Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)



Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)

January 14, 1995 | | |

|Edition: SA |

|Section: A |

|Page: 1 |

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MURDER

Gardner back to face murder trial

MCLAUCHLIN SLAYING: Gardner is believed to be the triggerman in the rapeand murder of Melissa McLauchlin on Dec.30,1992.

Author: DAVID W. MacDOUGALL and TERRY JOYCE; The Post and Courier

Article Text:

CLARIFICATION(01/17/95): A story in Saturday's editions about accused murderer Joe Gardner needs clarification. Shortly after Melissa McLauchlin was murdered in December 1992, police said her assailants forced her to wash with bleach and scrubbed her with brushes to get rid of evidence of sexual contact.

At the trial of co-defendant Matthew Mack in May 1994, several witnesses said McLauchlin was made to wash in a tub which might have contained some hydrogen peroxide. One witness was told that McLauchlin was scrubbed with a steel soap pad.

However, none of the witnesses questioned by police testified that bleach was used on McLauchlin. An autopsy found no evidence of scrubbing or bleach. Bleach apparently was used to clean blood from the car in which McLauchlin was shot.

Joe Gardner, the accused triggerman in the 1992 rape and torture slaying of Melissa Ann McLauchlin, was returned to South Carolina Friday under heavy security.

"It gives us a great deal of pleasure to have Joseph Martin Luther Gardner back in Dorchester County," Sheriff John Southerland said. "We hope the trial will be forthcoming quickly."

Gardner, 24, is charged with murder. He was being held at the Dorchester County Jail in St. George after appearing at a bond hearing before Magistrate Cranston Pinckney.

Gardner sat rigidly in a wooden chair, with his legs in irons and his hands cuffed in front of him and shackled to his waist, as Southerland read the arrest warrant to him.

He said little other than "yes sir" during the hearing, and he declined to speak with reporters.

Though magistrates cannot set bail on murder charges and the bond hearing was a formality, Southerland asked Pinckney to deny bail.

Pinckney complied.

Authorities believe Gardner was one of five men who picked up McLauchlin, who was 25 at the time, as she walked on a road near her North Area home about 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, 1992.

The men took McLauchlin to a mobile home on Stall Road, where they repeatedly raped her, forced her to wash with bleach and scrubbed her body with brushes. There were two other women in the trailer while the men were raping McLauchlin.

Afterward, three of the men drove McLauchlin to U.S. Highway 78 near Maple Street in Summerville, where she was shot in the face five times with a .25-caliber pistol, pushed out of the car and left on the side of the road to die.

A tip received by a Charleston County sheriff's deputy several days after the slaying led North Charleston police to the trailer on Stall Road.

Working with Dorchester County investigators, police began locating and arresting defendants in the case.

Four people were arrested locally within a week of the slaying. Two were arrested in Quakertown, Pa., near Philadelphia, on Jan. 6, 1993. Another was arrested in Detroit the next day.

Six defendants have been convicted of, or have pleaded guilty to, charges relating to the case. Two are serving life sentences for murder.

A seventh, Craig Darnell Rice, 21, didn't take part in the crimes but learned about them afterward, police said. Rice, the first person arrested, has been a witness for the prosecution in several of the trials. He is charged with being an accessory after the fact.

All of the other defendants have said Gardner pulled the trigger.

Gardner, 24, fled the area and was one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitives.

The search initially focused on Gardner's hometown of Detroit, but soon expanded across the border into Canada.

He was captured Oct. 19 in Philadelphia after a citizen called authorities and said a man named Tony who worked in a corner grocery store looked like Gardner, whose picture was on a wanted poster at the post office.

Gardner fought extradition for several months. A judge in Philadelphia signed the extradition order Tuesday.

Gardner arrived at Charleston Air Force Base about 2:05 p.m. Friday aboard a Navy C-12 twin-engine transport.

Agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Dorchester County Sheriff's Department and North Charleston police accompanied him on the flight from Philadelphia.

The Navy plane parked near the Air National Guard fighter-interceptor hangar, located in an out-of-the way part of the base.

Security was tight and officials refused to disclose Gardner's itinerary in advance.

A five-car motorcade of police vehicles, several with their lights on, transported Gardner from the airport to St. George.

The Navy provided the transportation at the request of local authorities, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent Joseph M. Masciale said.

"We felt it was best to do it this way for his (Gardner's) security," Masciale said.

He refused comment, however, when asked if the Navy had received any threats directed against Gardner.

Dorchester County sheriff's Capt. Al Lapolla said the sheriff's department had received threats against Gardner in early 1993, when the case gained national attention because of its racial overtones.

There have been no recent threats, Lapolla said. As a precaution, Gardner will be kept isolated from other prisoners in the county jail, Southerland said.

Authorities said McLauchlin, who was white, was the victim of a hate crime.

Police said Gardner and the other defendants, all black, had formed a pact to kidnap, rape and kill a white woman before the New Year to make up for "400 years of oppression" of black people.

During a murder trial for one of the co-defendants, defense lawyers suggested McLauchlin had agreed to have sex with the men if they gave her some crack cocaine the night she was killed.

Investigators dismissed that notion Friday as ridiculous.

Gardner was a sailor assigned to the Charleston-based guided missile cruiser Richmond K. Turner at the time of the McLauchlin murder. Several of the other defendants also were stationed aboard the Turner.

Since his disappearance he has been carried as a deserter on Navy records.

Masciale said he was uncertain about Gardner's future status with the Navy, but noted that it would not affect any civilian proceedings.

"All he's wanted for with us is desertion," he said. "Dorchester County wants him for murder."

Because the kidnapping and rape occurred in Charleston County, North Charleston police also are expected to file charges against Gardner.

Southerland said those charges might be filed next week.

First Circuit Solicitor Walter Bailey said he hopes Gardner's trial will take place before the end of this year. Bailey is seeking the death penalty.

The other defendants already sentenced in the case are:

Matthew Carl Mack, 21, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. Bailey had sought the death penalty for Mack.

Matthew Paul Williams, 22, who pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Roger Williams, 23, sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and misprision of a felony, or being present during the commission of a felony and not reporting it.

Danny Wayne McCall, 26, sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to misprision of a felony - or failing to report a crime - and no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The no-contest plea means McCall didn't believe he could prove his innocence.

Indira Simmons, 22, who pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony. She was sentenced to seven years in prison suspended for the 572 days she spent in jail or under house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Edna Jenkins, 31, who pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder, illegally buying two handguns within 30 days and lying on a firearms application. She was sentenced to five years suspended upon 554 days already served in jail and under house arrest.

Copyright, 1995, The Post and Courier. All Rights Reserved.

Record Number: MERLIN_96177

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