labor there around the actual facility.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
And people once they get out of prison are also
treated very different depending on what their record is and
whether it has violent nonviolent charges. And it sounds like
his family was determined that he was going to get
back out again and go back into society again.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yes, yes, And that's my next point. I said, it
makes post release life a little easier. Well, once released Jimmy,
causey he had a new start and he really did
try to make the most of it. He started a
little business tree trimming and removal. And if you've ever
(16:55):
priced that out like I have, I don't know if
y'all had many trees.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
We have had a big willow oak taken down. And yes,
it was very.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Expensive, yes, and there's some big money to be made
in tree trimming and tree removal. But Jimmy, he was
really talented in his profession. People said he was really
good at it, you know, And I think what it
takes to be good at tree trimming is you can
get it done fast, you show up when you're supposed to,
(17:24):
you don't damage any further property or yourself or yourself,
you know, no insurance claims on anything, and you get
in there, you get it out of the way. But
he was a very good one. But also Jimmy Causey
had a real talent for breaking the law. And we
(17:47):
come back from this short break, we're going to get
into that in some of the specifics and go further
down the rabbit hole on this young man, Jimmy Causey.
Folks will be right back after this quick word from
our sponsors, and welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two
(18:25):
forty eight. Matt Hires here along with Ashley Harder. Hello, everybody, Yeah,
thank you so much for filling in for Danielle this week.
And when we left off, we were talking about a
troubled young man, kind of had his priorities a little
mixed up, could have had a promising career doing his
(18:46):
tree trimming, his tree removal. But we're talking about Jimmy
Causey Jr. And his record grew and grew and grew
like a grimlin you feed after midnight nineteen nineties. I mean,
we were talking about going through his record just in
(19:07):
Richland County. He had fraudulent checks, trespassing, shoplifting, hunting without
license and on unauthorized areas, a lot of d n
R violations. He obviously liked to hunt. He had been
convicted of some felony, so I'm thinking he was probably
bow hunting. Looked like he threw in driving under suspensions
(19:31):
in there, just just a popourri of little misdemeanors here
and there.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yeah, it sounds like he And you said he came
from a nice family too, like yeah, so like yeah,
it's kind of confusing why he got started with all
of this in the first place. And it almost seems
like he's pretty unlucky too.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Well yeah, but I mean he did it to himself.
If you if you depend on what to kind of
get you out of trouble, that's been there, done that,
that didn't that never.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Pans out, That never pans out.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
No, So with all these crimes, it seemed like just
a matter of time before he got into major trouble again.
And the robbery burglary bugs started hitting Jimmy Causey again
around two thousand and two, two thousand and three, Jimmy
(20:25):
was now thirty two years old, and I kind of
air quoted this. Recruited an apprentice not for triming trees,
but for robbery, and there was a guy named twenty
one year old Charles Wilson. Well, the two men, they
(20:46):
made a choice to go big in a pretty pretty
frightening way. And these guys one of their crimes. And
I was pulling most of this in from we talked
during the break from news articles, and sometimes their dates
can seem kind of convoluted. Again the Richland County Public Index,
(21:10):
a lot of theirs didn't have the sentencing set up,
so it was tough to kind of glean exactly the timeline.
But all this happened really super quick, within the span
of three months. Well, the two men they'd been kind
of scooping out a bank there in Columbia on to
Knights Road, a bank that they believed to be susceptible
(21:34):
to robbing. So Causey and Wilson they chose to enter
the bank and forced everyone on the ground at gunpoint,
threatening the life of anyone that moved. One of them
held everybody at bay with the gun and the other
grabbed the cash. Well somehow fleeing the scene. The seasoned
(21:59):
criminal Causey he was able to get away, but young
Charles Wilson, the twenty one year old. He was captured. Now,
Wilson was arrested and charged with violent robbery, but able
to be bonded out soon. Right there, close to it,
(22:20):
another plan was hatched. They said, you know, bank robbery
that was that was pretty risky, so let's put together
another plan. You know, banks are so well guarded, but
private residences that's probably gonna be the best way to go.
And Jimmy Causey he committed burglaries before. He said, you know,
(22:43):
I've learned from my mistakes. I've been caught. You know,
maybe this is the way we go about it. But
we gotta think, who do we know that's rich. Well,
Jimmy Causey's said, yeah, hold up, I do know somebody
that is absolutely eloaded with money, and I don't really
(23:10):
like him at all. Anyway. It was his former attorney,
Jack Swirling. Oh my goodness, the guy who had defended him.
You know, he kind of put his neck on the
professional neck on the line for him and you know,
brokeered some deals, pulled some favors, got him some lesser sentences.
Earlier in his life, when he was in his early twenties,
when he was nineteen, he said, you know, he's rich,
(23:31):
and you know, I don't like him, and he held
a grudge and said that he never thought he should
have done time at all for the two burglaries in
the nineteen nineties. He said, you know, he wasn't a
good lawyer anyway. But he's rich and he's laughing. He's
free and had to suffer anything like I've I've had to.
I'm the victim, right.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Sounds like there's a lot of externalizing here.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yes. So in June of two thousand and two, causing Wilson,
they went to the Spring Valley home of Jack Swirling.
The two men they crept to the back door and
entered just as Jack, his wife, and his daughter had
(24:16):
sat down to eat Hamburgers in their den. Now, these
two menacing men, they burst through the door and they
forced the Swirling family down on the ground at gunpoint.
They each handled the three people there. They ductaped the
Swirling family up, they bound them, held them a gun
(24:40):
to Jack's head actually he said up to his neck.
And one was holding them at gunpoint, which was causey.
While Wilson went and ransacked the house looking for all
this money that they were gonna get. Well, he wasn't
really finding a lot, not a lot of cash. You
(25:01):
gotta think around two thousand, around two thousand ish, that
was really the on set where debit cards became popular,
where you didn't have to write checks for anything at
the grocery store. You could just wipe this card. It
was like a credit card. I mean, everybody here knows
what a debit card is.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And even then, who keeps a ton of cash and
valuables in their home? I mean it could have been
flashy people, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I think probably the more flashy, the less cash they'd
have on a hand. I mean, my wife, I'm not
flashy by any means. I'm just saying this, but I
mean my wife didn't give be any cash. I never
have cash. I'm the most cashless guy ever. And I
don't have Vinmo because I don't trust it. And yeah,
if you're looking for money from me, you were gonna
(25:49):
get There is a jar that I have with some
pocket change in it.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
It sounds like that was just a risky decision for
not a whole lot of value.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Exactly exactly. Well. They put the gun, of course to
Jack Swirling's neck, Jimmy Causey did, and he said, where's
the money, he said, there's there's not any here. He said,
tell me where the money is or I'm going to
kill you. And he said, look, there is nothing here.
(26:25):
I don't know how many times I have to stay
that I would. I mean, my life's at stake. You've
got my wife and daughter taped up. I don't have
any money. So the grand total of this home invasion,
this kidnapping, this armed burglary for Causey and Wilson, it
got them forty dollars. And this is going to date
(26:48):
the crime. A palm pilot.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Oh my gosh, remind me what that is.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I think it's kind of like a black.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Like a little handheld computer.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, like a BlackBerry. I think you could take some notes,
maybe send some emails. But your your palm pilot. It
had a little stylus pen with it. And I was
never I'll never be important enough to have one. It
never never was. No, So I didn't, and.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
They didn't stand the test of time. Apparently, No.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Well, Charles Charles Wilson, he ended up getting captured eventually
here and he actually was questioned about, Hey, what about
this event over in Spring Valley, And that's when he said, okay,
(27:41):
it was me and Jimmy Causey. Well, Jimmy Causey pretty
well known to law enforcement around the Richland County area.
They said, well, okay, well we're going to take it
a look at him and the two. They went on
trial in February of two thousand and four. And Jack Swirling,
(28:03):
it was a lot of articles written about it about
how he was now having to sit on the witness stand,
a total change of scenery for him in a court room.
And he testified, Hey, this as anyone would this changed
his life. Yeah, kind of living his life in fear,
(28:24):
looking over his shoulder, worrying about his family their safety.
Swirling said he started carrying a gun at this point
when ahead and got a CWP. And I wonder too
if this maybe changed his perspective in the courtroom a
little bit, where you know, I've had to cross examine
(28:47):
these witnesses kind of try to pick apart their stories.
And in fact, that happened to Swirling on the stand,
and after about an hour he finally he asked the defenser.
He said, okay, here's the deal. He said, I had
a gun shoved in my neck. It was pretty traumatizing.
(29:08):
My wife and daughter were tied up I was scared.
I'm not gonna remember every detail one hundred percent of
what happened, but I'm going to tell you broad strokes
exactly what happened that night. So that was just kind
of a sidebar for me. I was like, I wonder
if this kind of maybe changed his perspective, but you
(29:30):
never know. Well, Jimmy causey he received a twenty year
sentence from the bank robbery back on Tonight Road. He
was turned in for that, and then he received five
life sentences and life without parole for the kidnapping, the
burglary home invasion, everything that had to do with the
(29:54):
Swirling family. Now, Charles Wilson, this is where, like I said,
it kind of gets convoluted. Looking at Richland County's public index.
He did receive a sentence, but for the most part
it sounded like he did cooperate with authorities. He is
out of South Carolina Department of Corrections. You got to
think this is about twenty five years ago, so or
(30:17):
twenty years ago. So I hope he learned his lesson.
Hope he's being productive, you know. I hope you're out
there doing something positive.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah, unlike our other friend.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yes, but Jimmy Causey. This this episode is far from over, folks.
If you think that's the end, it's only just beginning.
So when we get back on the other side of
this break, we will continue this tale of now running
Jimmy Causey. Folks will be right back after this quick
(30:50):
word from our sponsors, and welcome back to Carolina Crimes,
(31:16):
Episode two forty eight and this story about Jimmy Causey.
And if you think the first two thirds of this
one was wild, hold on to your hats. Here we go. So,
with five life sentences under his belt, Jimmy Causey he
was destined to spend the rest of his days at
(31:39):
Broad River Correctional right there in Richland County, and he
was housed there well. In November of two thousand and five,
a little over a year into his sentence, he figured,
you know, prison life ain't for me. I'm gonna get
(31:59):
a plan together. So he and a guy named Johnny Brewer,
and they said, here, here's what we're gonna do. We've
noticed that these dumpsters get hauled off from here, you know,
every every now and then. There's a pretty regular schedule. Now, now,
Jimmy cause He's smart, He really was and I don't
want to downplay that at all. But he devised this
(32:23):
plan and he said, we're gonna get into one of
these dumpsters and we're gonna get carried out of these
gates to freedom. And he had to have an accomplice.
He had to have Johnny Brewer with him. And what
they did was made he heads out of pull of paper,
putting their bunks. When guards would walk by, Hey, okay,
it looks like all right, they're sleeping. They're good. Two
(32:46):
in there. What took the guards five hours to realize
In November twenty twenty five, they were gone.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
The paper mache head didn't work.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
For too long. Well, for five hours, that's all. You
can go a long way in five hours. Well you
can imagine the panic that consumed the Swirling family. They
were like, oh my god, we put this guy away.
We testified against him. What's gonna happen? Jack Swirling was interviewed.
(33:21):
He said he is very prepared to defend himself, to
defend his family, and the man hunt ensued. The media.
They were giving pictures of both Jimmy Causey and his
accomplice in this escape, Johnny Brewer, and people started looking
(33:42):
for him throughout the state. This is five so down
in a Ridgeland, South Carolina motel that's in Jasper County,
South Carolina. We've talked about a couple of weeks ago
a Ridgeland a motel, so I don't know if it's
the one or not, but a pizza place down in
(34:04):
Rigeland they got a call for a delivery to a
motel room. Kind of out of the ordinary, is what
the article said. But I mean, I've been in a
motel before, I've ordered her hotel where I've ordered pizza.
But they said, you know this, we didn't get many
calls to deliver one. So the delivery driver she went
(34:24):
out delivered the pizza. Thought it was really odd. The
guys were really trying to hide their faces, like cracking
the door and holding their ca Okay, here you go,
here's here's cash, all right, thanks, And finally they opened
the door she was able to get a glimpse of
their faces. She's just chalked it up to just two
weird dudes in a motel and who knows what they're
(34:48):
doing behind closed doors. So she went back. She told
her manager there at the pizza place, who ended up
telling her husband and the husband said, well, you know,
there's two you guys on the loose. I saw it
on the news. You know, hey, did they look like
these guys? And the driver was like, yeah, they actually did.
(35:11):
So they ended up calling the authorities. And this was
two days after the escape again twenty years ago, almost
to the day that this happened, and Jimmy Causey and
Johnny Brewer were found and given ten extra years on
their sentence. Well, Causey, now he was a flight risk.
They're like, okay, this guy, what's keeping him here? You know,
(35:35):
he's got life sentences. What's going to keep him from
trying to get out again? He proved he'd tried to
do it one time. So what we're gonna do? The
Department of Corrections decided, let's move him to liber Correctional Facility,
which is in Ridgeville, South Carolina, not Ridgelund, and Liber
is a maximum security prison. It was the home of death,
(36:00):
I believe, for a little while before they moved it
back to Broad River. The worst of the worst were,
how's there, and so this was what Jimmy Causey earned. Well,
let's fast forward about twelve years to the fourth of
July twenty seventeen. Jimmy Causey had quite the intricate operation
(36:29):
going on inside liber He had a smuggled cell phone
in actually he had a couple. He was actually able
to access the Internet while he was there in Libre,
and he started really a Craigslist empire with help from
(36:53):
outside folks. What he was doing was buying and selling
vehicles on there. He was making a ton of cash,
but it was on the outside where he couldn't get it.
Other people that were helping him out were getting a
cut of that. And finally he devised, he said, I
(37:15):
am going to escape again. And what he did this
is pretty ingenious. There on the fourth of July, kind
of a skeleton crew on at a liber correctional One
(37:35):
correctional officer was supposed to clear the yard. It did
not happen, or it didn't happen effectively, and Jimmy Causey
counted on that. So he had his operatives on the
outside by a very heavy duty drone.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Okay, so I was not sure about mister Causey in
the beginning, but now this guy is a wheeler, a dealer,
and I mean it's really impressive for being in jail
for that long and having access to all the things
that are happening outside because most people don't stay on
the inside, they like lose access to tech and lose
the knowledge, you know, of what to do with it.
(38:18):
And then they come back out and they're like, whoa.
So yeah, I'm pretty impressed with this guy at this point.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah, I mean he he definitely did.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
He had it going on and Drone was not on
my Bengo card.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
No, but I mean there's there's videos explaining exactly in
detail about how he masterminded this escape. But he had
a drone drop some bolt cutters out there in the yard.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
So what he did. He went and got the bolt cutters.
He had to cut through not one, not two, not three,
but four fences with these bolt cutters. He had an
accomplice waiting outside. It had a nice vehicle, a change
of clothes, had cash for him. The accomplice was waiting
(39:09):
outside with binoculars, watching to make sure this thing was
going to go down. When he was able to get
a visual on him, he said, Okay, I'm gonna stay
put in his bed. He made not only a head
but a full toilet paper dummy this time. Yes, so
he had several phones there waiting for him as well,
(39:32):
so he could conduct business. What he was going to do,
he carried actually the phone with him from out of jail,
so there'd be no proof for them to look at.
He had that. He actually had to stop at a
convenience store not far from the prison itself, got out
of the car, walked past two police officers, kept his cool,
(39:55):
just hey, how y'all doing, walked into the store, got
whatever he needed, got his red Bull or whatever, and
took off on the road. Well, when Jimmy calls he
got to Alabama, he said, hey, I gotta get rid
of this phone I had in prison. You know, they're
(40:15):
gonna they're gonna be able to get some pings off.
He had a lot of forethought. He said, you know,
if they see this thing, if I powered on, they're
gonna know where I'm at. They're gonna be able to
trace that back to liber They're going to know the
signal was coming out. And he threw that phone off
of a bridge in Alabama.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Oh, he made it all the way to Alabama at
this point, this is the furthest he's ever made it.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Oh yeah, but he threw the wrong phone. Now, no way, Yes,
So he finally set up, not in Jasper County, South Carolina,
but he stopped in Jasper County, Texas, got a hotel
(41:01):
room and he was powering these phones on, and that's
when he realized he made a mistake. He powered on
the wrong phone. Well, he was absolutely right when he
powered on that phone. That gave authorities on this nationwide
man hunt. I mean, this was covered on CNN. They
(41:24):
contacted the Swirling family again. Police, they came completely protected them,
surrounded them. Sheriff Leon Locke, great job in Richland County
of doing that, but he powered this phone on and
they were able to tell exactly where he was. So
two hours later, in this Jasper County motel room in
(41:46):
Texas on July seventh, so he'd been gone about three
or almost four days at this point, he went to
sleep and at eleven pm, authorities busted in and got him again.
So now, Jimmy Causey is the only guy that I
know of that I can find that has housed on
(42:08):
South Carolina's death row that's not scheduled to be executed
no way. So they're like, dude, we're putting you in
death row. We can't take any chances you're a runner,
You're a runner.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Yeah. So and all the way to Texas.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, he got all the way and if he would
have phoned the right phone away, who knows, who knows
where he could have been. So that's where Jimmy causey sits.
I mean, he's yeah, the role. He was born in
nineteen seventy, so he's fifty five, fifty five, fifty five
(42:46):
years old and under I'm sure close scrutiny.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
But I still wonder, like what kind of empire does
he have now? Because he just seems like the kind
of guy he's got to have something to do with
all that time.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Yea, life sentences. I mean, what are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do? But he was caught. Let
me see, I had this note down. Yeah, he was
caught in Texas. He had an automatic pistol on him,
a shotgun, the four cell phones, and forty seven thousand,
(43:20):
six hundred and fifty four dollars cash on hand.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
He had a loyal little group of friends and a
crappy motel.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Right. Yeah, well I'm sure they were getting a cut.
They were like, hey, all you got to do is
pick up this guy outside the prison. Yeah, here's twenty
thousand bucks, or hey, this is kind of shady. Go
by this drone. Get some bolt cutters, get them over
the fence. Here's you know, twenty five thousand dollars. I
mean people hard on their luck or you know, unscrupulous.
(43:52):
You never know what they'll do. Yeah, so a wild one.
Yeah for sure. Well, next week Danielle will be back.
We're inching ever closer to the episode two d and fifty,
a huge historic case in the state of South Carolina.
We've discussed it off air, no hashtag, no spoilers.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Zip.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yes and Ashley Harder, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
You're welcome. It was fun.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yeah, I appreciate it. And now I kind of need
somebody to go back and forth with. And you were wonderful.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
Okay, I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Yes, thank you so much, and thank you for listening
this week. Just a few reminders. If you're not following
us on social media, check us out on Facebook at
Carolina Crimes Podcast. Also over on Twitter at sc Crimes Pod,
Twitter or x. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple iTunes,
Apple podcasts, those five star review please hit that purple
(44:48):
subscribe button and write a little something in there. That
you like about the show, what you had for dinner.
Of course, we love your pets names. Please and also,
if you're looking to support the show monetarily and get
some sweet swag for your back, head on over to
Carolina Crimestore dot com. So, until next week, thank you
(45:08):
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
(00:25):
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 (00:41):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two forty eight.
I'm one of your hosts, Matt Hyers. And guess what.
Danielle's on administrative leave this week and filling in for
is Ashley Harder. Yes, Ashley h but not my Ashwell,
one of our dear friends for years and years and years.
(01:04):
She's a loyal listener to the podcast. We appreciate you, Ashley,
thank you for filling in.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So happy here, daniel It's going to be fun.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It is, and this is gonna be wild. Fortunately, this
is not a very macab one, but a wild tale,
nonetheless about a guy that just keeps on running. All right,
it is. But before we get started a little bit
of housekeeping as we usually do. Thank you so much
for those of you that have following us on social media.
(01:33):
If you're not already, check us out on Facebook at
Carolina Crimes Podcast. Also over on Twitter at sc Crimes Pod.
If you're looking to support the show and you're listening
on Spotify, Apple iTunes, Apple Podcast, please throw us a
five star review, mash that purple subscribe button and let
us know a little something you like about the show. Also,
(01:55):
if you're looking to get some warm weather hoodies, the
temperatures of dip except for today it's the seventies.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh your weekend. It's been great.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yes it has, Yes it has. So if you're looking
for some sweet Carolina Crimes paraphernalia to put on your back,
head on over to Carolina Crimesstore dot com. I want
to say I appreciate all the feedback from last week's episode.
That was just a terrible, horrible tale.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Just.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
The murders of Sturtvant and that the young lady she
had to live with the rest of her life. That
was that was absolutely terrible. But we do appreciate the feedback,
and I gotta say I feel all the same way
the same feelings that you do about Corey Skolnik and
(02:47):
Mary Sturdavant, those murders, and it's horrendous, horrendous, but appreciate
you listening in. That's a story that needs to be told,
A cautionary tale for sure, to if you say something,
see something, or see some abnormal activity, be vigilant. There's
really nothing they could do to prevent that. It's just
a crazy, crazy person, evil person. Also want to say
(03:12):
hello and thank you to some fans I got to
meet this week. Got to speak at a fundraiser for
one of our substance abuse centers here in York County.
Thank you to Gina, I didn't catch your last name, Gina,
to Todd and Alexis Ellis and the Caroline Clark. Those
are ones that came up and said, oh my gosh,
I love your podcast, amongst a few more that I
couldn't quite catch their names, but those are ones that
(03:34):
I do remember. Thank you so much. And since last time,
I think some of you may have seen it, saw
it on social media. Saint it it, Yes, you done,
sainted on the Facebook. But got to have a very
nice conversation. It was pretty brief because my wife wanted
to cut it off with Governor Henry McMaster about his
(03:57):
role in Operation Jackpot.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
That's the best story. And whenever you said today our
story was not going to be macabre, but it was
going to be wild. That's kind of that's kind of
the standard for wild. Whenever, Yeah, that.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That is the standard for wild. If you haven't go
back in the archives and look at that. It's a
four parter. It is absolutely one of my favorites. When
people say which one should I start with, I'm like, hey,
check out Operation Jackpote, check check out Sue log you
know Pee Wee Gaskins. If you're into the blood and
guts and gore, I mean it's those are some of
(04:36):
the standards.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And Danny McBride is listening, or if anyone knows Danny McBride.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
We need a yeah, we need a Jackpop movie.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That would be like an amazing a mini series or whatever.
But he would do a great job of just the insanity.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Of him and Walt Goggins. Yes, maybe playing the two
protagonists or antagonists in that story. They were criminals, but
that's that's the most lovable crazy crazy. So today's episode,
episode two forty eight is gonna take place in Richland County,
South Carolina, and we've been there several times, so just gonna,
(05:16):
you know, give you a brief history of where we're
talking about. For those not familiar with the state of
South Carolina, well, Richland County is very centrally located middle
of the state. Most people would say, if you're looking
at the state of South Carolina, kind of that upside
down triangle, it's right in the center that bullseye. But
Richland County was formed in seventeen eighty five at a
(05:37):
portion of the Camden District. Now post Revolutionary War, the
state started getting kind of reorganized. They started breaking up
all these little districts forming counties. You saw new towns
pop up as people moved throughout the upstate in the midlands,
like in Richland. And one of the byproducts of kind
(06:01):
of this state reorg was, of course, the formation of
Richland County. And a year later, in seventeen eighty six,
the South Carolina legislature voted to move the capital from
Charleston to a more centralized location, which eventually was Columbia,
which is right there in the heart of Richland County.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'm getting some great South Carolina history lessons right now.
But I am sad to say I never knew.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yes, and you grew up here, Yes.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Up here, Yes, very much of South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Now, there wasn't a real original naming process when it
came to naming Richland County, it really genuinely was rich Land.
It was fertile soil for farmland. And what contributed to
that being such a good place to have a farm
(06:58):
was right there in Richland County. That's where the Broad River,
Saluta River, Congree River, Watery River, and all their tributaries
kind of flow through. So you've got a good water source,
got some of that sandy loamy soil kind of starting
to mix with some of the blackjack dirt from the
from the low country, and it's all right there. It was.
(07:20):
It was great for farming. Now, Richland County itself, it's
the seat of South Carolina State government. Of course, the
home to the University of South Carolina, Prisma Health, Blue Cross,
Blue Shield today, and of course Fort Jackson and some
of the attractions around Richland County. You got Riverbank, Zoo,
(07:40):
the South Carolina State Museum, Congrey National Park, Sesquith Centennial.
I love that word my state park. You could say
that Sessquith Centennial. I think that means I think that
means two hundred and fifty years. I think or one
hundred and fifty one of the two. Correct me on
social media. Please. Also, it's home to the South Carolina
(08:02):
State Fair, right across from WILLIAMS. Brice Stadium. So that
being said, we're going to dive into this one, and
I am going to start this one with kind of
a disclaimer. Characters we talk about week in and week
out on this show are attorneys. Sometimes you know, they're
(08:26):
they're fun to joke about. Sometimes they not always have
the best rap, not often light, but attorneys are very
needed and they serve a very necessary role in our society. Now.
Our constitution provides that everyone's entitled to a competent defense
in court, even the worst of the worst, even some
(08:50):
of the ones we've talked about on here. I mean,
the constitution says, hey, you're you've got the right to
be defended in court by someone.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
And in a lot of different countries all over the world,
like here, we call them lawyers, or we call them attorneys,
but so many other places in the world they call
them advocates. Because that's exactly what they are.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Are barristers. They have all kinds of different names, but yeah,
that's what they are. Advocates. You know, it takes a
special breed to be an attorney, especially a criminal defense attorney.
I know I couldn't do it. It takes a special
breed a person to kind of separate your own personal
(09:31):
moral compass from your profession. It's a professional calling that
I don't have, that I'll never have, and I do
admire that about attorneys. Hey, you know, you got to
go up there and you got to stick up for
some folks who have done some horrible, horrible things. So
that being said, that's kind of my disclaimer about this.
(09:53):
So I don't want to hear anything as we get
longer in the story about Hey good that guy he
you know, he defended the worst of the worst. No stop.
So our story's gonna start off in nineteen eighty nine,
and we're gonna talk about a young man, nineteen year
old Jimmy Causey Junior, who really from that age he
(10:20):
lived life on the edge of the law. He came
from what was considered a good family, well known around
the Richland County area, and he was mischievous, and what
was mischievous acting out soon turned into legal trouble. Now
I can only hypothesize. I mean, hey, they everything I
(10:43):
read was, hey, this family was good. I don't know.
If he was maybe spoiled, rebelling, felt entitled, I don't know.
But for some reason, this guy just continued to run
a foul of the law.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What kind of charges are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh, we're going to get into that, okay, Yeah, we
had to build an episode, so we're just introducing the guy.
So in nineteen eighty nine, Jimmy he started facing some
very serious charges. He had a charge of second degree burglary,
which carried a possible sentence of fifteen years. And the
(11:21):
Causey family, they said, well, we got to get him
some help. He he's in trouble, so we're gonna have
to kind of pull our resources together. And Jimmy's grandfather
reached out to a friend of theirs that was an attorney.
But his granddad's friend he wasn't your run of the
(11:43):
mill lawyer. He was an attorney that's been mentioned in
at least a dozen episodes here on Carolina Crimes. Oh boy,
and his name is Jack Swirling Jack Swirling and Jack.
He was a criminal of defense attorney. He started practicing
law in South Carolina in nineteen seventy three. And he
(12:06):
looks the part. Let me tell you this. He if
you're casting a movie and you wont an attorney Jack
Swirling looks like it, he really does. He's a tall guy,
six foot four. At one time he had just this
huge frame. He was like three hundred and twenty pounds,
and then he pared it down where he was just
(12:27):
still huge and menacing, but just this big, handsome.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Guy rolling in big courtroom presence.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yes, yes he was. He was handsome. He was a
good looking, confident, and he was smooth as silk in
front of a judge and Jerry, he really got the
job done. And Jack Swirling he also had the reputation
of taking on some of the most difficult cases in
South Carolina history. And as we mentioned in that little disclaimer,
(12:58):
he defended the absolute worst of the absolute worst. You
go back to episode fifty. He was one of the
defense attorneys for Larry Jene Bell, for Richard Starrett that
we've talked about, and also for Pee Wee Gaskins. So
that's a that's a tough those are tough ones to defend,
(13:25):
and he took on so many of these virtually impossible
cases and tried to do the best he could with it.
And there was a joke I read an article. They
were like, you know, Jack Swirling, he sent more people
to the electric chair than any of these judges in
South Carolina. But it was just because he took on
such a challenging case load.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
So he wasn't afraid to necessarily lose.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
No, no, and he just he did what he had
to do, what his profession called. And in his heart
he knew what these people did weren't right. But the
Constitution of the United States he upheld that and he said, hey,
you know we they got.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
To have defense, and he knows this criminal law.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, why not me? So back to young Jimmy Causey.
You know, he was in line to get the best
of the best representing him in court. So when Causey
did go on trial and started looking at all these
charges against him, the second degree burglary charge, Swirling he
(14:29):
actually was able to brok her a deal under the
South Carolina Youthful Offender Act, and this allowed for a
very minimal sentence. He did have to spend some time
Jimmy did for the second degree burglary. I don't know
if it wasn't clear whether he was able to plead
that down or not, but he was eventually released, still
(14:54):
had his whole life in front of him. But not
too long after his release from his sentence, Jimmy Causey
found himself in major hot water again. He was arrested
again for burglary in the early nineteen nineties, and this
burglary was considered a violent offense. The Causey family again
(15:16):
they retained the services of Jack swirling Well, the famed attorney.
He swooped in and got prosecutors to lessen the charges
to a non violent burglary, both shortening Jimmy sentence and
shedding the violent offender classification from his client. He also
(15:38):
received the opportunity for parole to come much earlier. And
for those of you listening, you know, violent and nonviolent
offenders are treated much differently in the prison system, So
this was going to make prison easier. He was going
to be able to go to a much less secure
(15:58):
place to serve as time time. He was probably going
to be able to be on you know, like a
work or an outside work crew, a road crew something
like that, where violent offenders they have to stay back
in prison and do manual labor there around the actual facility.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
And people once they get out of prison are also
treated very different depending on what their record is and
whether it has violent nonviolent charges. And it sounds like
his family was determined that he was going to get
back out again and go back into society again.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yes, yes, And that's my next point. I said, it
makes post release life a little easier. Well, once released Jimmy,
causey he had a new start and he really did
try to make the most of it. He started a
little business tree trimming and removal. And if you've ever
(16:55):
priced that out like I have, I don't know if
y'all had many trees.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
We have had a big willow oak taken down. And yes,
it was very.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Expensive, yes, and there's some big money to be made
in tree trimming and tree removal. But Jimmy, he was
really talented in his profession. People said he was really
good at it, you know, And I think what it
takes to be good at tree trimming is you can
get it done fast, you show up when you're supposed to,
(17:24):
you don't damage any further property or yourself or yourself,
you know, no insurance claims on anything, and you get
in there, you get it out of the way. But
he was a very good one. But also Jimmy Causey
had a real talent for breaking the law. And we
(17:47):
come back from this short break, we're going to get
into that in some of the specifics and go further
down the rabbit hole on this young man, Jimmy Causey.
Folks will be right back after this quick word from
our sponsors, and welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two
(18:25):
forty eight. Matt Hires here along with Ashley Harder. Hello, everybody, Yeah,
thank you so much for filling in for Danielle this week.
And when we left off, we were talking about a
troubled young man, kind of had his priorities a little
mixed up, could have had a promising career doing his
(18:46):
tree trimming, his tree removal. But we're talking about Jimmy
Causey Jr. And his record grew and grew and grew
like a grimlin you feed after midnight nineteen nineties. I mean,
we were talking about going through his record just in
(19:07):
Richland County. He had fraudulent checks, trespassing, shoplifting, hunting without
license and on unauthorized areas, a lot of d n
R violations. He obviously liked to hunt. He had been
convicted of some felony, so I'm thinking he was probably
bow hunting. Looked like he threw in driving under suspensions
(19:31):
in there, just just a popourri of little misdemeanors here
and there.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yeah, it sounds like he And you said he came
from a nice family too, like yeah, so like yeah,
it's kind of confusing why he got started with all
of this in the first place. And it almost seems
like he's pretty unlucky too.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Well yeah, but I mean he did it to himself.
If you if you depend on what to kind of
get you out of trouble, that's been there, done that,
that didn't that never.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Pans out, That never pans out.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
No, So with all these crimes, it seemed like just
a matter of time before he got into major trouble again.
And the robbery burglary bugs started hitting Jimmy Causey again
around two thousand and two, two thousand and three, Jimmy
(20:25):
was now thirty two years old, and I kind of
air quoted this. Recruited an apprentice not for triming trees,
but for robbery, and there was a guy named twenty
one year old Charles Wilson. Well, the two men, they
(20:46):
made a choice to go big in a pretty pretty
frightening way. And these guys one of their crimes. And
I was pulling most of this in from we talked
during the break from news articles, and sometimes their dates
can seem kind of convoluted. Again the Richland County Public Index,
(21:10):
a lot of theirs didn't have the sentencing set up,
so it was tough to kind of glean exactly the timeline.
But all this happened really super quick, within the span
of three months. Well, the two men they'd been kind
of scooping out a bank there in Columbia on to
Knights Road, a bank that they believed to be susceptible
(21:34):
to robbing. So Causey and Wilson they chose to enter
the bank and forced everyone on the ground at gunpoint,
threatening the life of anyone that moved. One of them
held everybody at bay with the gun and the other
grabbed the cash. Well somehow fleeing the scene. The seasoned
(21:59):
criminal Causey he was able to get away, but young
Charles Wilson, the twenty one year old. He was captured. Now,
Wilson was arrested and charged with violent robbery, but able
to be bonded out soon. Right there, close to it,
(22:20):
another plan was hatched. They said, you know, bank robbery
that was that was pretty risky, so let's put together
another plan. You know, banks are so well guarded, but
private residences that's probably gonna be the best way to go.
And Jimmy Causey he committed burglaries before. He said, you know,
(22:43):
I've learned from my mistakes. I've been caught. You know,
maybe this is the way we go about it. But
we gotta think, who do we know that's rich. Well,
Jimmy Causey's said, yeah, hold up, I do know somebody
that is absolutely eloaded with money, and I don't really
(23:10):
like him at all. Anyway. It was his former attorney,
Jack Swirling. Oh my goodness, the guy who had defended him.
You know, he kind of put his neck on the
professional neck on the line for him and you know,
brokeered some deals, pulled some favors, got him some lesser sentences.
Earlier in his life, when he was in his early twenties,
when he was nineteen, he said, you know, he's rich,
(23:31):
and you know, I don't like him, and he held
a grudge and said that he never thought he should
have done time at all for the two burglaries in
the nineteen nineties. He said, you know, he wasn't a
good lawyer anyway. But he's rich and he's laughing. He's
free and had to suffer anything like I've I've had to.
I'm the victim, right.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Sounds like there's a lot of externalizing here.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yes. So in June of two thousand and two, causing Wilson,
they went to the Spring Valley home of Jack Swirling.
The two men they crept to the back door and
entered just as Jack, his wife, and his daughter had
(24:16):
sat down to eat Hamburgers in their den. Now, these
two menacing men, they burst through the door and they
forced the Swirling family down on the ground at gunpoint.
They each handled the three people there. They ductaped the
Swirling family up, they bound them, held them a gun
(24:40):
to Jack's head actually he said up to his neck.
And one was holding them at gunpoint, which was causey.
While Wilson went and ransacked the house looking for all
this money that they were gonna get. Well, he wasn't
really finding a lot, not a lot of cash. You
(25:01):
gotta think around two thousand, around two thousand ish, that
was really the on set where debit cards became popular,
where you didn't have to write checks for anything at
the grocery store. You could just wipe this card. It
was like a credit card. I mean, everybody here knows
what a debit card is.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And even then, who keeps a ton of cash and
valuables in their home? I mean it could have been
flashy people, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I think probably the more flashy, the less cash they'd
have on a hand. I mean, my wife, I'm not
flashy by any means. I'm just saying this, but I
mean my wife didn't give be any cash. I never
have cash. I'm the most cashless guy ever. And I
don't have Vinmo because I don't trust it. And yeah,
if you're looking for money from me, you were gonna
(25:49):
get There is a jar that I have with some
pocket change in it.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
It sounds like that was just a risky decision for
not a whole lot of value.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Exactly exactly. Well. They put the gun, of course to
Jack Swirling's neck, Jimmy Causey did, and he said, where's
the money, he said, there's there's not any here. He said,
tell me where the money is or I'm going to
kill you. And he said, look, there is nothing here.
(26:25):
I don't know how many times I have to stay
that I would. I mean, my life's at stake. You've
got my wife and daughter taped up. I don't have
any money. So the grand total of this home invasion,
this kidnapping, this armed burglary for Causey and Wilson, it
got them forty dollars. And this is going to date
(26:48):
the crime. A palm pilot.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Oh my gosh, remind me what that is.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I think it's kind of like a black.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Like a little handheld computer.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, like a BlackBerry. I think you could take some notes,
maybe send some emails. But your your palm pilot. It
had a little stylus pen with it. And I was
never I'll never be important enough to have one. It
never never was. No, So I didn't, and.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
They didn't stand the test of time. Apparently, No.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Well, Charles Charles Wilson, he ended up getting captured eventually
here and he actually was questioned about, Hey, what about
this event over in Spring Valley, And that's when he said, okay,
(27:41):
it was me and Jimmy Causey. Well, Jimmy Causey pretty
well known to law enforcement around the Richland County area.
They said, well, okay, well we're going to take it
a look at him and the two. They went on
trial in February of two thousand and four. And Jack Swirling,
(28:03):
it was a lot of articles written about it about
how he was now having to sit on the witness stand,
a total change of scenery for him in a court room.
And he testified, Hey, this as anyone would this changed
his life. Yeah, kind of living his life in fear,
(28:24):
looking over his shoulder, worrying about his family their safety.
Swirling said he started carrying a gun at this point
when ahead and got a CWP. And I wonder too
if this maybe changed his perspective in the courtroom a
little bit, where you know, I've had to cross examine
(28:47):
these witnesses kind of try to pick apart their stories.
And in fact, that happened to Swirling on the stand,
and after about an hour he finally he asked the defenser.
He said, okay, here's the deal. He said, I had
a gun shoved in my neck. It was pretty traumatizing.
(29:08):
My wife and daughter were tied up I was scared.
I'm not gonna remember every detail one hundred percent of
what happened, but I'm going to tell you broad strokes
exactly what happened that night. So that was just kind
of a sidebar for me. I was like, I wonder
if this kind of maybe changed his perspective, but you
(29:30):
never know. Well, Jimmy causey he received a twenty year
sentence from the bank robbery back on Tonight Road. He
was turned in for that, and then he received five
life sentences and life without parole for the kidnapping, the
burglary home invasion, everything that had to do with the
(29:54):
Swirling family. Now, Charles Wilson, this is where, like I said,
it kind of gets convoluted. Looking at Richland County's public index.
He did receive a sentence, but for the most part
it sounded like he did cooperate with authorities. He is
out of South Carolina Department of Corrections. You got to
think this is about twenty five years ago, so or
(30:17):
twenty years ago. So I hope he learned his lesson.
Hope he's being productive, you know. I hope you're out
there doing something positive.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah, unlike our other friend.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yes, but Jimmy Causey. This this episode is far from over, folks.
If you think that's the end, it's only just beginning.
So when we get back on the other side of
this break, we will continue this tale of now running
Jimmy Causey. Folks will be right back after this quick
(30:50):
word from our sponsors, and welcome back to Carolina Crimes,
(31:16):
Episode two forty eight and this story about Jimmy Causey.
And if you think the first two thirds of this
one was wild, hold on to your hats. Here we go. So,
with five life sentences under his belt, Jimmy Causey he
was destined to spend the rest of his days at
(31:39):
Broad River Correctional right there in Richland County, and he
was housed there well. In November of two thousand and five,
a little over a year into his sentence, he figured,
you know, prison life ain't for me. I'm gonna get
(31:59):
a plan together. So he and a guy named Johnny Brewer,
and they said, here, here's what we're gonna do. We've
noticed that these dumpsters get hauled off from here, you know,
every every now and then. There's a pretty regular schedule. Now, now,
Jimmy cause He's smart, He really was and I don't
want to downplay that at all. But he devised this
(32:23):
plan and he said, we're gonna get into one of
these dumpsters and we're gonna get carried out of these
gates to freedom. And he had to have an accomplice.
He had to have Johnny Brewer with him. And what
they did was made he heads out of pull of paper,
putting their bunks. When guards would walk by, Hey, okay,
it looks like all right, they're sleeping. They're good. Two
(32:46):
in there. What took the guards five hours to realize
In November twenty twenty five, they were gone.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
The paper mache head didn't work.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
For too long. Well, for five hours, that's all. You
can go a long way in five hours. Well you
can imagine the panic that consumed the Swirling family. They
were like, oh my god, we put this guy away.
We testified against him. What's gonna happen? Jack Swirling was interviewed.
(33:21):
He said he is very prepared to defend himself, to
defend his family, and the man hunt ensued. The media.
They were giving pictures of both Jimmy Causey and his
accomplice in this escape, Johnny Brewer, and people started looking
(33:42):
for him throughout the state. This is five so down
in a Ridgeland, South Carolina motel that's in Jasper County,
South Carolina. We've talked about a couple of weeks ago
a Ridgeland a motel, so I don't know if it's
the one or not, but a pizza place down in
(34:04):
Rigeland they got a call for a delivery to a
motel room. Kind of out of the ordinary, is what
the article said. But I mean, I've been in a
motel before, I've ordered her hotel where I've ordered pizza.
But they said, you know this, we didn't get many
calls to deliver one. So the delivery driver she went
(34:24):
out delivered the pizza. Thought it was really odd. The
guys were really trying to hide their faces, like cracking
the door and holding their ca Okay, here you go,
here's here's cash, all right, thanks, And finally they opened
the door she was able to get a glimpse of
their faces. She's just chalked it up to just two
weird dudes in a motel and who knows what they're
(34:48):
doing behind closed doors. So she went back. She told
her manager there at the pizza place, who ended up
telling her husband and the husband said, well, you know,
there's two you guys on the loose. I saw it
on the news. You know, hey, did they look like
these guys? And the driver was like, yeah, they actually did.
(35:11):
So they ended up calling the authorities. And this was
two days after the escape again twenty years ago, almost
to the day that this happened, and Jimmy Causey and
Johnny Brewer were found and given ten extra years on
their sentence. Well, Causey, now he was a flight risk.
They're like, okay, this guy, what's keeping him here? You know,
(35:35):
he's got life sentences. What's going to keep him from
trying to get out again? He proved he'd tried to
do it one time. So what we're gonna do? The
Department of Corrections decided, let's move him to liber Correctional Facility,
which is in Ridgeville, South Carolina, not Ridgelund, and Liber
is a maximum security prison. It was the home of death,
(36:00):
I believe, for a little while before they moved it
back to Broad River. The worst of the worst were,
how's there, and so this was what Jimmy Causey earned. Well,
let's fast forward about twelve years to the fourth of
July twenty seventeen. Jimmy Causey had quite the intricate operation
(36:29):
going on inside liber He had a smuggled cell phone
in actually he had a couple. He was actually able
to access the Internet while he was there in Libre,
and he started really a Craigslist empire with help from
(36:53):
outside folks. What he was doing was buying and selling
vehicles on there. He was making a ton of cash,
but it was on the outside where he couldn't get it.
Other people that were helping him out were getting a
cut of that. And finally he devised, he said, I
(37:15):
am going to escape again. And what he did this
is pretty ingenious. There on the fourth of July, kind
of a skeleton crew on at a liber correctional One
(37:35):
correctional officer was supposed to clear the yard. It did
not happen, or it didn't happen effectively, and Jimmy Causey
counted on that. So he had his operatives on the
outside by a very heavy duty drone.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Okay, so I was not sure about mister Causey in
the beginning, but now this guy is a wheeler, a dealer,
and I mean it's really impressive for being in jail
for that long and having access to all the things
that are happening outside because most people don't stay on
the inside, they like lose access to tech and lose
the knowledge, you know, of what to do with it.
(38:18):
And then they come back out and they're like, whoa.
So yeah, I'm pretty impressed with this guy at this point.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah, I mean he he definitely did.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
He had it going on and Drone was not on
my Bengo card.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
No, but I mean there's there's videos explaining exactly in
detail about how he masterminded this escape. But he had
a drone drop some bolt cutters out there in the yard.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
So what he did. He went and got the bolt cutters.
He had to cut through not one, not two, not three,
but four fences with these bolt cutters. He had an
accomplice waiting outside. It had a nice vehicle, a change
of clothes, had cash for him. The accomplice was waiting
(39:09):
outside with binoculars, watching to make sure this thing was
going to go down. When he was able to get
a visual on him, he said, Okay, I'm gonna stay
put in his bed. He made not only a head
but a full toilet paper dummy this time. Yes, so
he had several phones there waiting for him as well,
(39:32):
so he could conduct business. What he was going to do,
he carried actually the phone with him from out of jail,
so there'd be no proof for them to look at.
He had that. He actually had to stop at a
convenience store not far from the prison itself, got out
of the car, walked past two police officers, kept his cool,
(39:55):
just hey, how y'all doing, walked into the store, got
whatever he needed, got his red Bull or whatever, and
took off on the road. Well, when Jimmy calls he
got to Alabama, he said, hey, I gotta get rid
of this phone I had in prison. You know, they're
(40:15):
gonna they're gonna be able to get some pings off.
He had a lot of forethought. He said, you know,
if they see this thing, if I powered on, they're
gonna know where I'm at. They're gonna be able to
trace that back to liber They're going to know the
signal was coming out. And he threw that phone off
of a bridge in Alabama.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Oh, he made it all the way to Alabama at
this point, this is the furthest he's ever made it.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Oh yeah, but he threw the wrong phone. Now, no way, Yes,
So he finally set up, not in Jasper County, South Carolina,
but he stopped in Jasper County, Texas, got a hotel
(41:01):
room and he was powering these phones on, and that's
when he realized he made a mistake. He powered on
the wrong phone. Well, he was absolutely right when he
powered on that phone. That gave authorities on this nationwide
man hunt. I mean, this was covered on CNN. They
(41:24):
contacted the Swirling family again. Police, they came completely protected them,
surrounded them. Sheriff Leon Locke, great job in Richland County
of doing that, but he powered this phone on and
they were able to tell exactly where he was. So
two hours later, in this Jasper County motel room in
(41:46):
Texas on July seventh, so he'd been gone about three
or almost four days at this point, he went to
sleep and at eleven pm, authorities busted in and got him again.
So now, Jimmy Causey is the only guy that I
know of that I can find that has housed on
(42:08):
South Carolina's death row that's not scheduled to be executed
no way. So they're like, dude, we're putting you in
death row. We can't take any chances you're a runner,
You're a runner.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Yeah. So and all the way to Texas.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, he got all the way and if he would
have phoned the right phone away, who knows, who knows
where he could have been. So that's where Jimmy causey sits.
I mean, he's yeah, the role. He was born in
nineteen seventy, so he's fifty five, fifty five, fifty five
(42:46):
years old and under I'm sure close scrutiny.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
But I still wonder, like what kind of empire does
he have now? Because he just seems like the kind
of guy he's got to have something to do with
all that time.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Yea, life sentences. I mean, what are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do? But he was caught. Let
me see, I had this note down. Yeah, he was
caught in Texas. He had an automatic pistol on him,
a shotgun, the four cell phones, and forty seven thousand,
(43:20):
six hundred and fifty four dollars cash on hand.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
He had a loyal little group of friends and a
crappy motel.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Right. Yeah, well I'm sure they were getting a cut.
They were like, hey, all you got to do is
pick up this guy outside the prison. Yeah, here's twenty
thousand bucks, or hey, this is kind of shady. Go
by this drone. Get some bolt cutters, get them over
the fence. Here's you know, twenty five thousand dollars. I
mean people hard on their luck or you know, unscrupulous.
(43:52):
You never know what they'll do. Yeah, so a wild one.
Yeah for sure. Well, next week Danielle will be back.
We're inching ever closer to the episode two d and fifty,
a huge historic case in the state of South Carolina.
We've discussed it off air, no hashtag, no spoilers.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Zip.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yes and Ashley Harder, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
You're welcome. It was fun.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yeah, I appreciate it. And now I kind of need
somebody to go back and forth with. And you were wonderful.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
Okay, I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Yes, thank you so much, and thank you for listening
this week. Just a few reminders. If you're not following
us on social media, check us out on Facebook at
Carolina Crimes Podcast. Also over on Twitter at sc Crimes Pod,
Twitter or x. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple iTunes,
Apple podcasts, those five star review please hit that purple
(44:48):
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some sweet swag for your back, head on over to
Carolina Crimestore dot com. So, until next week, thank you
(45:08):
for listening to Carolina Crimes,
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