The people from Nixonville, South Carolina, were shocked when the fervently religious couple Diane Charles and Diane Charles Parker were found murdered at their home in April 2005. The police were able to identify the suspected murderer quickly; however, what transpired was a massive miscarriage of justice that was corrected in the years following.
Investigation Discovery’s ‘Unusual Suspects’ Deadly Intent Shattered Dreams’ lays down the facts, follows the complicated trial with precision, and makes it easy for viewers to comprehend. If you’re interested in learning more about the trial, you’ve reached the right spot. Let’s take a look now!
How Did Diane and Charles Parker Die?
Charles Edward Parker Sr. was born in Conway in Horry County, South Carolina, on December 22, 1950. The young man was among the four children of Lorraine D. Parker, and the late William Lloyd Parker Sr. Charles was a very religious person. He was an active part of Tilly Swamp Baptist Church and an active member and former Master of various religious groups. As the operator and owner of MIRRORTEC, He was a self-employed businessman and enjoyed hunting and fishing.
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Gloria Diane “Sugar” Mills Parker was born in Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on December 1, 1950. Her parents were the late Shirley Elizabeth Gray Mills and James Frederick. As school secretary in the Horry County School District, Diane was a fan of scouring yards for items of art and antiques. She also attended Tilly Swamp Baptist Church, where she got married and met Charles. The couple had two kids, one of whom was called Charlie E. Parker Jr. and a daughter called Bambi Bennett.
They were both valued members of society. Therefore it was a surprise when they were found dead in their Nixonville residence located on South Carolina Highway 90 on April 12, 2005. Charles’s company was in a barn that was located about 100 to 150 yards away from the Parker home. Charlie, along with two other employees from the company, discovered the couple dead in their home and called the police. The police found Charles lying on the bathroom floor and discovered that both his wife and he had been shot. They also discovered several drops of blood on the scene, which didn’t belong to the people who were killed.
Who Killed Diane and Charles Parker?
Based on testimony from witnesses and Charles, the blood that was found on their shoes, Bambi and her boyfriend, Richard Gagnon, were taken into custody two weeks later by police. Witnesses claimed that they had taken them to the Parker residence at night before discovering the bodies. They also disagreed with the victims over the custody of Bambi’s sons and inheritance. While Bambi was later released due to the absence of evidence linking her to the murder, Charles was tried and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole in 2008.
The police were looking for an exact match to the blood samples they had found at the crime scene. Oddly enough, it didn’t correspond to Bambi or Richard’s blood samples. In the absence of any match, they sent samples to the lab for forensics located at the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) in Columbia. They also took samples from an unidentified suspect in a separate home burglary close to Longs in Horry County in 2006.
The police eventually found a match to the DNA samples taken from both murder scenes in 2009 using the DNA taken by Bruce Antwain Hill. Hill had been detained in Tennessee for a different home violation charge, and his DNA had been incorporated into the FBI national database. Hill has been accused of first-degree robbery and two counts of murder in the first degree for Charles and Diane.
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Where is Bruce Antwain Hill Now?
The authorities initially believed that Bruce and Richard were co-conspirators in the double murder, but Bruce refused to meet Richard in an interview with a prisoner. Richard was later given a new trial, and the case against him was eventually dismissed in April 2015. Bruce was found guilty of the two charges in September 2011. He was sentenced to life without parole for the murder and 30 years of prison time for the burglary charge in the first degree. Both sentences were scheduled to run concurrently.
Bruce appealed the verdict in 2014 but was rejected. Bruce appealed for post-conviction relief in 2017 and even requested to have a new attorney on his appeal. The sentence is in place, and Bruce is in his late 30s and currently incarcerated in an inmate cell at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina.
