SCNOW
Email Facebook Twitter Mobile RSS
|
 
NewsNews

New murder charges in deaths of Horry County couple

New murder charges in deaths of Horry County couple

24-year-old Antwain Hill is charged with the 2005 murders of Diane and Charlie Parker.


»  Comments | Post a Comment

Since the 2005 deaths of Charlie and Diane Parker a second person is now charged with killing the Horry County couple. The two were found shot dead in their Nixonville home just outside of Conway.

Richard Gagnon the now ex-boyfriend of the couple’s daughter Bambi Bennett is serving a life sentence for their deaths.

Now police say DNA evidence from the scene matches 24-year-old Antwain Bruce Hill who is currently jailed in Tennessee awaiting extradition to Horry County.

With this new evidence, officials with the 15th District Solicitor's Office said they hope that Hill can be brought back to South Carolina quickly, so he can be tried on the murder charges.

Solicitor Greg Hembree tells News 13 that D-N-A match came in just in the last thirty days.

Hembree added that during the initial trial they knew about another person being present during the killings.

"There was blood that belonged to Diane Parker, blood that belong to Charlie Parker and blood that belong to an unknown third party, it did not belong to Richard Gagnon."

Hembree said a patio door window had been broken out where there was some reason to believe that when someone broke through the window they cut themselves and they were bleeding in the house.

Hembree also said that Gagnon, while in jail, told a fellow inmate unrelated to the case about another person being involved in the Parkers’s murder.

“The fact that the blood was there instead of being a weakness in the case which it could be became a strength in the case because it corroborated Gagnon’s statement to the jailhouse informant,” said Hembree.

As far as Gagnon’s conviction, Hembree said it will stay.

"Even though it is a recently developed evidence it's not evidence of Gagnon’s innocence.”

As far as what role Hill played in the deaths still remains a question that Hembree could not fully answer.

"There are things i cannot talk about ethically i would be prohibited from discussing"

News 13 attempted to contact the parkers’ daughter Bambi Bennett who was inititally arrested on charges of involvement with the deaths but was later released. According to her previous attorney Jim Irvin Bennet is currently in Florida.

Bruce Hill now faces two counts of murder. This isn't the first time hill has been in trouble with the law.

According to his records with SLED Hill has been arrested at least four times in South Carolina starting in 2003 when he was just 18 years old.

Among the charges listed are armed robbery with a deadly weapon, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, possession of crack cocaine, and most recently, criminal domestic violence.

Hembree said they are trying to extradite Hill to Horry County within the next week.

That is unless he fights it which could delay his arrival by up to 30 days, once he is here, he will be arrested, formally charged, and a trial date will be set.

Count on News 13 to continue to follow this developing story.

Terms and Conditions

Advertisement

 
 

Advertisement

Reader Comments

*Facebook Account Required to Comment. If you are not already logged into Facebook, please click the comment button to do so.

Deal of the Day

Advertisement

Weather

Weather

Latest News Video

Video Preview

Advertisement

 

Things to Do

 
 

Links We Like

Advertisement

Media General
KewlBoxBoxerJam: Games & Puzzles
Games, Puzzles & Trivia
Blockdot: Advergaming and Branded Media
Advergaming and Branded Media

MyYahoo!