The 35 inmates on South Carolina's death row committed no less than 60 murders combined.
Here are the crimes of some of them:
1. Quincy Jovan Allen: shot four men with a shotgun. He was inspired to begin his crime spree during his time in federal prison, hoping to become a Mafia hitman. Allen and another inmate attempted to break out of prison and nearly killed a correctional officer.
2. Steven Vernon Bixby: shot two policemen during a land dispute, leading to a 14-hour standoff.
3. Stephen Corey Bryant: murdered three people during an eight-day crime spree. He contacted one of the victim's wives and taunted her. Bryant also wrote “victim number four in two weeks, catch me if you can” on the wall of one of the crime scenes.
4. Luzenski Allen Cottrell: responsible for three murders, including that of a police officer. Cottrell forced one of his victims to dig his own grave and then shot him.
5: William Oliver Dickerson: kidnapped a man, pulled out two of his teeth, sodomized him with a broomstick, and strangled him. The victim was tortured for 18 hours.
6: Ron Oneal Finklea: shot a security guard while attempting to rob an ATM, then set the guard on fire.
7. Timothy Ray Jones: murdered his five children, aged 1-8. He then put their bodies in trash bags and disposed of them in Alabama. Some of the jurors were so traumatized by what they saw they required counseling afterwards.
8. Mikal Deen Mahdi: murdered a man at a North Carolina gas station, then drove to South Carolina where he murdered an Orangeburg police officer. He and Quincy Allen nearly killed a correctional officer during a death row escape attempt.
Mahdi's appeals are exhausted.
9. Freddie Eugene Owens: murdered a convenience store clerk during a robbery. While in jail awaiting sentencing, Owens tortured and murdered his cellmate.
Owens' appeals are exhausted.
10. Tyree Alfonso Roberts: murdered two Beaufort County deputies responding to a domestic disturbance.
11. James Dejarnette Robertson: bludgeoned and knifed his parents to death for a $2.2 million inheritance.
12. Brad Keith Sigmon: murdered his ex-girlfriend's parents in their own home. He then tried to kidnap his ex-girlfriend but she escaped.
Sigmon's appeals are exhausted.
13. Mitchell Carlton Sims: shot two Domino's Pizza employees to death during a robbery. He fled to California, where he robbed and drowned another Domino's deliveryman.
Sims was also sentenced to death in California. His appeals in the California case are exhausted.
14. Stephen Christopher Stanko: murdered two people and raped a teenage girl.
15. Norman Edwin Starnes: murdered two men and buried their bodies on his uncle's farm.
16. Samuel Louis Stokes: participated in a murder-for-hire, linked to at least one other murder.
17. Andres Antonio Torres: bludgeoned to death a Spartanburg couple in their own home.
18. James William Wilson: shot and killed two eight-year-old girls and wounded nine others at Oakland Elementary School.
The crimes of those on South Carolina's death row are beyond demonic. Justice demands the ultimate penalty for these crimes. It has been 12 years since the state's last execution. Hopefully justice will be served with the passage of a secrecy bill.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.