An inmate from South Carolina, who was convicted of murdering a man and leaving a chilling message written in the victim’s blood, has had an execution date scheduled.
Back in 2004, Stephen Bryant brutally murdered Willard ‘TJ’ Tietjen after pretending he needed help with car troubles at Tietjen’s rural home in Sumter County.
Bryant, who was in his early 20s, shot the 62-year-old multiple times and then desecrated his body by extinguishing cigarettes on Tietjen’s eyes.
Following the murder, Bryant staged a bizarre scene by surrounding the body with lit candles and even answered a phone call from Tietjen’s daughter, Kimberly Dees.
When Dees asked to speak with her father, Bryant chillingly replied, “you can’t, I killed him.” Dees recounted in court, “I said, ‘This isn’t funny, who are you?’ He said, ‘I’m the prowler’.”
Prosecutors revealed that Tietjen was shot several times before Bryant used a potholder, crafted by Dees during her childhood, to dip into Tietjen’s blood and write a message on the wall.
The message read: “Victim 4 in 2 weeks. catch me if u can.”
Authorities soon linked Bryant to the murders of two other men, both of whom were lured out of their vehicles on remote roads. One was Clifton Gainey, 36, who had left the car to relieve himself, and the other was Christopher Burgess, 35, whose body was discovered on a deserted road.
Clinton Brown, Bryant’s fourth intended victim, survived after being shot in the back while fishing by a riverbank, managing to drive himself to the hospital.
Bryant was apprehended shortly after the incidents and, in 2008, confessed to the murders, which led to his placement on death row.
Now aged 44, Bryant is scheduled for execution on November 14, following the issuance of a death warrant by the South Carolina Supreme Court on October 17.
His defense team requested a postponement, citing complications due to the ongoing US government shutdown affecting their ability to work with federal courts, but the judges denied the appeal.
Bryant must decide by October 31 on his method of execution, choosing between lethal injection, firing squad, or the electric chair.