Diane and Charles Parker Murders: Where is Bruce Antwain Hill Today?

Diane and Charles Parker Murders

Diane and Charles Parker Murders: Where is Bruce Antwain Hill Now? – When Diane and Charles Parker were discovered slain in their house in April 2005, the locals of Nixonville, South Carolina, were horrified. The police immediately apprehended the supposed murderer, but what happened next was a severe injustice that had to be rectified years later. The facts are laid out, and the intricate trials are painstakingly followed in Investigation Discovery’s episode “Unusual Suspects: Deadly Intent: Shattered Dreams,” which makes it simpler for the viewers to comprehend. So if you want to know more about the Diane and Charles Parker Murders and their killer, keep reading the full article below.

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How Did Diane and Charles Parker Die

How Did Diane and Charles Parker Die?

On December 22, 1950, Charles Edward Parker Sr. was born in Conway, Horry County, South Carolina. He was one of Lorraine D. Parker’s four sons. The late William Lloyd Parker, Sr. Charles was a devout Christian who attended Tilly Swamp Baptist Church and other religious organizations and served as their previous Master. He was self-employed and the owner and operator of MIRRORTEC. He enjoyed fishing and hunting.

Gloria Diane “Sugar” Mills Parker was born on December 1, 1950, in Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina. She was the daughter of James Frederick and Shirley Elizabeth Gray Mills. The Horry County School District employed Diane as a school secretary, and she enjoyed perusing estate auctions in search of crafts and antiques. She also attended Tilly Swamp Baptist Church, where she met and wed Charles. Charlie E. Parker Jr., the couple’s son, and Bambi Bennett, the daughter of Diane’s previous marriage, were their children.

Diane and Charles were both respected members of society; thus, their shooting deaths on April 12, 2005, inside their Nixonville home on South Carolina Highway 90 came as a shock. Charles’ business was located in a barn between 100 and 150 yards behind the Parker home. Charlie and two other company employees found the couple dead in their house and dialed 911. When the detectives discovered them lying beside a bathroom, Charles and his wife were both shots. A few traces of blood that did not belong to the victims were also discovered at the crime scene.

Where is Bruce Antwain Hill today

Who Killed Charles and Diane Parker and Why?

Bambi and her boyfriend, Richard Gagnon, were detained by the police two weeks later based on witness accounts, and Charles’ blood was discovered on their shoes. On the night before the bodies were found, witnesses said they were in the Parker house. According to the authorities, they also argued with Diane and Charles about the inheritance and custody of Bambi’s sons. Due to a lack of evidence connecting her to the crime. Blood from Charles was found on one of Richard’s shoes. He was therefore tried and given a life sentence without the possibility of release in 2008.

In the meantime, the police searched for the unidentifiable DNA profile they found at the crime scene. Surprisingly, it did not match the DNA from Bambi or Richard either. They forwarded the sample to the Columbia-based forensics lab of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) after failing to locate a match. In 2006, the police also took samples from an unidentified suspect in a separate home invasion close to Longs in Horry County.

But in 2009, using DNA collected from Bruce Antwain Hill, the authorities were able to match samples from both crime locations. His DNA was included in the FBI’s national database since he had been detained in Tennessee on another accusation of the home invasion. Hill was accused of two counts of first-degree murder for Charles and Diane and first-degree robbery.

Who Killed Diane and Charles Parker

Where is Bruce Antwain Hill Now?

The police initially believed that Bruce and Richard were involved in the double homicide, but during a prison interrogation, Bruce denied knowing Richard. The case against Richard was ultimately dismissed in April 2015 when he was given a second chance to defend himself, although his charges were not cleared. On both counts, Bruce was found guilty in September 2011. For the murder, he was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and for the charge of first-degree burglary, he was given 30 years in prison. His two sentences have to flow one after the other.

Attorney Greg Hembree’s closing speech centered on the DNA evidence.

To the jury, Hembree remarked, “There is no question, no doubt it was Bruce Hill’s blood that was in that house. One in 3.3 quadrillion? These numbers are a million time more than the people on the planet. There is no question. There is no doubt Bruce Hill was in that house. Bruce Hill was in that house at the time the Parkers were killed and burglarized and robbed. There is no doubt.”

Defense lawyer Ron Hazzard described how Horry County Police handled the evidence: “You just take stuff and throw it in the bucket. Does it make you more confident that the right sample went where it was supposed to go?” They say, ‘Here we need to have this go up the road and have it tested.‘”

In 2014, Bruce attempted to appeal his sentence but was unsuccessful. In his 2017 application for post-conviction relief, he even requested a new attorney. Bruce, who is in his late 30s and detained at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, is currently there since his sentence is still in effect.

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