Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #97 - ‘I Was Working... In The Shadows’: What Deputy Police Chief Told Homicide Suspect Weldon Boyd in the 24 Hours after Scott Spivey’s Killing

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

For years, investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell have wondered how the conversations go when Good Ole Boy police officers try to help keep their friends out of trouble. And for years, the Good Ole Boys have told them that there’s nothing to see here. That these conversations never take place and if you think they do then that’s your misinterpretation of it. But then a North Carolina woman named Jennifer Spivey Foley hired attorney Mark Tinsley in the pursuit of a justice she KNEW her brother, Scott Spivey, was robbed of after he was killed on a rural side road in Horry County, South Carolina — the same county that would turn it’s back on Mica Francis less than four months later.  Is this another Alex Murdaugh-style scandal in the making? Why did powerful figures risk their careers for Weldon Boyd, a businessman not even originally from Horry County? Tune in to this explosive episode and demand accountability! The truth is coming to light, one phone call at a time… Let's dive in... 🥽🦈 Episode Resources Liz Farrell’s FB Post about 90 telephone calls - April 21, 2025 📄 “‘You’re Taken Care of’: Did Police Promise to Shield a Killer?” - The Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2025 📰 HCPD Det. Alan Jones with Capt. Brandon Strickland 🌐  Meet The Criminal Investigations Team at HCPD 🌐  Send a message to Rep. William Bailey 📧 Send a message to Gov. Henry McMaster 📧 Referenced Episodes: TSP 95 & 96 🎧 Premium Member Links AG Office’s Letter to SLED Clearing Weldon Boyd - April 3, 2024 📄 Interactive Map of Scott Spivey’s Final Hour 📍 Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Premium Members also get access to ad-free listening, searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on lunasharkmedia.com all in one place. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. Check out our LUNASHARK Merch 👕 What We're Buying... Chewy - chewy.com/mandy - Chewy has everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy. Save $20 on your first order and get free shipping at chewy.com/mandy or visit our storefront here: https://www.shop.anchor.store/chewy/@trusunlightpod Here's a link to some of our favorite things: https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email [e-mail] and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** Thank you to Lori M. for an adjustment near 27:55 :) For current & accurate updates: bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com | bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Okay, flights on Air Canada. How about Prague? Ooh, Paris. Those gardens. Gardens. Um, Amsterdam. Tulip Festival. I see your festival and raise you a carnival in Venice. Or Bermuda has carnaval. Ooh, colorful. You want colorful. Thailand. Lantern Festival. Boom. Book it. Um, how did we get to Thailand from Prague?

Oh, right. Prague. Oh, boy. Choose from a world of destinations. If you can. Air Canada, nice travels. Hey there, EB here, your faithful Cup of Justice co-host. I am so excited to tell you about my new book, Anything But Bland. In this memoir, I share stories about my childhood marked by bullying, my father's

job loss, and the indomitable spirit that propelled me into the law and ultimately international recognition during the Alex Murdoch murder trial. I believe in certain life principles that have helped me and helped others achieve success, from the power of organization and a sense of urgency to the importance of truth, leadership and resilience. With vivid recollection from challenges and triumphs framing each chapter, success isn't about luck, it's earned through skill and hard work. Please visit TheErikBland.com to learn more about the book, Anything But Bland is the

manifesto for those seeking triumph over adversity and a guide for anyone aspiring to reach their full potential. I don't know if corruption in South Carolina is getting worse or if we are just getting better at exposing it. But I am disgusted after listening to dozens of phone calls between a homicide suspect and his circle of enablers in Horry County who were willing to go the extra mile for a man like Weldon Boyd and would never move an inch for a woman like Micah. I can tell you this right now.

We are just getting started with untangling this web of corruption we landed on in Horry County. My name is Mandi Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders podcast. True Sunlight is a Lunar Shark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. Twenty years ago, David Foster Wallace delivered a groundbreaking graduation speech that has stuck with me throughout my career in journalism.

In the speech, David Foster Wallace tells the story of an older fish swimming along and greeting two younger fish and saying something like, "'Morning boys, how's the water?' And the two younger fish looked at each other and said, "'What the hell is water?' To the younger fish, the water was something that they'd never noticed before, and never learned about, and just expected that it was normal for everyone everywhere to be swimming in water all the time.

But the older fish knew better. The point of the speech was brilliant. The most important part about life is recognizing and acknowledging every detail in the world around you, especially the things that most people consider to be normal and mundane. Here in South Carolina, corruption is like water to most citizens. They see it so often, they normalize it, and they don't bother imagining a world without it.

This becomes more and more apparent with every case that we've covered since Elick Murdoch was convicted of double murder and financial fraud in 2023. Our state leaders, like Attorney General Alan Wilson, were the first to bow in front of the public and declare it a new day in South Carolina, where no one is above the law. But since old Elick went down, state leaders have gone back to business as usual after holding a small fraction of people accountable for their roles in Ellic Murdoch's crimes, and doing nothing to make sure that our state would never see another Ellic Murdoch. Our Attorney General's office did not bother to further prosecute those in the legal system who paved Alex's

path to become a murder man, stealing millions from his clients. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the board in charge of policing attorneys, hasn't stepped up their game at all. In fact, they just reverted to old ways, where good ol' boys slide by and everyone else suffers, including the good attorneys whose South Carolina law licenses lose value and street credit with every move they make like the one that they made this month. This week on Cup of Justice, attorney Eric Bland shared some not-so-shocking, but also very disappointing news.

The Judicial Conduct Committee has cleared Judge Carmen Mullen in one of two complaints filed by Eric Bland in 2022. AKA, they answered the question that so many of you have asked me pretty much every week since 2021. Will anything happen to Judge Carmen Mullen? And the answer is no, because people like Deborah S. McCune, Christopher G. Isgit, and Nicholas W. Lewis, the leadership of the Judicial Conduct Committee, have decided that Carmen Mullen did nothing wrong. No ethical misconduct took place. For a reminder, Judge Carmen Mullen helped pave the way for Elick Murdoch and Corey Fleming to steal millions of dollars from the Satterfield family by approving

a settlement that was full of red flags, a settlement that was begging for a judge to step in and stop the madness. Maybe more concerning, we later found out about an audio recording where Carmen Mullen appears to attempt to get a man arrested for a crime he did not commit, aka entrapment. Apparently, the investigative panel found that there wasn't enough evidence to warrant a further investigation, so they dismissed the complaint. They said she was A-okay. Good to go. Not without warning or a mere slap on the wrist. As you'll hear in today's episode, we are left wondering, who is in the shadows running cover for these people?

Because they'll admit it if they're unaware that they're being recorded. We encourage everyone to email those who decided to dismiss this complaint about Carmen Mullen and tell them how this makes you feel at OCCmail at SECourts.org. I get emails and messages from people who are upset about the lack of accountability in South Carolina literally every day, and I need y'all to direct that energy to the people making these decisions." We always said there is clearly a ring of protection surrounding Carmen Mullen, and until that ring of protection is busted, nothing will change and corruption will continue to

be as common as water in the state of South Carolina. Hard to recognize when it's everywhere. What we didn't know is how many other good old boys across South Carolina are also protected by such circles of power, and how far those in the circle will go to protect everyone in it. Over the weekend, a lot happened in the Scots by the case. That's the Horry County, South Carolina case that we've been telling you about for the past few weeks. In September, 2023, Scott, who was 33 at the time and from North Carolina, just over the South Carolina border, was shot to death in an alleged road rage

case by North Myrtle Beach businessman Weldon Boyd, who was also 33 at the time, and by Weldon's friend Bradley Williams. Now first, the Wall Street Journal published a two-part story about the case outlining the points of corruption that appear to be afoot here. And it also told the story of Jennifer Spivey Foley. From the beginning, Jennifer, who is Scott's older sister, knew something was off. She knew that the story Weldon gave to police about her brother didn't make sense to what she knew about his temperament and behavior to be, what his general decision making would be in that scenario. And she knew that something about the investigation did not feel right. Jennifer fought for nearly a year to get Horry County Police Department to hand over the

closed case file to her and to her attorney, Mark Tinsley. Why didn't they give her the case file right away? Because the spy V's weren't considered victims in the case. That's what she was told. But the truth is, by law, all case files for closed cases are public record and should be made available to the public through FOIA. So there's Horry County Police Department being shady yet again. In that case file, Jennifer found out that her original instincts were right. She was right.

Not only did Weldon's story not hold up against the evidence, it was clear he was getting help from the beginning, from the top brass at Horry County Police. We're going to spend the next few weeks talking about everything she found in the case file and how damning it is not only for Weldon and Bradley, but for a lot of other people and law enforcement agencies. Today we're going to talk about the Deputy Police chief of Horry County, Brandon Strickland, who was forced to resign last month after Mark Tinsley brought Jennifer and his findings to the attention of every agency that said they had investigated this case, that said they had

reviewed the evidence carefully before clearing Weldon and Bradley, and yet quite clearly didn't do all that. Not only did these agencies not carefully look at the evidence, Sled and the Attorney General's office are currently doubling down by refusing to take another look at the murder case. In the coming weeks, we're going to talk about the other people Weldon mentioned in the calls and what he said they were doing or had done in an attempt to help him, as well as the people whose fingerprints were on this case. There's solicitor Jimmy Richardson, who you'll also hear mentioned in the calls we're sharing today. There's Attorney General Alan Wilson and Senior Deputy Attorney General Heather Weiss, who wrote to SLED in April 2024, quote, after careful review of your investigation,

we have concluded that there's insufficient evidence to merit criminal prosecution, which is astounding to read right now when we know that the 911 call itself shows that Weldon pursued this gunfight with Scott by taking that turn onto Camp Swamp Road. And we'll talk more about what all the witnesses have said about that in a future episode.

So also on the who's whose list of people mentioned in the calls, North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley, whom Weldon appears to strongly dislike, and who was the target of a diabolical plan to use Scott's shooting as a way to turn the public against her. There's state legislator Representative william h bailey who weldin says was willing to help with said

Diabolical plan to get the public on weldin's side and wait until you hear that story because it's a doozy There's or a county councilman harold warley whose ring weldin and his family were very County Councilman Harold Worley, whose ring Weldon and his family were very concerned about kissing in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. There's Horry County Magistrate Judge Nate Hudson, who is mentioned in one of the calls we're sharing today. And there are at least three members of the Horry County Police Department. Now we're talking about the number two guy in charge at the agency, now former deputy chief Brandon Strickland, and his calls with Weldon in the immediate minutes after the

shooting and the days that followed. We're going to let the recordings between Weldon and Brandon tell the story, but we'll break in every once and again with the context. But first, let's establish some baseline facts here to help with understanding. According to surveillance footage and witness accounts, Weldon was behind Scott for most of the nearly 10 miles they traveled, from just outside Tractor Supply to Camp Swamp Road, where Weldon and Bradley killed Scott. Weldon didn't call 911 until seven miles in, meaning, by Weldon's account, Scott was a major threat to society and waving a gun around

for allegedly no reason for an entire seven miles before he thought to call 911. Then Weldon drove for another almost three miles with 911 on the phone. When Scott made that turn onto Camp Swamp Road, Weldon had already given 911 everything they needed to know, but he and Bradley chose to follow Scott anyway. As a friend of Scott's pointed out to us, Camp Swamp Road is the road Scott and other North Carolina residents take to get home. Scott was trying to go home when he got out of the truck to ask why Weldon and Bradley were continuing to follow him. When Scott died, he was one and three-quarters mile from North Carolina, his home turf. That evening, Weldon and Bradley had been heading to Weldon's blueberry farm

in Loras, South Carolina. They had no actual need to turn down Camp Swamp Road in terms of getting to the farm. In episodes 95 and 96, we played the 911 call from Weldon for you. Here are the important things to remember about that call for today's episode. Weldon made a choice to continue to follow Scott. When he called 911, he was still on Highway 9 and could have continued on that highway to his farm. He admitted to the dispatcher that he was following Scott and that quote, if this dick shoots at me, we're going to put him down. When Scott turns onto Camp Swamp Road two and a half minutes into Weldon's 911 call, Weldon narrates what

he's doing for the dispatcher. He says this. Nah, he's turning off the road. We're gonna keep trying to follow him. But if he starts shooting, dude, I don't know. All right, so he's turning on to Camp Swamp Road. What road? Camp Swamp Road. Camp Swamp Road. He's stopping. He's stopping. Hey, we're about to have a fucking shootout, dude. This dude's got a gun. He's got. He's stopping. Hey, we're about to have a f----- shootout, dude. This dude's got a gun. He's got a f----- gun." After Weldon got off the phone with 911 at 6 o' 2 p.m., Weldon immediately called his mama.

We'll get into the mama calls in a future episode, don't worry. He told his parents he had killed someone, and told them to come to the scene. In the meantime, Weldon spoke with witnesses, immediately feeding them his version of what happened, telling them what happened and then asking them to confirm that this is what they saw, too. At 6.29 p.m., after police arrived on the scene, officers he didn't know, based on the snippets of conversations we've heard in the recordings, Weldon called one of his closest friends to ask him to come to the scene. That close friend? Deputy Chief Brandon Strickland, whom Weldon had saved in his contacts as Brandon S-P-E-C-O-P-S,

or Brandon Special Operations. Before Brandon answers a phone in this first recording, you can hear Weldon talk about the important connections he has. Presumably, he's talking to his passenger and co-shooter, a very rattled Bradley Williams. Given the context of the situation, a good assumption would be that Weldon was talking about these connections in terms of help. People who would make sure he and Bradley weren't charged in this case. The county judge we believe Weldon is referring to, based on other references, is Horry County Magistrate Nate Hudson.

I got people. I got a judge. I got a county judge. I've got Brandon with the SWAT team. Nate Hudson. He held a gun at us. He ran us off the road. We stopped to try and get the stuff on the trailer because we were hauling a couch. He got out, pulled a gun, started shooting at us and we had to shoot back. Okay, I hate to cut in so soon, but you heard that, right? Weldon says that the shooting happened when he and Bradley pulled off Highway 9 to fix his trailer. Do you remember that part from the 911 call? Nope, you sure don't, because that's not what happened and it's not what Weldon told the dispatcher was his reason for turning on the road.

So immediately Weldon is lying to Brandon Strickland. But Brandon is not a victim of that lie because Brandon, being the second in command and a top dog at the police department, had access to that 911 call. And Brandon has worked many investigations in his 20-year career. Brandon knows that investigations start by listening

to the 911 call to see what was said. Even cops doing favors for friends tend to listen to the 911 call first before what was said. Even cops doing favors for friends tend to listen to the 911 call first before sticking their necks out for them in a potential murder case, which is what this was. So either Brandon listened to the 911 call and couldn't tell the difference between, I'm following this guy and there's going to be a gunfight

and I might have to kill him and he's turning, so I'm turning and oh no, he's got a gun, the same gun I knew he had before chasing him and following him onto the side road versus I stopped to fix my trailer and got ambushed by a man with a gun. Or maybe Brandon didn't care about this major discrepancy, which in an ordinary investigation would be a giant red flag and likely result in an investigation where murder charges get filed in the end. Or maybe Brandon didn't listen to the call at all because again, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. So in our opinions, there is only one

reason to lie in that moment. And again, in our opinions, Weldon seems to know that this was an avoidable gunfight and that this fight only happened because he escalated it. And he pursued what he had already predicted to the dispatcher would turn into a gunfight. He made that turn onto Camp Swamp and he knew that there was no need for 99% of Horry County residents

to turn down Camp Swamp from Highway 9 unless they're going to North Carolina. He knew that he only did that to follow Scott and show Scott that he had messed with the wrong man. Bottom line, the only reason for Weldon to lie to Brandon in that moment is that he knew the truth was damning. Let's continue with this call. Yeah, they're all here.

I just, and I've got witnesses that watched him run me off the road, that watched him hold the gun out the window. We have a picture of him holding the gun out the window. And then he pulled, he got, when he was in front of us, he got out the car, aimed, racked the slide, aimed it at us and started shooting and we shot back. And then when he got back in the car we quit shooting and then he started shooting again and

we started having to shoot again. Yes. I gotta be real careful with that because in my jurisdiction we're investigating agencies so I gotta be careful that I'm not showing any. I know that. It's self-defense. We got witnesses that are all saying it's self-defense. I just, I'm a fucking nervous wreck, dude.

Why would- Okay, all right. Thanks. Okay. Brandon says he'll be careful, quote, not showing any you-know, which yeah, we know. We know what the you-know is. And he's at least aware of that issue. But then he says, quote, I'll slide out there to the scene he means, but I gotta be real

careful. Meaning, all slide out there is what a snake would say, and it's what a deputy police chief says when they want to secretly put their thumb or their rattler on the scales of justice. But that's not all. The calls kept coming. More on those after a short commercial break and we'll be right back. Let's take a pause so I can tell you about this amazing sponsor, Lumen. Lumen is the world's first handheld metabolic coach.

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Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit pcfinancial.ca for details. Less than 10 minutes after that first call, Weldon and Brandon are back on the phone. Hey Weldon. Hey. Look, I got the right people. I got the people coming that need to come, but I need you to listen to me and understand me for a second, okay?

Okay. And it might not make sense now, but it'll make sense later. You come out there, okay? Yeah, I get it. No, I get it now. I understand. That keeps it clean. I know it makes sense now, but it'll make sense later. You come out there, okay? Yeah, I get it.

No, I get it now. I understand. That keeps it clean. And the torture tail of me is a case, and it's a self-defense thing. Yeah. You're gonna be fine. You just gotta go through the process.

They're gonna ask you questions. They're probably gonna take you to Conway to see if you got them to talk to you. Okay. If you think it's all right, but just, and talk to you. Just keep it to yourself. Alright, but just, I'm right here. I know, I know. I understand completely. Alright, well you'll be alright.

Thank you. In this call, Brandon tells Weldon that he's got the right people coming to the scene. Now, Brandon's attorney and other sources connected to Horry County Police Department have told us that Brandon Strickland was known for his exaggeration or puffing out his chest and overstating his importance and influence at the police agency. And that this phrase in this call is more indicative

of that than of Brandon helping keep Weldon from facing murder charges. Team Brandon tells us that this is just Brandon taking credit for a pre-existing set of circumstances that he had no influence over so that he could look like Big Dick McBossy to Weldon. But, and I'm saying but with the most amount of but you can put into it, Brandon Strickland was Big Dick McBossy in this case. He was the boss. There was only one guy above him. Everyone at that scene was under him.

He does, in fact, have the ability to choose who goes to the scene. He does, in fact, have the authority to make sure everyone knows that this is a friend-of case and he expects it to get the no evil approach. He does in fact have the power and influence to guide the case in a certain direction without even having to say the words direct this case in a certain direction to anyone. Let's not forget that covering their asses is a specialty of good old boys. They try not to explicitly say the thing that they're asking. Their language is one in which they say one thing for the record, knowing that the person

they're talking to will understand the real meaning of their words. That said, it is believed that Weldon thought he had deleted the phone call recording app from his phone, i.e. all these 90 phone calls that we have, before turning it over to investigators two months after Scott's shooting, and that he didn't realize that law enforcement software also downloads recently deleted data. At least eight of the 90 calls Weldon had recorded over those days have entire chunks missing from them from a redaction of some type. Horry County insists that that is how they received the calls from Weldon's phone and that they didn't redact them.

So it's really not clear who did this or when. The Horry County Police Department also gave Jennifer Spivey Foley two call logs. One was from Weldon's Android and it was supposedly every call that Weldon had made, received or missed between September 9th, 2023 and September 13th, 2023. The other call log corresponded

to the recorded calls from the app. The two calls that we just played for you between Weldon and Brandon from September 9th, 2023 were not on the Android call log. They were, however, on the log of the calls that Weldon might have believed were deleted prior to turning his phone over. So what does this mean? It means that the official call log from Weldon's phone, for some some reason does not show that Weldon spoke with Brandon from the scene. Those two entries are missing from the spreadsheet. The morning after the shooting at 8 59 a.m. Weldon called Brandon.

Hey buddy. What's up man? You alright? Yeah, I'm good. It's a freaking mess though. Well dude, I didn't come there last night, I did that for you. Cause I didn't want anybody to be able to come back and say, like that other guy's family or something. Say, oh, he's friends with the deputy chief and he was out there directing the investigation. You know what I mean? No, I understood that completely. I think all the other guys that I've been talking to, they're all like, oh, I'm not

gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this.

I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not deputy chief and he was out there directing the investigation. You know what I mean? No, I understood that completely. I think all the, I mean, all the cops seemed to agree that it was 100% self-defense.

Apparently he had pointed the gun at other drivers too before he even got to us. He did. He did. Well, and I'll tell you what happened after you called me. Now this is Brandon Wilton, never to be spoke of again. I called my people and the detective who met with you last night was Alan Jones, right? I think so, yeah. Yeah, country guy. Good old boy. Well that's who I sent out there and I called the captain over investigation and told him who you were and my next call was to Jimmy Richardson because we always call him out on stuff like that and I told him I said look here's the deal and

he's like okay let me send the we call him he sends somebody from his office he said all right he said let me work on something and he's the one that sent George to busk there last night who was a solicitor I don't know if you saw him or not yeah we spoke okay well you were you were taken care of did we just hear an actual good old boy tell another good old boy that he specifically sent a good ol' boy to the crime scene. Yes, we did. Okay, so Mr. We-Don't-Want-People-Like-Scott's-Family-Thinking-I'm-Directing-The-Investigation-Behind-The-Scenes then tells Weldon about how he's directed the investigation behind the scenes, including handpicking the lead detective Alan Jones and calling 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, who is the Duffy Stone of Horry County.

Brandon not only says he called Jimmy, Brandon says that he told him, quote, the deal. What's the deal, Brandon? Why do you need to call the solicitor to tell him the deal if Jimmy usually sends someone out to scenes like this? Are prosecutors not capable of assessing the deal themselves? I mean, whatever would Brandon have to share about Scott Spivey's killing that Jimmy wouldn't have had access to himself? And what would Brandon, a man who has maintained that he stayed away from the investigation in the interest of fairness, have to share about a case he was staying away from in the interest of fairness to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

If the deal is simply that a man was killed in a straightforward, cotton-dried act of self-defense, as Weldon and his cronies describe it, then there's no need to apprise anyone of the deal because the evidence will stand on its own, right? Again, Brandon's attorney and Team Weldon want us to believe that there's nothing nefarious to all this. It's all normal in the regular course of an investigation, but we're not dumb. And our listeners aren't dumb.

The only reason to say, look, here's the deal, is to make sure Jimmy and his team know that this is a friend of, and that there's one acceptable conclusion here, and it's that this was self-defense. Even though the 911 call makes it clear that this is a fight Weldon chose, and even though Weldon's initial story to his good pal Brandon about why he was on Camp Swamp Road is an immediate lie to cover up that real reason, which again should have been damning. This isn't bravado on Brandon's part. This isn't a man trying to brag about his positional power. This is a man who has legitimate positional power talking about how he is leveraging that legitimate positional power for his friend. Well, I appreciate that. I mean, I don't even, I don't, I mean, there's already people saying that I shot him because he's dating my ex. I mean, I don't even understand this shit.

I don't even know the guy. The best thing you can do, man, and I'll tell you right now, because people, that's how people are the age of social media don't pay that any attention don't respond to nothing don't put nothing on social media don't do anything because that's all people try to do this troll makeup stuff just to just to get something going hell I've been involved shooting I was involved in. They tried to claim that she was killed because she was sleeping with an officer and I did,

it was a friend of mine and I directed them to take her out. It's just people, man. And the world's a fucking horrible place. Well, I, you know, it's just, I just don't understand what in the world was going through its head. I mean, the dude just fucking lost it. Aww. They're commiserating about their shootings. Besties. Also, if you know what shooting Brandon Strickland is referring to, hit us up on social media or email us because we are so curious about that. Well, I'll tell you what I was told or what I heard not from my people but from somebody

else who knew who this guy was. He says he must have been a pretty big dude because he said he was on Roy drawback and he might have been having a fucking some Roy rage shit well hopefully they do a top screen on them yeah they will they will because originally the the corners like this is all me and you talking this in my mechanical ease talking to you okay okay originally one even do all topsy on the guy I was like and I need to do one just to cover it. In case like a civil suit or something tries to come down the line just to cover you. So the autopsy tells you how somebody died.

We know how he died. He was shot. Scott Spivey was shot in the back. That is how he died. So again, we have Brandon Strickland, Mr. Can't Get Involved, feeding information about this shooting victim to a suspect because that's what this is, information that was inaccurate,

but also that Weldon, according to other recorded phone calls, ran with. He retrofitted his version of the truth to fit this idea that Scott was roid raging. One? Scott was not a big guy. He was 5'9 and 180 pounds, according to his autopsy. Scott, who was a talented athlete, was also known as a little guy among his bigger friends. His toxicology showed an elevation in testosterone, but the technician noted that this level of testosterone can either occur naturally or if someone was taking medication.

That elevation wasn't enough to make a determination whether or not Scott was even on steroids, nevermind raging. Regardless, Scott's state of mind doesn't change the fact that Weldon is on 911, predicting the shooting, choosing the shooting, and executing the shooting. Okay, here Weldon tries to get more details from the investigation. Do they know how many times he was hit or anything? Dude, don't do the autopsy either today or tomorrow. I don't know.

But I was up through it last night talking to them. I was working, I was in the shadows last night. I weren't there but I was in the shadows. But I'm going to tell you, I told Jay the last night and I told him Daniel. I said this is one of the hardest things I think I've ever dealt with, having a friend of mine involved in something like that and I can't be there for him. Quote, I was up through it last night, talking to him, I was working, I was in the shadows.

I weren't there, but I was in the shadows. And Jada is Brandon's wife, by the way. We are not sure yet who Daniel is, but if you know, please let us know. Again, Team Horry County Police Department, Team Brandon, and Team Weldon all want us to believe that this is just bravado talking. That Brandon is just exaggerating his power and his role in this investigation to impress Weldon, but didn't actually do anything role in this investigation to impress Weldon, but didn't actually do anything wrong in this case. Again, Brandon does not have to

exaggerate the power he legitimately has here, so stop trying to gaslight us with that. By telling Weldon he was working in the shadows, the message is crystal clear. I got your back here buddy. Old Brandon Strickland and his apartment have your back Weldon. By the way, if Weldon's story about being the victim here were true, he wouldn't need anyone having his back. Brandon wouldn't have to work in the shadows. You were there for me and I and I fully understood what you were saying. I mean it was and Ken got there very fast. I mean Ken was with me, me and Bradley pretty quick.

So I mean it was and the officers I think they I kept hearing them say to each other it's pretty cut and dry. I mean there was no foul play. It's I mean the dude and we had all those witnesses the dude just got out the truck When I turned into that road, I mean it You can hear Bradley on the 911 call He's yelling at me to back up and I'm like I can't and then I think I tell him like he's he's aiming at us And then the shooting just starts and then it's just a damn shootout

What gun did you shoot him with? 9mm Shadow Systems. Okay, I'll get your gun and stuff back to you. Just give me some time for it to process through, okay? Okay. Am I allowed to, I mean is it bad if I go buy a pistol to carry? No, no, no, you're good. And if you don't want to buy one, I'll give you one to carry. No, I was going to go today and get one, but Bradley was like, I mean, you know, can we get in trouble for buying a gun today? And I said, I don't think so because I mean, it was self-defense. No, I can't officially tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you, y'all are good to go.

They just gotta go through the process. I've actually got to be interviewed today. I'm telling you, y'all are good to go. They just gotta go through the process. I've actually gotta be interviewed today. I'm driving, I'm leaving to go to Gatlinburg, but would you call on me? They'll, you know, of course when I call, they're like, hey, look, we just gonna have to knock out an interview with you real quick, so they're gonna interview me on the road today over the phone.

So, and I gotcha. See you good. me on the road today over the phone. Okay. So, and I gotcha. See you good. Oh, cool. So 15 hours after Scott's death, before a full investigation, Brandon Strickland is already telling Weldon that between them, no charges are going to get filed.

And oh cool, Horry County's Deputy Chief of Police is offering to loan a gun to a man under investigation. And I wonder sometimes if there were any law enforcement officers telling Ellic Murdoch the same things in June 2021. The answer is probably. And that's a disgusting and chilling thought. Well, I appreciate you. And well, disgusting and chilling thought. And I didn't want to call you back to get your dad's number because I didn't know what you had going on at the time I wanted to call you dad be like hey look we we got him. He's fine kind of thing. Oh Cool Brandon Strickland was torn up because he couldn't relay word to Weldon and Weldon's dad

Who were at the scene of the shooting still that Ory County Police Department would have Weldon's back of the shooting still that Horry County Police Department would have Weldon's back. Um, but... No, we, I understood and, and, um, I mean, it all made sense to me. I just, um... Well, you know, I'm a friend that'll always be there for you and I don't, I didn't want you to look at it as damn random and even come to me, but I did it for you. No, that never even crossed my mind. I mean, I fully understand everything, and it just, I don't know, it's just not how I expected my Saturday to go, that's for sure.

Here's what you gotta realize, and I don't mean this for the other guy, I mean it for you, but sometimes bad shit happens to good people, and you can't control it, and you know, this guy puts you in a bad situation and you're a good person and you got to do what you had to do. So it's like this right here, you got a lot of people that love you and think the world of you and you got to go home by the end of the day and be with your family. So you did everything you had to do to do that. And you'll be fine.

There'll be people swallowing their mouths, man. Like I said, the best thing you can do is just not make any comments. If the media reaches out to you, I would say I declined to comment. Don't put nothing on social media about it. Just let it sit back. Cause all it's gonna take is one comment to be tried,

somebody try to take it out of context and that just gonna make it worse. Yeah. Well, I'm just gonna stay quiet. And I guess my truck, they got it impounded. It's got a bag of keys in it that I need, but they said once it was impounded, it's there. So I guess I'll get that stuff that Tuesday yeah what they'll have to do and I'm sure

they probably explained to you they'll have to do it they'll do a search one on it and the search one would be just to collect the evidence out of it even though you haven't done anything wrong they have to follow it step by step because if this dude's family comes up and says oh it, it is. You know, this is a shitty investigation or by by body and showed him they followed every step. But I'll they'll get you a truck. How about your truck messed up? I heard you heard you went full gangster out the windshield. Again, this is the very next morning after Scott's shooting. And this is a conversation about all the ways the deputy chief of police is helping well shooting. And this is a conversation about all the ways

the deputy chief of police is helping Weldon. And the same deputy chief of police has the audacity to outline how he was helping to prevent a future in which Scott's family, let's face it, might accurately accuse them of putting the fix in from the beginning on Weldon's behalf. I don't know if he hit the truck or not, but he shot. I mean, he got out, he racked it, he did some kind of weird matrix move with his right arm

and started shooting. And then we started shooting and I could see his shirt rippling. So then he crawled back into the truck and we quit. When he got back in the truck and I couldn't see him anymore, we stopped. And then after like three or four seconds, he starts shooting again. So we just laid into the back of the cab and he, I guess he died in the truck. We'll talk more about the evolution of Weldon's story of how he shot Scott next week, but matrix move? What? So here's where it gets interesting.

We've told you about how Horry County Police Department towed Scott's truck to their impound lot 45 minutes away from the scene and how they left Scott's body in the truck on the tow truck. And we told you how they then laid Scott's body on the floor of the impound lot, with his arms contorted in the air from rigor mortis, and how the police undressed Scott's body on the floor of the impound lot and took pictures of his body. Horry County Police Department insists that this was normal, despite credible people in the field of law enforcement saying, sure, it has to happen sometimes, but this wasn't

one of those times. Horry County Police Department says they did this with Scott's body because of inclement weather in the forecast. But none of the videos from the scene that night, their own videos, the ones that we've seen so far anyway, show any meaningful inclement weather. It doesn't matter though, because here Brandon shares with Weldon the real reason they did that to Scott's body. And amazingly, even Weldon Boyd thought that how they handled that was weird.

Yeah, hell, they towed the truck to the PD with his body still in it. I thought, yeah, they never took it out. I kind of thought that was odd Well, you can in some situations But in a situation where they're looking to make sure that every guy's got a t-scross to clear you They did it that way so that way when they do a search one on his truck They can take stuff out piece by piece. So no evidence is lost. There's nothing They can so like if you pull him out of the truck and let's say a gun's in a certain location or certain amount of shell casings or whatever, you don't want to lose that on the side of

the road. It's better to take it somewhere and slowly do it, remove his body under light and all that so you can document it as you go so it paints the picture the best in the best light. You know what I mean? That makes sense. Weldon ended the call right then because his attorney was on the other line, but let's talk about what we just heard. Horry County Police Department Deputy Chief Brandon Strickland is telling a suspect, Weldon Boyd, just 15 hours after the shooting that he handpicked the detective for the case,

made sure the county's top prosecutor knew what the deal with the case was, was working in the shadows on Weldon's behalf, wanted to tell Weldon and his father, who were at the crime scene still, that Weldon was good to go, and that between him and Weldon now on this phone call, Weldon is, in fact, good to go. And then Brandon explains that they took Scott's body to the impound lot, not because of weather, but so that they could dot every i and cross every t to investigate the case and find out if Weldon's story adds up. Just kidding. Brandon says they did that to clear Weldon, to piece the case together so it paints the picture in the best light for Weldon. Now, what was to be gained from that? The evidence

found in Scott's truck and on his body. Any casings from the gun he was shooting, bullet holes that came from behind him from Weldon and Bradley, any bullet holes from his gun, all the wounds on his body, all of that has a story to tell that needs to make sense against Weldon's story, right? It can't contradict what Weldon has said or was going to say when he was interviewed as a witness six days after this phone call, right? It's easier to tell the story about what happened when you know what the evidence says about what happened. We don't know if information about what they found was passed on to Weldon because there's at least one call that seems to be missing altogether from Brandon Strickland and there are redactions done in other calls

with Brandon Strickland. But we do know that Weldon had a direct line to this investigation. So the reality for that existed. And again, if the truth is the truth, then there was no need to bring Scott's body back to the impound lot. And if this is the best way to do an evidence search in a murder case, then every murder suspect should get the same courtesy, right?

Bring the bodies to a dirty old police impound lot. Put their bodies on the floor, take off all their clothes, photograph them, and then call in the coroner to take the body away. No? That sounds bad? Huh.

Anyway, let this end any claim by police that they took Scott's body to the impound lot for any reason other than to get the story straight for Weldon as fast as possible. You can't tell us we're making things up when we say this was a weird thing to do, while also having your deputy chief of police on a recording claiming that the suspicions we had about this are actually very true and warranted. Believe it or not, the phone calls continued and they get crazier. More on those calls after a short break. We'll be right back.

Hey, lovely. We'll be right back. Shotgun with me, your host Laura Richards, criminal behavioral analyst, former head of New Scotland Yards Homicide Prevention Unit, as I profile behavior and center and honor the victims. Listen to me unravel cases with a unique expert lens and answer the critical questions that are on your mind. Cases include Gabby Petito, the Menendez murders, the Murdoch murders, Corey Mitchell, the British Airways Killer, serial killer Peter Sutcliffe and cases I've worked.

Crime Analyst is more than entertainment, it's life changing. Follow and listen to Crime Analyst wherever you get your podcasts. And for deeper dives, exclusive episodes and videos, and to be part of my dynamic monthly live events and more, join the Crime Analyst Squad. Go to patreon.com forward slash crime analyst. Less than an hour after Weldon Boyd ended the call with Brandon Strickland the morning after Scott's Byvee shooting, Brandon called him back at 9.55am. I meant to ask you a while ago, how's your mom and daddy doing? They're good.

They were a little nervous when they couldn't get through to the scene, but they're fine. I mean, the guy you sent out there after he talked to us, he came out there and he talked to mom and dad for a bit. Alan's a good dude. Man, I wanted to send the right person down there to see you sit. so yeah yeah I mean it was it was it was it was fine I just wish it you know didn't have I just wish it didn't happen but hopefully the hopefully they just it's just all these rooms.

I mean, I'm still seeing people saying stuff and it's just like, damn, y'all. I mean, it ain't like I went looking for that shit. You know, I pulled on the road, he was parked and I mean, he basically ambushed us. Not what happened, according to the 911 call. Well, here's the deal, dude. You could have been, and I talked to Nate last night too.

I called Nate, he was at dinner and I discussed it all with him. And he said that when I talked to you, he was thinking about you, but not to worry about anything. Because they had to go to him if they weren't gonna charge you for a warrant. You know what I mean?

Okay. And they're not going to, so don't even think about that. But, yeah, you good, man. I hate you when you do it, man. Nate is believed to be Horry County Magistrate Nate Hudson, who is not a lawyer, but rather a former officer with the State Department of Natural Resources.

Brandon Strickland just told Weldon that Nate says, don't worry about anything and that if they were going to charge Weldon, they have to go to Nate for the warrant. So that's a nice backstop, right? If Weldon's police friends can't get him out of the charges in this investigation that has barely even started, then Weldon's judge friend can help make that happen. Nice. Weldon and Brandon talk about why Weldon was at Tractor Supply that day and where he and Bradley were headed before the shooting. Weldon tells Brandon that Bradley has been real quiet since the shooting.

Brandon offers his two cents on the situation. you did what you had to do to live, you know what I mean? That dude chose his, made his decisions and he has to live, well he has the consequences from it. Yeah, he made a choice. That's right, I mean nobody wants to have to do that, but alright, I just hate you having to go through it. that. I appreciate you and thank you for what y'all did behind the scenes last night. I guess we just wait to see what happens next. OK, we've got to address the irony here. Weldon is talking about how Scott made his choice. Whatever happened with Scott in the seven miles before Weldon decided to call 911 doesn't change the fact that Scott was trying to get away from Weldon.

After alerting law enforcement and giving them Scott's license plate information, Weldon followed Scott for another three miles and followed Scott when Scott exited the highway. We're told that Scott would have immediately understood that Weldon's turn onto Camp Swamp Road would have meant that the person who was following him was committed to it, and that this is one of the reasons why they believe Scott got out of that truck to tell him to stop

following him, to try and put an end to the threat. That said, it's clear to us anyway that Weldon didn't call 911 to tell them about Scott, because if that's all it was about, he would have done that immediately on mile one. Or he would have gone on his way after giving them the information about Scott's truck at mile seven. Let's be real. One interpretation of this could be that Weldon called 911 to narrate a potential murder that was about to happen.

He wanted them on the phone so that his version of what went on would be the one on the record. At this point in the conversation, Brandon offers consolation to Weldon and tells him not to pay attention to the rumor mill. You think I can get your due for you before I leave to go out of town? No, man, you've done more than enough. Just know that I love you and appreciate you.

And where are you going? I had to go to Gatlinburg for a week. Internal Affairs certification course. I was just in Colorado week before last for the National Tactical Officers Association Conference. It's a big trade show where they show all their new toys and stuff. That's something I'd like to go see. Again, I say, cool. Look at that taxpayer money getting spent

to teach the top brass at Horry County Police Department about internal affairs investigations, to get certified in investigating police misconduct while engaging in alleged police misconduct. And oh, look at the taxpayer money being spent sending old Brandon Strickland to a big boy toy show. Go look at the fun things you can buy for the department using taxpayer money to conduct the real investigations

that you do on everyone who isn't your friend. Weldon and Brandon talk for several minutes about all the police toys Brandon saw in Colorado. Then Weldon tells him to have fun on this latest work trip. Brandon talk for several minutes about all the police toys Brandon saw in Colorado. Den Weldon tells him to have fun on this latest work trip. Yeah, I know you're right. I don't even want to go. I'm gonna leave here at about 11.

I'll be back Friday, but I'll still be communicating with all these guys and all. It'll be fun. Okay. Well, I appreciate it. If you hear anything or I find anything to do, just let me know and I owe y'all one. No, you're good, man. Hey, we do probably need to postpone the cooking for the department, am I looking at the wrong house?

Yeah, okay. We'll wait until next year. Yeah, well, it's because they'll be like, damn, yeah, he's feeding the people soon. Have a big banner says, thank you. Yeah. Ooh, so funny. Let's postpone all the free food you give us law enforcement officers at the barbecue Weldon because of the murder charges.

We already know we're not filing against you for some reason. These guys are hilarious. Weldon then tells Brandon how professional the investigators were the night before and how they let his lawyer into the crime scene to make sure that quote, everything was right and they did everything spot on. So his lawyer was right there with the investigators. Huh? Dad is giving strong Elick Murdoch vibes. In the meantime, these same investigators wouldn't let Scott's family on the scene. I not only refused to tell Scott's family where Scott's body was, they were instructed not to tell them. Next, Brandon tells Weldon how lucky he is.

Well, Brandon will be talking as quiet as a white male. Yes. That's the first, um, first, well, one of the first questions I asked. I was like, okay, just, you know, how, you know how to actually... Yeah, that would have changed the narrative. You'd have still been okay, but you'd really had people running their mouths down. White business owner shooting blackmail, you know? Brandon asks Weldon again whether he wants to borrow a gun from him and says that he hates that this has happened to Weldon's truck.

To be clear, what happened to Weldon's truck is that Weldon and Bradley shot holes through the windshield. Brandon jokingly offers $10,000 for Weldon's $100,000 vehicle, which would be adorable if this wasn't Brandon's fourth call to Weldon about all the help Weldon was getting from Brandon behind the scenes to keep Weldon from getting charged because is it a joke or is it giving hint hint vibes? A few hours later, at 1 0 3 p.m. Brandon calls Weldon again. Weldon is upset that people online are saying that he killed Scott, which again wasn't even 24 hours ago, in connection to Weldon's former fiance,

the one whose truck and ring Weldon had put on Facebook minutes before the altercation with Scott. Brandon consoles him. Look man, nobody can accept responsibility anymore. They always got to find somebody else to blame for either their actions or the actions of their friends or family. If they did what he did, it's a consequence to it. So everybody wants to be in school. Unfortunately, dude, you're going to have to deal with that shit for probably

the next month or so until something else happens that somebody finds something else to talk about. Yeah, Ken's typing up a statement that's empathetic but kind of clear that, hey, look, that's empathetic but kind of clear that hey look I was the victim and this dude was a danger and then he says we need to put that out to squash some of the rumors and then just be quiet. Yeah. I'd probably would hold off on pushing that out and give it a couple days, let them finish the process and then make, you know, throw the vehicles and stuff like that. Let them officially close everything now. And then to do it like that.

But right now, if you push that out, and the media sees it, they're going to reach out to our agency and our agency's going to say this is still an active investigation. We can't make a comment on it. Okay. Yeah. Um, now once it's closed and it's, you know, it's clear to fender there, then when they call, we'll say this has been cleared out as a just probable homicide and it is support, whatever it is you're going to say now. So the deputy police chief is helping the homicide suspect

with his public relations plan and sharing the predicted outcome of an investigation that not only hasn't been completed yet, it's barely started. The police don't even have a warrant to search Weldon's truck at this point. And it would be another two months before they confiscated his phones

and the tablet that was mounted to the dashboard of his truck. Weldon asked Brandon if the investigation will be done by the end of the week, and Brandon says yes. He tells him again not to put anything on social media about the case. Reminder, Weldon's name has not been released

to the public at this time. Okay, so remember how the last thing that Brandon and Weldon talked about a few hours earlier was about Weldon's truck and Brandon joked that he would take it off his hands for a temp of its value? Here is why Brandon was calling Weldon again. I didn't call you for that. I called you for something else, but I know you got a lot going on. If you don't find anybody, nobody buys that ring by the time I get back home. I'm interested in it.

Okay. If you don't sell it, Jada made a comment about how it was pretty or something like that. So, take it off your hands." Okay, just get with me when you get back and we'll work something out. Somebody else comes along won't they?" So yeah, Brandon Strickland was calling to ask Weldon about the $11,000 ring he put up for sale right before killing Scott. Again, he says,

"...I'll take it off your hands." Now, Liz and I are basically scholars in good ol' boy language at this point, after years of analyzing Elick Murdoch's every move and speaking with hundreds of people who knew him. Elick Murdoch was never direct when he made threats or bribes. Everything was subtle. He didn't tell Shelly Smith that he would get her fired from work if she did not corroborate his alibi.

Instead, he subtly mentioned knowing who her boss at the school district was while reminding her that he was at his mother's house for a longer period of time than he really was. This is how they work. It's all coded language. It's all polite. It's all understood. The threats and bribes are not done in a way that sounds quid pro quo. But those who speak the language hear the message, even without the words, I'll do this if you give me that," R said. Former Horry County Deputy Police Chief Brandon Strickland, while going to great lengths to protect homicide suspect Weldon Boyd, mentioned what could be perceived as attempts at getting

potential payback for these favors twice, in separate phone calls in the 24 hours after Scott's death. I am not saying that this is proof of bribery. To our knowledge, we have not seen any evidence of any monetary exchange between Weldon and Brandon. But to me, what I'm hearing in good ol' boy lingo between these massive favors is Brandon saying you owe me or you can pay me back with this. Again, that's my interpretation of this at least. But let's take a step back here, shall we? Because we just covered a

whole lot in these five phone calls between Weldon Boyd, who is listed as a suspect in the case file, and Deputy Police Chief Brandon Strickland in the 24 hours following Scott Spivey's death. To recap what you heard in case Sled, or the AG's office, or the FBI is listening to this, all of whom seem to be unwilling to do the right thing here, let me remind you.

You heard a deputy police chief immediately accepting his friend's narrative of self-defense after he killed Scott Spivey and with no questions asked, despite immediate contradictions and inconsistencies. You heard him say that he specifically sent a good old boy detective to the scene, and you heard him brag say that he specifically sent a good ol' boy detective to the scene, and you heard him brag about how he specifically called the top prosecutor Jimmy Richardson on the night of the shooting to let him know the quote unquote deal.

You heard a deputy police chief spreading victim blaming rumors about Scott Spivey using steroids without evidence to back up those claims. You heard that Deputy Police Chief say that he advocated to get an autopsy completed on Scott Spivey using taxpayer dollars, mostly because the autopsy could help Weldon. The Homicide Suspect You heard Deputy Police Chief Brandon Strickland tell Weldon, the homicide suspect, that Scott Spivey's body was towed off in his truck in an unusual and wildly disrespectful way, not to preserve the evidence in the case, but to literally, quote, paint the picture in the best light. Yeah, let that one sit.

Then you heard Deputy Police Chief Brandon Strickland go to great lengths to ensure that Weldon, the homicide suspect, was comfortable in this situation. You heard him worry about Weldon's parents. You heard him offer to lend Weldon a gun. You heard him tell Weldon over and over to stay off social media, advice that obviously fell onto deaf ears. You heard this deputy police chief offer to be there for moral support beyond good ol' boy protection.

Now, close your eyes and imagine what a different world we would live in if every police chief treated every homicide suspect like Strickland treated Boyd. Scary, right? I'm seeing a lot of road rage murders and no accountability. Is that what the FBI and SLED and the AG's office really want? A world where self-proclaimed vigilantes can chase down a man they consider to be a threat for nine miles before shooting them to death with no repercussions? What if he shot him nine days later, nine months, years, lying in wait, to exact revenge? Not only was Weldon never charged for the shooting, but the good ol' boys of Horry County

were considering awarding Weldon for the shooting. Yes, awarding! That is how corrupt South Carolina is. It wasn't just Brandon Strickland working behind the scenes to help Weldon get out of this mess, according to Weldon, that is, in a conversation with his mama. And boy, I can't wait to share more of these with you if we want to talk about how to not parent a grown man in a later episode.

But Weldon casually mentioned to his mom that his attorney, Ken Moss, was working behind the scenes on a PR plan that goes all the way up to the State House floor. Listen to this call from September 11th, 2023, not even 48 hours after Scott's death. All right, well, let Ken know. I already did, Ken's ready for it. And Ken's got a plan too. Once they,

once they announced that it was self-defense and that this guy was a danger, William Bailey's gonna try and get me a, I forgot what it's called, an award for bravery, me and Bradley, to save my reputation and then he's going to request that Hattly give it to me at City Hall which she's going to turn it down and that's going to give them ammo to use against her and once she turns it down he said Bailey's going to try and get me and Bradley on the

floor of the Capitol and issue us a proclamation to issue us a proclamation for bravery, which will be a huge publicity stunt for the Second Amendment crowd for the state. Yes, y'all. State lawmaker William Bailey, who represents North Myrtle Beach, Little River, and Long South Carolina, was apparently working on a whole plan to use his taxpayer-funded power to bolster Weldon's I'm Not a Murderer campaign, and also to publicly declare him a hero on behalf of the state legislature. Thus, these guys were actually thinking it would be a good idea to encourage men across

the state to be like Weldon and take justice into their own hands. What's wild about this is that Representative William Bailey was a police officer and director at North Myrtle Beach Police for more than a decade before he became a lawmaker who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Weldon felt confident that Mr. Pro-Police Lawmaker was on board to use his position of power to help with Weldon's rebrand as a hero while purposely putting the mayor of North Myrtle Beach, Marilyn Hatley, in a lose-lose political position. We are going to be reaching out to Representative Bailey to learn more about this alleged plan

that Weldon was talking about. And everyone listening, if you want to do something really pesky today, click the link in the description to send Bailey's office a note to ask him more about this alleged plan to give Weldon Boyd an award for bravery and what that says about how he uses his position of power. Please let him know. And while you're at it, contact Governor Henry McMaster's office to tell him your thoughts on why Sled needs to reopen the murder case and serve as lead investigator. We have a lot more about Representative Bailey in this alleged medal of commendation for bravery, more shocking phone calls, and more connecting the dots to make sure every person

involved in this circle of protection will be named. Because here is the thing. Weldon isn't a Murdoch. He doesn't have three generations of solicitors before him to protect him from every move he makes. He's just a good ol' boy business owner with a blueberry farm and a bar. He's not even from Horry County." So why did powerful men risk their careers to protect him? What was in it for them? And what was going on in Weldon's life in the hours and minutes leading up to the shooting?

Will anyone be held accountable, or will this be another massive Murdoch embarrassment for the state of South Carolina? Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is a Lunashark production created by me, Mandy Matney. Co-hosted and reported by journalist Liz Farrell. Research support provided by Beth Braden. Audio production support provided by Jamie Hoffman. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky. Hey there, listeners.

EB here and I want to tell you about a new weekly podcast that I'm hosting. I love being a lawyer, being a speaker. I absolutely am looking forward to being an author of my book, Anything But Bland, but I'm excited to tell you that I'm launching my very own podcast called Good Skill, Betting On Yourself. I delve into the idea that success isn't merely about luck, but is instead achieved through honing skills and strategic efforts and planning. Each episode of Good Skill offers listeners an insightful journey into the minds of individuals who are reshaping their respective industries and their careers. Good Skill serves as a beacon of inspiration with a roster of interesting guests

like independent journalist, media disruptor, and Cup of Justice co-host Mandy Matney, these conversations empower listeners seeking to make their mark in the world. Visit the ericbland.com website to learn more or listen wherever you get your podcasts.