A South Carolina couple and their son were sentenced Thursday for the murder of the couple’s teenage special needs daughter.
A jury found David Eugene Baynard, 55, and his wife, Bobbie Jo Baynard, 45, guilty of “Murder, Felony Child Abuse, and Unlawful Neglect of Child” following a four-day trial that started Oct. 28, according to a press release the Office of Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry J. Barnette shared with the Daily Caller. The South Carolina Circuit Court judge sentenced both to consecutive sentences of life in prison for murder, twenty years in prison for inflicting great bodily harm upon a child and ten years in prison for unlawfully neglecting a child.
The couple’s son, Edward Vincent Baynard, 21, was also found guilty of “Murder, Felony Child Abuse, and Unlawful Neglect of Child” by the jury, according to the press release. He will serve concurrent sentences of thirty years in prison for murder, twenty years in prison for inflicting great bodily harm upon a child and ten years in prison for unlawfully neglecting a child, the judge ruled.
The trial of the trio was held in Cherokee County, 7th Circuit Spartanburg Assistant Solicitor Amy Goulding told the Daily Caller.
David Baynard carried a “listless and unresponsive” Heather Baynard, 14 — a special needs child of the Baynards — April 11, 2022, “like a sack of potatoes into Spartanburg Regional Medical Center,” the press release revealed. Heather was cold and gray, but her parents were reportedly nonchalant and emotionless. (RELATED: Ohio Mother Pleads Guilty To Aggravated Murder After Leaving 16-Month-Old Baby To Vacation)
Heather’s family relations told WYFF News 4 she had cerebral palsy.
Heather died of her injuries and infections on the same day, her body showing “extreme signs of disintegration,” the press release noted. Heather’s older brother Edward was employed as her caregiver for the past 18 months and earned more than $25,000 for the role.
Law enforcement agents visited the Baynards’ home in Gaffney April 12, 2022 and “found junk piled multiple feet high,” insects living in trash in every room and “urine and animal feces” covering the floors, Barnette’s office added. The family had abandoned Heather amid the biological waste, which “broke down her skin and tissues.”
Heather Baynard’s Crib (Photo by the Office of Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry J. Barnette, Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties, South Carolina)
Baynard – Bathroom (Photo by the Office of Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry J. Barnette, Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties, South Carolina)
Heather’s legs gave the appearance of raw meat, a witness from the Spartanburg hospital told the court, according to the press release. Another witness said in part that Heather had been forced to live in and suffer daily abuse.
Doctors and the coroner testified that Heather’s “horrible condition” surpassed anything they had seen before in their careers, the press release read.
“[N]obody in this world – especially a child with special needs – should have to go through anything like this. It was horrible. Heather was left to rot to death,” Barnette — who also led the prosecution — remarked, according to the press release.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
