A 34-year-old New Zion man charged in summer 2013 in two counties for the deaths of three women will spend the rest of his life in prison, according to court records.
The Clarendon County Public Court Index shows that Jeffery Eady, formerly of 1054 527 Subdivision Road in New Zion, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of murder and one count each of armed robbery; grand larceny of a value of $10,000 or more; possession of a weapon during a violent crime; and financial transaction card fraud of a value of $500 or less in six months.
Eady was accused of killing Clarendon County women Maybell White, 65, and Sadie Brown, 77, along with Charleston County convenience store employee Crystal Johnson, 37.
Third Circuit Solicitor Ernest "Chip" Finney III said in 2013 that Eady's actions during the incident involving White, which also involves armed robbery charges for the theft of the victim's car, made Eady eligible to face the death penalty.
"The suspect's actions in this case made the death penalty appropriate," said Finney in November 2013 while appearing before a Circuit Court judge in Clarendon County. "This is not something that we take lightly, but we believe in light of the evidence before us that this is the right course of action."
Through his plea on Sept. 19, Eady avoided the death penalty in Clarendon County. He also avoided two separate trials for the killings of White and Brown. The latter was his second cousin, according to reports.
Brown's family reported her missing May 30, 2013, telling deputies with the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office that they had not seen the 77-year-old New Zion woman for at least five days.
Just minutes after Sheriff Randy Garrett reported Brown missing, dispatchers notified deputies that a body was found inside the recycling center on 527 Subdivision Road. Eady had shot the 65-year-old White, also of New Zion, between 10 and 11 a.m. that day while she was at work at the center, which was located almost across the road from Brown's home.
An autopsy later showed that White had been shot five times.
While working that scene, deputies learned that a 37-year-old woman had been killed at a convenience store off Savannah Road near Charleston. Authorities there said that a car matching the description of White's 2008 blue Ford Focus was seen about 2:30 p.m. that day pulling into the parking lot of a convenience store in Adams Run.
Inside, deputies found Crystal Johnson, a mother of three, shot to death.
Deputies reported that Johnson appears on store surveillance cameras to be following Eady's commands, handing over cash from the register. With a .22-caliber rifle pointed at her, she then walks to the back of the Savannah Highway store owned and operated by her family.
It is the last time she was seen alive. Eady allegedly shot the woman, stole some lottery tickets and cigarettes and then fled to Florida. A customer found Johnson's body.
Cameras also show Eady allegedly pulling up to the store and taking the .22-caliber rifle from the back of White's car.
By May 31, the State Law Enforcement Division's forensics lab had conclusively linked White and Johnson's deaths with one another through shell casings used in both killings, and both the Clarendon County and Charleston County sheriff's offices issued murder warrants for Eady for the slayings.
After a two-day manhunt, Eady was located and apprehended in Bay County, Florida. With help from the U.S. Marshal's Office and SLED, Clarendon and Charleston authorities had tracked Eady from Charleston to Macon, Georgia, to Panama City, Florida, to Marion County, Alabama, and then back to Bay County.
Shortly after the suspect's arrest in Florida, Garrett announced he would be charged with Brown's murder. Garrett said the warrant was issued due to testimony from a reliable source who told deputies she saw Brown in a car with Eady on May 27, two days after she reportedly disappeared.
After extradition to Clarendon County, Eady deliberated for several hours with his pastor, deputies and a local attorney before agreeing to tell law enforcement where he'd placed Brown's body. The woman was found off Alderman Camp Road in Alcolu. She had been shot twice.
Garrett told
The Manning Times in 2013 that he believed Eady's motive was always about money and obtaining White's car so he could flee the Clarendon area.
Columbia attorney S. Boyd Young represented Eady during his guilty plea last week, while 3rd Circuit Assistant Solicitor Chris DuRant represented the state. It is unknown if any of the victims' families appeared in court to confront Eady after his plea, which is their right under state law.
Charges of murder, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime remain pending in Charleston County. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson expressed an interest in seeking the death penalty in Eady's case in late 2013, but announced no final decision after Finney said the 3rd Circuit would seek capital punishment.
