Bio

Kenneth Lee Myers was a South Carolina man who lived near Wagener in Aiken County. He worked as a self-employed auto-glass repairman and was known locally by some police officers because he had repaired glass for the Wagener Police Department. Before the killings, Myers had been married to Angela Myers and had previously been in a relationship with Esther Baldwin. People close to Baldwin later described Myers as controlling and abusive during that relationship. Reports also stated that he had financial and relationship problems before the shooting rampage.

A former friend later told investigators and reporters that Myers owned several weapons, expressed antigovernment survivalist views, and claimed to have received militia-style training in Michigan. The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said it was looking into those claims, though no explosives or hidden survival materials were reported found.

Murder Story

On July 2, 2011, Kenneth Lee Myers went to the Daytona Road home of his wife’s family near Wagener, South Carolina. There, he fatally shot his wife, Angela Myers, 25; her twin sister, Tabatha T. Brown, 25; and their mother, Vicky May Hook Brown, 50. A child inside the home witnessed part of the attack and escaped with a younger sibling to seek help. Deputies later found the three women dead at the residence.

After leaving the Daytona Road home, Myers went to the home of his former girlfriend, Esther Baldwin, 47, on Big Branch Road. Baldwin was later found dead from a gunshot wound. Authorities said all four victims were killed during the same rampage.

Deputies later spotted Myers driving Baldwin’s vehicle. A chase followed, and officers fired at him after he tried to ram police vehicles. The chase ended back at the Daytona Road property, where the first three victims had been found. Myers then killed himself with the same shotgun used in the attacks.

Investigators also reviewed reports that Myers may have had a list of additional people he intended to harm. Aiken County investigators said a Wagener officer had previously been told that Myers might “hurt certain people if he snapped,” though those remarks were reportedly treated as venting before the killings. Because Myers died at the scene, the case never went to trial.