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A Lowcountry man convicted of killing his wife – and the couple’s chocolate lab – as part of a scheme to run away with his girlfriend received a life sentence earlier this month from a South Carolina judge.
Matthew Garrett Speck, 37, of Hanahan, S.C., was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by S.C. circuit court judge Deadra Jefferson last Friday (November 22, 2024). Prior to his sentencing, a jury found Speck guilty of murdering his wife, Caitlin Conrad Speck, and the couple’s chocolate Labrador retriever – Bailey Mae – in the early morning hours of June 5, 2020 at their Raptor Drive home in the Eagle Landing neighborhood of Hanahan.
According to prosecutors, Speck shot and killed his wife as she slept – then turned the gun on their dog. Speck then proceeded to shoot himself in the arm and torso in an attempt to “create superficial wounds to trick police into believing his claim that home invaders had attacked all of them.”
Indeed, the initial law enforcement response to the home that fateful morning was related to a “reported burglary in progress.”
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Detectives with the Hanahan, S.C. police department were not fooled by the murderous ruse – arresting Speck the same day the incident took place. Prosecutors in the office of S.C. ninth circuit solicitor Scarlett Wilson weren’t fooled, either.
Detectives analyzed forensic evidence, took witness statements and conducted a five-hour interview with Speck prior to charging him with murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and ill treatment toward animals.
At trial, prosecutors in Wilson’s office – led by assistant solicitor F. Alexander Myers – presented evidence and testimony which led a jury to convict him of each of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition to testimony from police responders, medical experts and crime scene technicians, Speck’s former girlfriend took the stand and “testified that Speck told her that he was going to divorce his wife and they were moving away together to start a new life,” prosecutors noted.
Prosecutors also introduced evidence attesting to the fact that, before the murder, Speck researched homicidal strangulation, choking death and cyanide poisoning.
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Judge Jefferson concurred with the prosecution’s recommendation of a life sentence without parole, and also handed down five-year sentences on the accompanying charges.
“Speck earned his sentence after his brazen betrayal and premeditation,” Myers said in a statement released by the ninth circuit following Jefferson’s sentencing.
While this reporter applauds police, prosecutors and the court for playing their roles in ensuring justice and accountability in this case, I am hopeful recent developments related to the availability of capital punishment will encourage prosecutors to seek the death penalty more often in cases like this moving forward.
Murderers deserve consequences commensurate with their crimes – consequences which serve as a deterrent to anyone contemplating the commission of similar crimes in the future.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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