Suspect has other charges

Authorities say man implicated by inmate in Carpenter killing was arrested in subsequent robberies, assaults

Web posted Thursday, January 18, 2001

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By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

Jessica Carpenter. SPECIAL

AIKEN - Charges already filed against the lead suspect in the Jessica Carpenter slaying suggest a violent background involving defiance, intimidation and assault.

Authorities say Tonnie Nathaniel Baldwin's most recent outburst was a lynching-style assault on a fellow inmate Jan. 5 that sent the victim to the hospital with multiple cuts and bruises. Authorities say Mr. Baldwin led the assault by four inmates on Stephan Brodus, who was punched and kicked after an argument over a food tray.

``He's had a couple of fights, and he was charged,'' said Maj. Dan Edwins with the Aiken County Detention Center. ``He's not the most cooperative guy.''

On Tuesday, Mr. Baldwin, 23, made obscene gestures with his hand to bystanders who saw him outside a court hearing and at the Aiken hospital where he was taken to give DNA samples.

If he is charged and convicted in the Aug. 4 Carpenter slaying, authorities say it will be his worst act of violence. Someone broke into the girl's Crosland Park home in the daytime, raped the 17-year-old and cut and strangled her. Her mother discovered her body.

•Tests fail to tie man to killing  •Judge grants bond to slaying suspect  •Suspect has other charges  •Killer is in jail, informant says  •Police update Carpenter-case sketch  •Teen slaying case stays open  •Reward for killer is offered  •Aiken investigators turn to FBI  •Police show sketch of teen wanted for questioning  •Parents take pride in teen's legacy  •Man on camera sought  •Police create profile of teen-ager's killer  •Teen's death hits close to home  •Community says goodbye to teen  •Police seek motive for teen killing  •Friends mourn 17-year-old's death

On Tuesday, a judge accepted information obtained from a jail inmate and signed an order forcing Mr. Baldwin to give hair, blood and saliva samples. State officials will compare his DNA to semen found at the Carpenter crime scene. An answer could come as early as Friday.

Mr. Baldwin also is charged in an Oct. 29 incident in Aiken. Police say he kicked in a door at the Royal Inn, covered the heads of a man and woman staying there and robbed them. The female guest was fondled.

Warrants also charge Mr. Baldwin with robbing store owners James and John Nicholson at Nicholson Village on Oct. 25, using a semi-automatic pistol. On Aug. 25, police say, he pointed a gun at two people on Sassafras Road in Aiken County, and a 1999 warrant accuses him of possessing a stolen 9mm pistol.

The most recent accusations came from Craig Gantt, an Aiken man serving a 10-year sentence for a parole violation.

With no promise of reward, authorities say, Mr. Gantt stepped forward last week to rid his conscience of a 5-month-old secret. He said he knew who killed Jessica Carpenter.

Investigator Ray Scott with the Aiken Department of Public Safety spelled out Mr. Gantt's story in court Tuesday:

Mr. Gantt picked up Mr. Baldwin Aug. 4 from Starvin' Marvin convenience store on York Street, just around the corner from the victim's home. Mr. Baldwin was walking along a path in a hurry and was carrying a knapsack, which he later dropped off at an address on Florence Street.

Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Gantt drove around that night, smoking marijuana and talking. That is when Mr. Gantt says Mr. Baldwin confessed, saying he raped a girl and ended up killing her.

``The informant has indicated that Baldwin told him that he killed her because she could identify him,'' Assistant Solicitor Bill Weeks said.

As far as Mr. Gantt's motivation to come forward, Mr. Weeks said, ``I'm sure he's probably hoping for some assistance on his current charges, but nothing's been promised. He said it's really been bothering him. He kept saying that his mother was raped, and it made him angry (that Jessica Carpenter was raped and killed.)''

Mr. Gantt was born as a result of a rape, Mr. Weeks said.

Mr. Gantt faces pending charges in connection with a Fourth of July robbery of a Food Lion in Langley and assaults on his two sisters in March.

Meanwhile, the victim's mother, Judy Carpenter, said Wednesday that neither she nor any of her friends knows Mr. Baldwin.

Revelations that Mr. Baldwin may have gone to Red Lobster two weeks before the killing have led some to wonder whether Mr. Baldwin met Jessica there, she said. Jessica worked as a hostess at Red Lobster.

``I'm aware my daughter was a very good-looking girl and a friendly girl. I don't know if this is just a person who saw her there and liked what he saw, or met her out and about,'' Mrs. Carpenter said.

She said she hopes that the informant's information will be the break needed to solve the case.

``I feel good about this, but I'm not a hundred percent yet,'' she said. ``It feels like something is happening. I'm just hoping.''

Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (803) 648-1395.

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