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#Post#: 503--------------------------------------------------
~ Brad Sigmon, (SC) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 26, 2022, 1:35 pm
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Brad Sigmon was sentenced to death by the State of South
Carolina for the murders of David Larke and Gladys Larke.
According to court documents Sigmon entered a residence and beat
to death victims David Larke and Gladys Larke with a baseball
bat. Brad Sigmon was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
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Sigmon and Rebecca “Becky” Larke were in an intimate
relationship for approximately three years. They were living
together in her trailer when she informed Sigmon she did not
want to see him anymore. Becky’s parents, Gladys and David
Larke, lived next door to them in a trailer on the same
property. David also informed Sigmon that Becky wanted him to
move out and served him with eviction papers, stating Sigmon had
to leave within two weeks. Becky subsequently moved in with her
parents. Sigmon believed she had begun a new relationship and
although he pleaded with her to come back, she refused. Sigmon
became increasingly obsessed with Becky, stalking her in an
attempt to verify she was seeing another man.
About a week after Becky asked him to leave, Sigmon was drinking
and smoking crack c*k* with his friend, Eugene Strube, in
Becky’s trailer. At some point in the evening, Sigmon decided he
would go to the Larkes’ home the following morning after Becky
left to take her children to school and tie up Becky’s parents.
When Becky returned home, Sigmon intended to kidnap her and
disappear with her, but he did not want her parents to be able
to call the authorities. Sigmon and Strube eventually ran out of
crack and Strube fell asleep.
In the morning, after they saw Becky leave, Strube and Sigmon
exited the trailer. However, Strube changed his mind about
helping Sigmon and left. Sigmon grabbed a baseball bat from
beneath his trailer and entered the Larkes’ trailer. Upon seeing
Sigmon, David told his wife to bring him his gun, and Sigmon hit
him in the back of the head several times with the bat. Sigmon
then saw Gladys, ran after her into the living room, and hit her
several times in the head. He returned to the kitchen where
David lay and hit him several more times with the bat because he
was still moving. He then went back to Gladys, saw that she was
still moving, and hit her several more times.
Sigmon retrieved David’s gun and waited for Becky to return
home. When Becky arrived, Sigmon brandished the gun, took her
car keys, and forced her in her car. He intended to pick up his
own car and drive to North Carolina with Becky. However, she
managed to jump out of the car and tried to run away. Sigmon
pulled over and chased after her, shooting her several times.
When he realized he was out of bullets, he got back in her car
and fled. Although Becky was injured, she survived the assault
and told the witnesses who came to her aid that Sigmon told her
he had either tied up or killed her parents. Police officers
were dispatched to the Larkes’ home where the bodies were
discovered.
A manhunt ensued and Sigmon was eventually captured in
Gatlinburg, Tennessee after he called his mother, who was
assisting the police in locating him. He was arrested without
incident and taken into custody by the Gatlinburg police
department where he confessed to murdering the Larkes and
kidnapping and shooting Becky. He admitted that he intended to
kill Becky and then kill himself. Officers from Greenville
arrived to transfer him back to Greenville, but, at Sigmon’s
request, they took his statement before leaving Tennessee. He
again confessed to his crimes and stated his plan had been to
kill Becky and himself.
Sigmon was indicted for two counts of murder; assault and
battery with intent to kill; kidnapping and possession of a
firearm during the commission of a violent crime; first degree
burglary; and grand larceny. The case proceeded to trial only on
the murder and first degree burglary charges. Sigmon conceded
guilt and presented no evidence in his defense. The State
presented expert testimony that both of the Larkes died as a
result of blunt force trauma to the head, describing the
severity of their wounds. Both sustained nine lacerations to the
head, causing hemorrhaging and filling the sinuses with blood,
so that they were breathing in blood as they died. It was
estimated that both lived for three to five minutes before dying
from their wounds. Additionally, both sustained defensive wounds
to their forearms. The jury ultimately found Sigmon guilty.
During the penalty phase, the defense presented testimony
regarding Sigmon’s mental state, such as his issues with
childhood abandonment and neglect that affected the development
of his social mores and overall judgment, as well as evidence of
an extensive history of drug use stemming from his “recurrent
major depressive disorder” or his “chemical dependency
disorders.” Sigmon additionally presented evidence that he was
adapting to prison life and that he was not a problematic or
difficult prisoner. Sigmon testified he was sorry for the crimes
and admitted he probably deserved to die.
The court charged the jury to consider three factors in
aggravation: that two or more persons were killed, that the
murder was committed during the commission of a burglary, and
that the murder was committed with physical torture. It also
charged the jury to consider four statutory mitigating
circumstances: that the defendant had no prior history of
criminal convictions involving the use of violence against
another person; the murder was committed while the defendant was
under the influence of emotional or mental disturbance; the
capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his
conduct, or conform his conduct to the law was substantially
impaired; and the defendant was provoked by the victim. Although
Sigmon requested a charge on the statutory mitigating
circumstance of age or mentality, the judge declined to give
that charge, noting mental state would be covered by the other
mitigating circumstances he charged.
The jury ultimately sentenced Brad Sigmon to death
8)
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