They were just a few hundred or so yards from their apartment, where the sisters lived with their mother, a middle school teacher. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, with credit for time served and good behaviour. You never know if that tiny piece of information could flesh out the full puzzle. You see, in 1981, he had been arrested and convicted for the rape of a sixteen-year old, telling interrogators that his seminal fluid had been used to convict him. Police have long theorized that the abduction - and later murder - of Kia Logan was a crime of opportunity. "We're also looking for a faded dark blue or black Monte Carlo, a mid-70's model. As Hampton prepared for his five-year sentence, he was facing investigations and charges from four separate states. Coffee is her best friend and a good book cannot be beat! Choose wisely! Unfortunately for them, as soon as Hampton went to jail for Peeping Tom, he stopped cooperating with investigators. He has a folder in his office with the reports on each of these cases, and he said hes read some of them upwards of 15 times. Lori's sister, Debbie, tried to contact her regarding her mother's death, but couldn't find her. One way is to make the amount of the reward really impressive and/or tempting. 13-36901 (Murder) Homicides dont get closed. Bernetta spent a few minutes searching the area around the apartment complex, but when she couldnt find her daughter, she called the Greenwood County Sheriffs Office to report her as missing. She loves to tackle her dreams head on and takes life by storm. Kia was dead. Three other people were shot that day and taken to the hospital by others, but many in the crowd said they saw nothing and police couldnt confirm the nature of the shooting. These tips carried the investigation outside the Greenwood area, with investigators pursuing leads to as far away at California. Greenwood Police Chief T.J. Chaudoin said he keeps a file in his office of the departments unsolved homicide cases, to keep them fresh in his mind and revisit them when he can. Contact staff writer Damian Dominguez at 864-634-7548 or follow on Twitter @IJDDOMINGUEZ. We began checking missing children cases and conducted three weeks of intensive searches for additional remains, but we didn't find anything.". Sending it off for testing, they had to hope that they could uncover any evidence that could help lead them to the culprit. He also had a blotchy, pockmarked face, made worse from poison ivy exposure the year prior. The next day, a retired pediatrician named Casper E. Wiggins wrote a heartfelt editorial in the Index Journal, which read as follows: " A child is missing, and apart from the few days immediately after her kidnapping, the public outcry has been next to nothing. It is known that her friends lost track of her in the crowd so they assumed that she had a ride home and left. It just stops as if she evaporated into the hot southern air of South Carolina. There was no identification on them, but it was surmised they were traveling or 'backpacking'. The crime spree began in July 1995 and carried on until August of 1996. The location of the skull was four miles east of the city of Newberry and 35 miles east of Greenwood. Soon, children began playing outside of the Georgetown apartments once again, Kia's disappearance becoming an outlier to a safe community. Hampton plead not guilty almost instantly. Another witness suggested it could have been a drive-by shooting. Soon, the one-year anniversary of Kia's disappearance had come-and-gone. A translator helped him speak to officers, and he said he was robbed before he and the other man were shot by a masked man. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. Set in the middle of Greenwood itself, the reward fund started with a $2000 donation in her name. Malakia Logan Unresolved Malakia Logan Two years before the disappearance of the Millbrook Twins, and six years before Tiffany Nelson went missing, another African American girl went missing about an hour north - in a small town called Greenwood, South Carolina. Subscribe Now:. It has been over a decade since there was any news or developments in the investigation, with it seeming to entering the pantheon of cold cases which will likely never be truly solved. Alex Murdaugh Charged With Fraud After Asking Former Client to Kill Him. Police were beginning to become certain that Hampton had simply been lying to them in order to obtain special privileges: such as trips outside of jail, meals, coffee, and cigarettes. A lot of times what you hear law enforcement say is we dont want to give a lot of details out because the case is still pending, he said. Coroner IDs man killed in Greenwood shooting, Greenwood police identify suspect in Taggart Avenue slaying, Father of firsts: Man's life is a walk through Black history in Greenwood, Greenwood man gets 23-year sentence in death of 18-month-old, Calhoun Falls man faces federal drug count, PTC Foundation lacing up sneakers for Spring Forward 5K, Pi Day Lecture at the Arts Center of Greenwood, EAA and AMA sponsors Build and Fly project. Somewhere out there is someone who knows something about each one of these mysteries and it is up to us to not let them grow cold. Like I said, these crimes varied by location, with some taking place in Georgia and others in South Carolina. Witnesses said they heard the shooting and one gave a description of a suspect but left before officers could question them further. On July 4th, the Greenwood-area newspaper, the Index Journal, ran a story detailing Kia's mom, Bernetta Logan, as she struggled with the disappearance of her youngest daughter. When the police finally arrived they found all three of the victims in a utility room in the back of the bank. Earlier in the day, they had been aided by helicopters provided by SLED - the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, a statewide police agency. Eventually, DNA testing would show that, while the same suspect was involved in all six abductions, Hampton was not the one who committed them. He had been previously terminated due to unexcused absences and excessive tardiness, but that didn't stop him from getting into trouble. Low 44F. During the investigation, police drove him around to many of the abduction sites, and while he was able to share some information, he didnt know any of the minute details the actual perpetrator would, leading them to believe he was making up his confessions. According to our research of South Carolina and other state lists, there were 13 registered sex offenders living in Greenwood, South Carolina as of March 04, 2023. City-data.com does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of any information on this site. Officers heard about 10 shots at about 2:50 a.m. May 19, 2019 from the area of Pearl Street. Between July 1995 and August 1996, authorities in Georgia and South Carolina were investigating a string of abductions and sexual assaults of young Black children along a specific state highway. It hasn't been updated with any of his current information. On May 18, 1988, police released a statement to the public, which informed residents that two men were seen in the vicinity of the apartment complex on the afternoon Kia went missing. At around the time these sexual assaults came to an end, in the summer of 1996, police began to eye a specific sexual deviant as a potential suspect. He also had scars along his right arm and stomach, which matched up with what one of the younger victims had described. Investigators with the S.C. Highway Patrol ( SCHP . Unfortunately, this didn't seem remiss and then in 2007, her mother passed away and that is where the story begins. They haven't made any positive identification yet. "Cold cases" isn't the term Greenwood Police Chief T.J. Chaudoin likes to use for his department's unsolved homicides. I criticize us for not raising such an uproar it would be heard across this nation .. All of these cases are still open and being investigated when or if leads become available. Perez took police to another man lying on a concrete pad behind an apartment. Freeman was shot at about 10 p.m. July 15, 2018 at a Sumter Street residence. Anyone with information about Sumter County's unsolved cases is asked to use the following methods to provide a crucial tip: Sumter County Sheriff's Office . They are asking local law enforcement to. One man who had met the couple stated that the man, Jacques, had told him that his father was a physician in Canada. Use at your own risk. Link said Maj. Hugh Butler, who oversees the detectives division, said officers are making progress with the evidence they have, but there is no new information detectives can release right now. Greenwood's law enforcement now working 4 unsolved homicides, By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ Unless new evidence emerges, our participation is over.". It was August 9, 1976, on a deserted road in Sumter County, SC, when a trucker happened upon the scene of the murders. It is the yin and yang; balance in all things. He had been talking with someone on a moped when a dark car came up, and two people opened fire from within. It's a reminder of unfinished business.". People were arrested in connection with this case, a report said, but witnesses recanted their statements and the suspects were released for lack of evidence. He also soon recanted all of his prior confessions, meaning that police had to start back from square one. Another description was vague, calling it simply an older model white compact or subcompact with blue interior. That day - Monday, May 16th - approximately seventy-five people helped conduct a search around the apartment complex. Chaudoin said he plans to start a monthly cold case briefing within the next few months, to share information with the public about these cases in the hopes of inspiring tipsters. There at that mailbox is the last place Jeremy was seen. Given the case theyd put together, they were prepared to pursue the death penalty. Five people in his. Through the rest of the year, police would remain relatively silent as to where their investigation stood. The composite, for all of its intrigue, led to no real suspects in the surrounding area. Tipsters can also reach out on Facebook, or submit a tip anonymously online at bit.ly/3zN6rM2. Investigators had been pursuing clues as far away as California, and trying to tie Kia's disappearance to other stories of missing children in the surrounding states. As of this episode's recording, the abduction and murder of Malakia Zali Logan remains unresolved. This year my daughter Renee will go, but I will stay here to answer the phone, just in case. He recognized one of the men but wasnt able to give police a description before EMS staff arrived to treat him. He had bloodstains on his clothes and was trying to tell officers something, but he didnt speak English. When they continued their rounds of questioning, Hampton was eager to talk. The witness saw three young men in the car, and when officers checked near the church they found a pair of shoes that matched a sole imprint at the scene. It took over a decade, but Kia's parents were finally given answers as to what had happened ot their daughter. South Carolina is loaded with history and ghostly tales of suspense. If you know any information about this crime, you can contact the Greenwood County Sheriff's Department at (864) 942-8600. Greenwood's law enforcement now working 4 unsolved homicides By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com Jun 5, 2019 Zykevious Ramsey's sister, Jada Leverette, said her brother was a. Sadly, South Carolina and other states in the United States have hundreds, if not thousands, of unsolved cases. Will they ever find out what happened and who these two young people were? When Hampton stopped cooperating with police and withdrew his previous statements taking credit for the 1995 and 1996 sexual assaults, police realized that they needed to build a case around evidence, not just his comments. It was early morning, October 2001 on Interstate 526. Police would find out what happened to this little girl over the years, but it would take time, advancements in DNA technology, and the persistence of dedicated investigators. He had green eyes, with brown hair, a brown mustache, and a few days' worth of graying stubble at the time of his arrest in 1996. ", Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster also shared his thoughts, referring to the active state of the investigation or rather, the lack of one: "I can't think of anything worse than losing a child to an act of violence, then on top of that losing a child which you really don't know what happened.". Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. Georgetown has always been a family-type community. Greenwood city's six unsolved homicides stay a police priority, By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ He described not only his sex life - which included sex with both genders - but his prior criminal history. Speaking about the indictment, longtime Greenwood County Sheriff Sam Riley stated: "There was no relationship between him and Kia. Tiffany, whose case I covered in the last episode, was found in a shallow grave roughly twenty miles away from where she had gone missing. Unsolved Murdaugh Murders Expose Years of South Carolina Mysteries Alex Murdaugh, the powerful lawyer who asked a handyman to kill him, had a spectacular fall from grace. This was in 1996, where he plead guilty to having drilled a hole into a womens restroom at a Georgia rest stop and was sentenced to five years. His mother, who lives in New York, hasn't heard anything about the case for a long time. Bullets damaged the window of a residence and shot through a TV inside. Dispatchers told police several men were seen running behind a residence on Sumter street and dropping guns off. BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. (WIS) - Two men died in a shooting Friday night in Batesburg-Leesville, police confirmed. Greenwood's Emergency Preparedness Director Herbert Vaughn spoke to the local press, and talked about the searches his department had helped conduct in the area on Monday and Tuesday. Kia and her sister, Renee, were playing with some friends on the basketball court, when Kia decided to turn in at around 8:30 PM. At least four of the six could easily be solved if someone would step up and give us better info because they know..