Bio 

Lorne Anthony George was a 16-year-old living in Charleston County, South Carolina, when the murders occurred in November 1997. 

Murder Story

On November 14, 1997, Richard Vargo returned to his Charleston County home and found 50-year-old David Powers shot outside the residence. Inside, he found his fiancée, Nicole Watts, beneath a table in the living room. Watts was approximately six months pregnant, and her unborn fetus also died.

Investigators initially had few leads. The case changed after Michael Rea reported that four youths had previously fired at him after claiming to be trick-or-treaters. Rea later found four 9mm cartridge cases and a Glock magazine at the scene. Ballistics testing connected the casings to the firearm used in the Powers and Watts murders. Rea identified George, Christopher Howard, Robert Howard, and Jamar Chance as the youths involved.

Prosecutors argued that the group went to Powers’s home intending to rob him and force him to withdraw money from an ATM. When Powers refused, George allegedly shot him four times. Testimony from Robert Howard and Chance stated that George later returned to the residence and killed Watts. Police recovered the murder weapon after receiving information that it had been buried in George’s backyard.

George was arrested approximately one week after the murders and charged as an adult with three counts of murder, including one count for Watts’s unborn fetus. He denied being involved and testified that he had not gone to the residence. His defense argued that the other youths blamed him to reduce their own punishment.

After approximately seven hours of deliberation, the jury convicted George on all three murder counts on August 5, 1999. Judge R. Markley Dennis Jr. sentenced him to two consecutive life terms. His convictions remained in effect after his appeals concluded in 2002, and his latest documented status is imprisoned.