Mistress to testify today against man accused in murder-for-hire plot to kill wife |
The mistress of a man charged with murder in the stabbing death of his wife in 2019 is set to testify today to her role in what prosecutors are calling a murder-for-hire plot.
According to testimony yesterday, Amanda Love connected her lover, Jerry Burns, to her on-again, off-again partner, Stephen Hand -- who said Burns paid him to kill his wife, Velvet Burns. |
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Years after their cases were dismissed for further investigation, prosecutors have recharged two suspects with assisting in the 2019 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Trey Blackshear, a star soccer player at Hilton Head Island High School who was murdered four days after his early graduation. The new charges were spurred by recent developments in the case that have not been disclosed by law enforcement.
Kionna Michele Ferguson, 24, and Jaesean Jeffrey Redd, 25, both of Central, S.C., were arrested Dec. 3 on renewed charges of accessory after the fact to murder. They were initially jailed on the same accusations in early January 2020, several weeks after Blackshear was killed. Neither is accused of pulling the trigger in the shooting.
The original 2020 charges were “remanded for investigation” in March 2021, meaning prosecutors asked Bluffton police to take a longer look at the cases because there was not yet enough evidence to prove the offenses in court, according to Jeff Kidd, spokesperson for the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
“In the course of the investigation, some new things came to light that allowed us to reinstate those charges,” Kidd said. He would not specify the type of evidence that was discovered.
Ferguson and Redd are accused of accompanying the suspected shooters to a marijuana deal Dec. 23, 2019 outside the Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Bluffton. Blackshear was fatally shot during an attempted armed robbery on his car in the parking lot.
As part of the reopened case, Ferguson and Redd were indicted by a grand jury in September before their arrests in early December. Warrants from their original arrests in early 2020 say Ferguson drove Redd and the suspected gunmen to the murder scene in the church parking lot and drove the group away after the fatal gunfire.
Ferguson and Redd were each released from the Beaufort County jail on a $25,000 cash bond Dec. 3, the same day as their arrests. Both suspects would be placed under house arrest and would not be permitted to return to Beaufort County for non-official reasons, according to their bond conditions.
Terrance Wing, 21, of St. Helena Island, was convicted of Blackshear’s murder in April and was sentenced to about 37 years in prison. Lady’s Island resident Xavier Da’Quan Barnes was also charged with murder but has not yet stood trial. Prosecutors say the men climbed into the back of Blackshear’s parked car in the Lord of Life parking lot and opened fire.
Defense attorneys for Ferguson and Redd could not immediately be reached Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Bluffton Police Department deferred questions to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – An investigation is underway after the Savannah Police Department (SPD) found a woman dead during a welfare check on Wednesday.
On Dec. 11 around 7:50 a.m., officers were dispatched to a residence in the 800 block of East Park Avenue. When no one answered the door, officers forced entry and found the deceased woman, officials said.
The victim was unresponsive with clear signs of foul play, SPD officials said.
The investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers, 912-234-2020, or submit an anonymous tip through the SPD mobile app.
