Loading summary
Transcript275 lines
- [00:01]
A
A word of warning. This series contains descriptions of violence and strong language, including unbleep curse words. Please be avast. Previously on Camp Swamp Road.
- [00:14]
B
I didn't see how this could be. I didn't see how you could stand your ground while you're chasing someone else's.
- [00:22]
C
Yes, it was a dead body, but it was the body of my son. You would expect more reverence for a body than he received. I didn't know what to look at first, so I just opened the first folder, and there they were.
- [00:46]
A
What?
- [00:47]
C
The 90 phone calls.
- [00:57]
A
It's Sunday, February 9, 2025. Across America, families and friends are gathering to watch the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. But Jennifer Foley isn't one of them. Through her civil suit against Weldon Boyd and Bradley Williams, she had just got a hold of a mountain of evidence. Jennifer was poring over a mangled mess of police files, which included hours of Weldon Boyd's phone calls. Where were you?
- [01:25]
C
I was at my kitchen table, sitting at my kitchen table, and I was just on the small little legal pads, and I'm, like, writing down the file names. I'm trying to figure out who some of these people are because I don't really know what I'm looking at.
- [01:41]
A
And how many hours of calls are you going through?
- [01:45]
C
I mean, I think there's what, seven, eight. Seven or eight hours of worth.
- [01:51]
A
The calls are from 2023, spanning from the day of the shooting to a few days after Saturday, September 9, to Wednesday, September 13. Jennifer clicked around, and then she opened this call.
- [02:07]
D
The next available operator will answer your call.
- [02:10]
A
You've heard this call before. It's weldon boyd calling 911 about scott spivey. But that version was. Was from the dispatcher side. This recording is from Boyd's phone.
- [02:21]
E
Hey, I've got a guy pointing a gun at me, driving. We're armed as well. He keeps throwing the gun in our faces, acting like he's about to shoot us. If he keeps us up, I'm gonna shoot him.
- [02:35]
A
In this recording, you can hear things you couldn't make out in the police dispatch version, like the sound of Boyd's powerful truck, a Dodge Ram TRX. It has a supercharged engine called the Hellcat V8.
- [02:47]
E
We're on Highway 9, headed toward Dolores.
- [02:54]
A
And for the first time, you can clearly hear another voice, Boyd's passenger, Bradley Williams, telling his friend to slow down.
- [03:02]
E
My buddy's like, what the fuck? And he's got a gun aimed at us next to us.
- [03:06]
D
Slow down.
- [03:10]
A
Police had concluded that Jennifer's brother Scott Spivey had been the aggressor. But when Jennifer heard this version of the 911 call, it told her a different story. What she heard was her brother being chased.
- [03:24]
C
He's running from you. Leave him alone. Like all I can, all I can do. And that whole nine long tape is like please just stop. Just stop.
- [03:35]
A
But Boyd doesn't stop. Jennifer knows how this call ends. She hears Boyd follow her brother onto Camp Swamp Road. Then Boyd's truck stops. And Jennifer hears the shots much louder than she had heard before.
- [03:50]
E
Back up. Weld him back up. I can't. Put in gear. Put it in gear.
- [04:06]
D
Hello?
- [04:21]
A
After they ring out, Jennifer notices something else new. Something that Bradley Williams says.
- [04:28]
E
God damn it Weldon, why couldn't we.
- [04:30]
D
Fucking leave him alone?
- [04:33]
A
God damn it Weldon. Why couldn't we fucking leave him alone? In that moment, what Jennifer hears is Bradley Williams undermining his and Boyd's claim of self defense. What she hears is that they knew they were chasing spivey. After the 911 call, Jennifer moves on to the next file and the next one and the next. She can't stop listening.
- [04:57]
C
And I pulled the first all nighter that I pulled since I wrote my thesis to get my master's.
- [05:03]
A
Like I.
- [05:05]
C
That was 10 years ago. I mean I stayed up the whole time.
- [05:12]
A
Jennifer is late night cramming because she has a deadline. In just a few hours, her lawyer, Mark Tinsley would question Boyd and Williams face to face for the first time. Mark hadn't heard these calls. But also to Jennifer, these calls affirmed what she had suspected all along. That this wasn't a stand your ground case. That her brother Scott Spivey was pursued and that the investigation into his death should never have been closed. I'm Valerie Borlein and this is Camp Swamp Road. A series from the Journal. Coming up, Episode three A Friend in the Shadows.
- [06:11]
F
This episode is brought to you by kpmg. Making an impact is how KPMG helps make the difference. KPMG applies advanced tools and strategic thinking to convert data into actionable knowledge and deliver value by improving performance through transformation. Modern modernizing processes with technology. Harnessing the power of data, navigating complex MA transactions and enhancing trust among stakeholders. Go to KPMG US Advisory to learn more. KPMG make the Difference CRM was supposed.
- [06:42]
G
To improve customer relationships. Instead, it's shorthand for can't resolve much. Which means you may have sunk a fortune into software that just bounces customer issues around but never actually Solves them on the ServiceNow AI platform. CRM stands for something better. With AI built into one platform, customers aren't mired in endless loops of automated indifference. They get what they need when they need it bad. CRM was then. This is ServiceNow.
- [07:12]
A
Weldon Boyd, Bradley Williams, and every person in the recordings you're about to hear declined to speak with us. Boyd and Williams deny any wrongdoing. A natural question at this point might be, why was Weldon Boyd recording his phone calls? The answer is a bit complicated, but you can find it inside the calls themselves.
- [07:42]
H
Hello?
- [07:43]
E
So she brings a guy to pick to stare at the people picking the car up.
- [07:51]
A
This is a call from a few hours before the shooting. It's between Weldon Boyd and his mother, Kathy Boyd. They're talking about a dramatic breakup that Boyd is going through.
- [08:01]
H
Weldon, you got some crazy people.
- [08:05]
A
Boyd had recently broken up with his fiance. Hours before the shooting, she had returned a Toyota 4Runner that Boyd had bought for. He wasn't there for the drop off, but Boyd had heard that his ex was with another guy when she returned the truck.
- [08:19]
E
I told you she had somebody else.
- [08:23]
H
Well, and she'll have somebody else in about three more months.
- [08:28]
A
Through my reporting, I learned that Boyd was recording his phone calls because of this breakup. He was locked in a custody battle with his ex. She was pregnant with his unborn son, and Boyd was hoping to catch her saying something that would help his case. I was able to reconstruct Scott Spivey's movements in the hours before the shooting using phone records and security camera footage. With these phone calls, I can now do the same with Weldon Boyd. And it's clear that he was having a bad day. Turns out his ex didn't just return a truck. Inside, it was a five carat engagement ring.
- [09:06]
E
And they just threw. She just had the ring sitting in a cup holder.
- [09:10]
H
I don't know. They didn't tell me where it was.
- [09:19]
A
Less than an hour before the shooting on Camp Swamp Road, Boyd puts both the engagement ring and the truck up for sale on Facebook. Minutes later, Boyd is driving his white truck down Highway 9. Bradley Williams is in the passenger seat. Boyd is confiding in his friend about how much he wants to be a dad. At 5:54pm, Boyd calls 911.
- [09:45]
E
Hey, I've got a guy pointing a gun at me. Driving. We're armed as well.
- [09:50]
A
Four minutes later, Scott Spivey is shot and killed. In the moments after, you can hear Boyd asking the dispatcher when the police will arrive.
- [09:59]
E
He's man. How quick? How far out are we?
- [10:05]
A
But then he asked the dispatcher another question.
- [10:09]
E
Can I call my mama?
- [10:12]
A
Can I call my mama? As Boyd waits for his mother, Kathy Boyd, to pick up, you can hear him talking to witnesses.
- [10:22]
E
Huh? You okay? Yeah. Yeah. Did you see that? What happened on the road? No. Okay. The dude swerved, tried to run us off the road. And when we turned here, he got there, got out and aimed a gun at us. Hey, mama. I decided to shoot. I just killed somebody. He tried to shoot me and Bradley. We're good. He. He's hit.
- [10:44]
A
An hour after the shooting, Weldon Boyd calls his mother again.
- [10:47]
E
All these officers are saying we're fine. They're saying. They keep telling each other, this is cut and dry. This is cut and dry. He shot at me first. I shot back. I killed him. We're fine.
- [11:01]
A
Hours later, Boyd calls his mother again, this time from the Horry county police station. Kathy Boyd is wondering how the whole thing started.
- [11:08]
H
But he had to have a problem before he caught up.
- [11:13]
E
Yeah, the witnesses are saying it started around bell and bell. Like they had reports of him driving crazy around bell and bell.
- [11:22]
H
So something was wrong. Y' all were just in his path.
- [11:25]
E
Yeah.
- [11:28]
H
How's Bradley?
- [11:31]
E
Very quiet.
- [11:33]
A
Boyd again reassures his mother that he has a clear cut self defense case.
- [11:38]
E
The dude tried to kill me, mama. He tried to kill me.
- [11:41]
H
But was it you or were you random?
- [11:44]
E
No, I was random, but he picked me.
- [11:49]
H
That's just crazy.
- [11:52]
E
Picked the wrong one.
- [11:59]
A
As Jennifer listened to the recordings, she realized that Boyd is someone who makes a lot of phone calls, and many of them are to his mother. Kathy Boyd is a big presence in his life. She helps her son out with a lot of things, including his dog, Grady.
- [12:14]
E
All right. Where are you at?
- [12:16]
H
I'm at leaving Kruger. I picked up some cheese and bacon bits for grade.
- [12:23]
E
Okay. Just don't swing the door open. Only open about halfway.
- [12:27]
A
Boyd is very close with both his parents. He seems to call them from anywhere, anytime across the five days of recordings in the police file. Boyd tucks with his parents more than 30 times.
- [12:45]
E
Yeah. Where's mama at?
- [12:48]
D
Asleep.
- [12:49]
E
All right. Wake her up. She's got stuff for buoys happening that they need her but they can't get her.
- [12:56]
A
Boys is Buoys on the Boulevard, a restaurant in North Myrtle beach owned by Weldon Boyd. His mother works with him on the day to day running of the place. There's even a dish named after her on the menu. Mama. Boyd's fried oysters. Boyd's on the boulevard Sits right off the ocean. It's a brightly colored building that advertises itself as a beach bar, grill, sushi bar, and live music venue. Weldon Boyd is the face of buoys, and he's something of a local celebrity in North Myrtle Beach. The restaurant's a pretty popular place, and Boyd sometimes appears on local tv.
- [13:36]
B
Welcome back to Carolina am. Hey, I'm excited because a dear friend of mine's in the studio today. Weldon Boyd of Boyz on the Boulevard.
- [13:42]
A
Boyd fights hard to defend himself and his business, and he does it publicly. In 2018, he sued a customer who left a negative online review of his restaurant.
- [13:52]
E
I will not tolerate someone fabricating a lie to damage my business and hurt my employees just because they're pissed off. We won't stand for it.
- [14:01]
A
Boyd won that lawsuit. The customer was ordered to pay him thousands of dollars. One time, when a rowdy customer took a swing at him, Boyd fought back by punching him in the face multiple times. He then posted a video of it on Facebook. In the caption, Boyd said, quote, guy got assault and disorderly conduct. He added, he also got a trip to the dock. Boyd's success as a businessman gives him a certain reputation. He's known as a hometown boy made good. Here's Boyd speaking to high school graduates in 2022.
- [14:37]
E
Do not fear failure. Fear is the greatest theme of opportunity. And I've had someone many years ago tell me that, and it took a lot of years to understand what they were saying. Well, my name is getting drugged through the fricking mud.
- [14:54]
H
Well. Well, it'll all come out in the wash.
- [14:58]
A
In the days after killing Scott Spivey, Weldon Boyd seems very concerned that the shooting is damaging his reputation. He talks with his mother about it.
- [15:08]
E
And I do not look good right now.
- [15:10]
H
Well, once the run, you got lots of witnesses.
- [15:15]
A
Well, to.
- [15:16]
H
The police have already done everything. And if they didn't, they got all the evidence that they had come to a conclusion.
- [15:31]
A
Boyd gives his mother updates on the police investigation. He tells her how frustrated he is with all the rumors swirling around. And he tells his mom about his feelings. Jennifer listened to all of it.
- [15:43]
C
I don't know this person. I don't know who they are. I mean, but I hear their. I hear their deepest thoughts that they're telling people behind closed doors when nobody else is listening. That's as close as you get to someone's true character as you can possibly get. I think the most heartbreaking thing there was to hear him tell his mama that he knew I was following Him. I was on his tail.
- [16:17]
A
This is a call between Boyd and his mother two days after the shooting. They're talking about Scott Spivey.
- [16:24]
H
So there's no way, I think you were following him.
- [16:27]
E
Oh, he knew I was following him. Me and you talking. He knew he had fucked up at that point because all the other cars slammed on brakes and was trying to get away from him.
- [16:38]
A
And.
- [16:38]
E
And I was like, he just ran me off the road and aimed a gun at Rally's head. Fucked this guy. And I chased him. Oh, I was on his ass. And he couldn't. His truck couldn't outrun my truck, and he knew it. So, yeah, he was terrified.
- [16:54]
A
To Jennifer, this moment in the calls is shocking. Boyd's entire stand your ground claim is based on the idea that he was in fear for his life when he killed Scott Spivey. But in this private moment with his mom, Jennifer thinks that boy clearly undermines that.
- [17:10]
C
I catch myself thinking how scared Scott had to be in those last moments of his life. Like, how scared does he have to be? And then you solidify that by saying that, like, you knew he was scared. Those are really hard things to hear.
- [17:36]
A
Jennifer is getting an intimate look into Weldon Boyd's private life, but she's already learned a lot about him from what's public. Boyd's Facebook profile is filled with hundreds and hundreds of posts. In one video posted on Facebook, Boyd does donuts in his powerful white truck. Boyd's Facebook is also filled with videos of him shooting guns. Boyd is a veteran. When he was in his 20s, he served 14 months on active duty in the National Guard. On his left arm, Boyd has a tattoo of a semiautomatic rifle. My reporting shows that Boyd owns around 70 firearms. In one Facebook video set to slow motion, Boyd shoots at a fake head he ordered online. When it explodes, it sprays imitation blood and brain matter. In another Facebook video, he sets off a cannon. Boyd shares his love of guns with his best friend, Bradley Williams. The two men first met in 2008 at community college. They've been close ever since. On Camp Swamp Road, both Boyd and Williams fired their guns, but Boyd said it was his bullet that killed Scott Spivey. Days after the shooting, the two friends speak over the phone.
- [19:05]
D
I mean, it was a shitty situation all around.
- [19:09]
A
Williams tells Boyd he's relieved that the evidence seems to put them in the clear.
- [19:13]
D
I mean, you know, careful with the words, but, I mean, it's a shitty situation all around. But that whole scenario could not have played more perfect for given scenario if that makes sense.
- [19:26]
A
Boyd says that his lawyer, Ken Moss, told him they were very lucky.
- [19:30]
E
Ken told me that I. That. That I had a horseshoe up my ass. He said, what are the chances that you get in a shootout and you got five independent witnesses where none of them know you and none of them know each other? All stopped. To back up your story on this.
- [19:48]
A
Call, Boyd repeats his story several times, that he acted in self defense because he thought Scott Spivey was trying to kill him.
- [19:55]
E
I said, if I see his mom, I'm gonna look her in the eye and say, your son tried to kill me. Yeah, I mean, you want me to sugarcoat that?
- [20:04]
A
In the middle of the call, Boyd takes a pause.
- [20:09]
E
So, Bradley, I know it's fucked up to say, but I had a fucking blast. I. I know it's up, but I'm a up person.
- [20:19]
D
Well, I mean, you know, it is what it is.
- [20:28]
E
I had a good time.
- [20:29]
D
The main thing is I'm glad you okay. I'm glad me okay. I mean, like I said, it is what it is. I mean, I feel no remorse for that dude. I hate the situation just because it's just bullshit, but, I mean, he fucked up.
- [20:45]
E
He fucked up. I mean, what else do you want to say?
- [20:48]
A
A couple minutes later, Boyd suggests that he and Williams do something to commemorate the killing.
- [20:53]
E
We should go get teardrop tattoos.
- [20:56]
D
You know, I didn't want to say that when we was going home from the farm. That's what I first thought was, we gotta get teardrop tattoos or spiderwebs on our elbows.
- [21:08]
E
We got to find somewhere on our body to put a teardrop. I'm doing it. Me and you are gonna fucking do it. I don't give a shit. We're doing it.
- [21:16]
D
Oh, my God. Battle buddies.
- [21:23]
C
They say they were in fear for their life, but you had an anthem blast. Fear and love, they don't. They don't. Typically, they're not coinciding emotions. You know, like, are you in fear or do you freaking love it? I mean, those. Stand your ground. To work, you have to be in fear of your life. But you loved what you were doing. That doesn't. Those don't mesh. The stories weren't meshing.
- [22:01]
B
I think Jennifer said it best. But on the spectrum, love and fear are on opposite ends. You can't be in fear for your life and having a fucking blast.
- [22:13]
A
Sitting at her kitchen table late at night, Jennifer knew that her lawyer, Mark Tinsley, needed to listen to these calls. She began sending him clips. Mark got them the next morning. He was about to set off on a 200 mile drive to depose Boyd and Williams under oath for him. The timing of Jennifer's discovery couldn't have been better.
- [22:36]
B
I began to listen to the calls as I drove. Okay. And so I can tell you that pretty much the entire four hour drive, I was listening to calls all the way and making notes.
- [22:52]
A
And what did Mark say when you got him on the phone?
- [22:55]
C
He was like, girl, the super bowl was last night. But you just. You just ran a touchdown.
- [22:59]
B
You know? There are only two living witnesses to what actually happened. And here we have a peek into what they're saying and what they're doing and what they're talking about.
- [23:14]
C
And I was like, well, I don't know.
- [23:15]
A
You're not.
- [23:16]
C
We're not out of it yet. Like, we found a whole bunch of stuff. We gotta make sure it means something, though, you know?
- [23:26]
E
Raise your right hand, please.
- [23:28]
A
You saw in this word that the.
- [23:29]
C
Testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
- [23:31]
E
I do.
- [23:33]
B
Good morning, Mr. Boyd. My name's Mark Tinsley. We just met this morning. As you know, I'm gonna take your deposition today in at least 10, Mark.
- [23:41]
A
Tinsley deposed Weldon Boyd for two hours. He asked him about what happened on Camp Swamp Road, and he used some of Boyd's own words from the calls to guide his questions.
- [23:51]
B
But he had just run you off the road, right?
- [23:53]
E
Yes.
- [23:55]
B
And at that point you were thinking, fuck this guy, and so you chased him.
- [23:59]
D
Checking the form.
- [24:03]
B
You still have to answer.
- [24:05]
E
I got on the phone with 911. I mean, obviously someone aims a gun at you, it makes you mad. Not gonna apologize for that. But I got on the phone with them, and my objective was to relay a police officer to his location and get him off the road.
- [24:19]
B
Yeah, well, you're not gonna apologize for anything, right?
- [24:23]
E
No, sir.
- [24:23]
B
Yeah, because you. You loved it.
- [24:27]
E
I wouldn't say that. I might have. I mean, I might have made a comment that I'd like to see if you show it to me, but this was a pretty bad situation.
- [24:39]
A
Bradley Williams was next. Compared to Boyd, Williams was more guarded and softly spoken. He often gave one word answers.
- [24:48]
B
Do you remember him telling you that he had a blast?
- [24:50]
D
No.
- [24:51]
B
Okay.
- [24:53]
A
Tinsley asked Williams if he remembered Boyd gloating about the shooting.
- [24:57]
B
That would be a kind of a shocking thing for somebody to say, wouldn't it?
- [25:00]
E
It would.
- [25:08]
B
It's your testimony he never said, I had a fucking blast. I know it's fucked up to say, but I'M a fucked up person.
- [25:16]
D
I don't remember that.
- [25:18]
B
If he had said something like that, you just admitted it would be shocking. You would remember something like that, wouldn't you?
- [25:22]
E
Yeah.
- [25:25]
A
Eventually, Tinsley gets to the teardrop tattoos.
- [25:27]
B
Which do you think's more outrageous, saying I had a fucking blast or suggesting that you get tattoos to commemorate the killing? Depends on the context. Tell me a context in which one is worse than the other. Well, when you look at it at.
- [25:44]
D
Face value, it sounds horrible, but there's.
- [25:47]
B
Dark humor involved with everything, too. It's a coping method. Okay. But you don't have a recollection of him saying either one to you? No, sir.
- [26:05]
A
What were you doing during the depositions? What was going through your mind that day?
- [26:11]
C
I was like, on pins and needles, waiting to get the call back of.
- [26:15]
A
How everything went beyond just wanting to know how the depositions went. Jennifer was eager to tell Mark something important, something else she'd heard in the calls. After the depositions were over, Jennifer dropped yet another bombshell.
- [26:31]
C
I said, I know that the stand your ground stuff comes first. I said, but at some point I want to talk to you about the role that Horry county played in this. And Mark was like, what do you mean? And I was like, well, I know I told you, but I don't know if you realize, like, there's like eight calls between him and the deputy chief. And he was like, what?
- [26:52]
A
Jennifer discovered that Weldon Boyd was doing a lot of talking with the deputy chief of Horry County Police.
- [26:58]
B
It was like pouring gasoline on it and setting it on fire. I mean, they were explosive. The things you hear are explosive.
- [27:06]
A
That's next. Optimism isn't sunshine and rainbows. It's fixing things, changing things, changing the way we fix things. Rolled up sleeves, breaking through growing power to meet growing needs. Working to run the world on smarter energy every day. Taking power where the grid's never been, then getting up and doing it again. Because if optimism never stops, then change. Change can't either. GE vernova the energy of change this.
- [27:48]
I
Episode is brought to you by indeed. When your fridge stops working, you don't sit around waiting for all your food to spoil. You find a solution. So why wait to hire the people your company desperately needs? Use Indeed Sponsored Jobs to find great talent fast. It moves your job post to the top of the page, so it's the first thing relevant candidates see when they start searching. And it truly does make a difference. Sponsored jobs receive 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs, according to Indeed data. Plus with sponsored jobs, there are no monthly subscriptions or long term contracts. You're only paying for results. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com journal. That's Indeed.com journal right now. And support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com journal terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.
- [28:57]
A
I want to go back to Camp Swamp Road on the night of the shooting and to what Weldon Boyd was doing in the half hour after killing Scott Spivey. While police are securing the crime scene and interviewing witnesses, Boyd makes a few calls. He calls his dad.
- [29:12]
E
I killed him.
- [29:14]
D
Well, you know what?
- [29:15]
E
If you deserve it, don't worry about it.
- [29:17]
A
He calls his lawyer.
- [29:18]
D
Well, you need to not be telling your story in front of a bunch of people.
- [29:23]
E
Okay? Sorry.
- [29:26]
A
Andy calls a very close friend.
- [29:29]
D
What's up, man?
- [29:30]
E
Brandon, where you at?
- [29:31]
D
Under my house.
- [29:32]
E
Can you come to. Can you come to Camp Swamp Road off of nine, like, as fast as possible?
- [29:38]
A
This call was to Brandon Strickland. Strickland and Boyd are good buddies. They go hunting together.
- [29:45]
D
Yeah. What's wrong?
- [29:46]
E
I had to shoot somebody. 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.
- [30:03]
A
But Brandon Strickland isn't just a good friend of Weldon Boyd's. He's a cop. And not just any cop, but the deputy chief of the Horry County Police Department. When Boyd tells Strickland what's going on, Strickland is immediately concerned.
- [30:20]
D
Is he gay or.
- [30:21]
E
Yes.
- [30:23]
D
All right. I gotta be real careful with that because in my jurisdiction, we're investigating agency. So I got to be careful that I'm not showing any.
- [30:32]
E
You know, I know that it's self defense, and we got. We got witnesses that are all saying it's self defense. I just.
- [30:40]
A
One of Strickland's biggest responsibilities is overseeing police investigations. That means he's the one in charge of the detectives arriving at Camp Swamp Road at that exact moment.
- [30:51]
E
I just. I'm. I'm a fucking nervous wreck, dude. Why would.
- [30:55]
D
No, I'll. I'll slide out there, but I got to be real careful, you know what I'm saying?
- [30:58]
E
Okay. All right.
- [31:00]
D
All right.
- [31:00]
E
Thanks.
- [31:01]
D
Just be calm.
- [31:02]
E
Okay?
- [31:05]
A
A few minutes later, Boyd and Strickland talk again. Strickland tells Boyd he isn't coming to Camp Swamp Road.
- [31:12]
D
Hey.
- [31:13]
E
Hi.
- [31:14]
D
Look, I. I got the right people. I got the people coming that need to come, but I need you. I need you to listen to me. I understand me for a second. Okay.
- [31:22]
E
Okay.
- [31:22]
D
And it might not make sense now, but it'll make sense later. It come out there.
- [31:27]
E
Okay, Yeah, I get it. I get. No, I get it now. I understand.
- [31:33]
A
The number two man at the Ory County Police Department is promising Boyd that he's got the right people coming.
- [31:41]
D
That keeps it clean, and for what you're telling me is a case and it's a self. The fence thing.
- [31:47]
E
Yeah.
- [31:47]
D
You want to be f. You're going to be fine. You just got to go through the process. They're going to ask you questions. They're probably going to take you to Conway to sit you down and talk to you.
- [31:56]
E
Okay?
- [31:57]
C
If you.
- [31:58]
D
All right? But just.
- [31:59]
E
I'm.
- [31:59]
D
I'm right here.
- [32:00]
E
I know. I know. I understand completely.
- [32:03]
D
So. All right, well, you. You'll be all right.
- [32:05]
E
Thank you.
- [32:07]
D
Yeah, man.
- [32:11]
A
Strickland's lawyer, Bert Von Herman, says his client's recorded assurances are, quote, all bluster. Von Herman says that Strickland did nothing to influence the investigation, and he denies that his client helped Boyd avoid criminal charges.
- [32:31]
D
Hey, buddy.
- [32:32]
E
What's up, man?
- [32:34]
D
You letting me all right?
- [32:36]
E
Yeah, I'm good. It's a freaking mess, though.
- [32:41]
A
The morning after the shooting, Strickland text Boyd and asked that he call him. They would speak four times that day. In this call, Strickland explains why he never came to Camp Swamp Road.
- [32:54]
D
Well, dude, I'm not. I didn't come here last night. I did that for you because 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. Friends with the deputy chief, and he was out there directing the investigation. You know what I mean?
- [33:10]
E
No, I understood that completely.
- [33:14]
A
Even though Brandon Strickland wasn't there, he explains to Boyd what he was doing behind the scenes.
- [33:19]
D
Well, and I'll tell you what happened after you called me. Now, this is Brandon will never to be spoken of again. I called my people. And the detective who met with you last night was Alan Jones, right?
- [33:32]
E
I think so, yeah.
- [33:35]
A
Strickland is saying that he personally picked Detective Allen Jones to manage the Camp Swamp Road investigation. This is the same Allen Jones who interviewed Boyd at the police station?
- [33:44]
D
Yeah. Country guy. Good old. Good old boy. Well, that's who I sent out there.
- [33:48]
B
And I called him.
- [33:49]
A
The same Alan Jones who wrote the police report saying Boyd's and Williams actions were justified.
- [33:55]
D
I was working. I was in the shadows last night. I weren't there, but I was in the shadows.
- [34:00]
A
This is also the same Alan Jones who Jennifer called repeatedly in the weeks after the shooting, begging for answers.
- [34:06]
D
Well, you know, I'm a friend that I always be there for you, and I. I don't. I didn't want you to look at it as damn. Brandon didn't even come to me. But I did it for you.
- [34:15]
E
No, that never even crossed my mind. I mean, I fully understand everything. And. And it just. I don't know. It's just not how I. I expected my Saturday, though. That's for sure.
- [34:26]
A
According to a spokeswoman for Horry County Police, detectives are assigned on call duty in advance, meaning that Jones responded to Spivey's homicide because it was his turn. Horry county police didn't make Jones available for an interview. Boyd and Strickland have been friends for some time. They were both seen as small town boys who had become successful men. At the time of the shooting, Strickland was on a fast track to becoming chief of Horry County Police. Boyd had done a lot for Strickland and his colleagues. At his restaurant Boyes on the boulevard, uniformed police officers eat free and their families eat half price. The restaurant has even donated tactical equipment to the Horry county police special operations team. Before the shooting, Boyd's restaurant was scheduled to cook a big meal for the police. But in another call, Strickland tells Boyd that event might be a little problematic now.
- [35:21]
D
We do probably need to postpone the cooking for the department at night. Look.
- [35:26]
E
Yeah, okay. We'll wait until next year.
- [35:30]
D
Yeah.
- [35:31]
E
Yeah.
- [35:33]
D
Cause it'd be like, damn, yeah, he's feeding the people.
- [35:36]
E
Big banner says thank you.
- [35:38]
D
Yeah.
- [35:42]
A
In their calls, Boyd and Strickland seemed very aware of how this whole situation could look from the outside. Here they talk about how things might have been different for Boyd if Scott Spivey wasn't a white man.
- [35:53]
D
Well, Brandon and Weldon talking is. Glad it's a white male.
- [35:57]
E
Yes.
- [35:59]
D
That's the first. First. Well, one of the first questions I asked, I was like, okay, you know, how could you know how to.
- [36:06]
E
Actually, yeah, that would have. That would have changed the narrative.
- [36:12]
A
Some of America's best known standing ground cases have involved older white men killing younger black men. George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin in Florida or the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. The handling of those Cases was highly scrutinized, and Boyd and Strickland seem aware of it.
- [36:28]
D
You'd have still been okay, but you'd have really had people running around. White business owner shoots black millionaires.
- [36:37]
E
What a mess.
- [36:42]
A
The Spivey family was unhappy with a lot of things that the Horry county police did, but they were particularly angry about the decision to tow Scott Spivey's body in his truck. On another call from the day after the shooting, Strickland explains to Boyd why that happened.
- [36:58]
D
Yeah, hell, they towed. They towed the truck to the PD with his body still in it.
- [37:03]
E
I thought, yeah, they never took it out. I kind of thought that was odd.
- [37:08]
D
Well, you can in some situations, but in a situation where they're looking, make sure that every die is dotted. T's crossed to clear you. They did it that way. So that way, when they do, it's.
- [37:20]
A
A little hard to hear. But in talking about the handling of Scott Spivey's body, Strickland describes it as a situation where they were looking to clear Boyd. I've spoken with several coroners in South Carolina. Transporting a dead body in a truck is not at all the way it's done. Some question whether it's even legal under state law. Typically, in a homicide, a coroner would be responsible for a body. It has to be under their control. Horry county police told the Spivey family they towed the truck with the body inside because of the weather. It looked like rain. Hearing these calls between Boyd and Strickland, things were starting to come together for Jennifer. Why detectives were so cagey with her family, why the police didn't seem to thoroughly investigate her brother's death.
- [38:07]
C
Everything we thought, everything that we questioned, we had positive affirmation in those calls. I'm realizing that Scott was never going to have a fighting chance. He never had a fighting chance.
- [38:29]
A
Discovering these calls clarified so many things for Jennifer, but they left her with a big question.
- [38:35]
C
Who didn't listen to him? They're here. Am I the only person that has listened to these phone calls?
- [38:44]
A
Remember, these calls came from an Horry county police file. They had been in their possession for months. Jennifer couldn't understand how anyone in law enforcement could hear what she'd heard and decide not to charge Boyd and Williams.
- [38:58]
C
How did it pass through? Slid Horry county police department and the attorney general's office. And no one listened to these. And then no one stand in front of my family and say, we looked at all the evidence and we've come to this conclusion.
- [39:12]
A
Jennifer now had evidence. She believed showed blatant police corruption and evidence. She also believed completely upended Boyd and Williams. Stand your ground defense.
- [39:21]
C
I didn't say these things. I didn't say any of it. I just pressed play.
- [39:28]
A
Jennifer was about to go public with the calls. She had no idea what that would set in motion.
- [39:35]
D
Where you can. Police department has terminated a patrol division sergeant as part of an ongoing internal affairs investigation.
- [39:42]
A
Next time on Camp Swamp Road.
- [39:44]
C
Body cam footage shows what some say.
- [39:46]
A
Is the officer coaching the shooter, Weldon.
- [39:49]
C
Boyd, to act like a victim.
- [39:51]
A
Can we trust that evidence?
- [39:52]
B
Are you asking me? Can I trust a video with my own eyes? I mean, look, if there is. Here's the thing, Valerie. What are you asking me?
- [40:02]
C
And I pray that you all sleep tonight knowing that no blind eye can be turned to Scott Stivey anymore. Thank you.
- [40:08]
B
Thank you, Marilyn.
- [40:09]
A
Hold on.
- [40:10]
E
In this case, the fact from the.
- [40:12]
B
Womb to the tomb, from the beginning.
- [40:15]
A
To the end, lead conclusively to the.
- [40:18]
B
Finding that this is a stand your ground case.
- [40:27]
A
Camp Swamp Road is part of the Journal, which is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. I'm Valerie Borlein. Our senior producer is Rachel Humphries. Our producer is Heather Rogers. Editing by Colin McNulty. Fact checking by Nicole Pasulka. Music, sound design and mixing by Nathan Singapak. Additional music by Peter Leonard. Our theme music is by so Wiley. Remixed for the series by Nathan Singapak. Special thanks to Kathryn Brewer, Miguel Bustillo, Sam Henriquez, Pia Gakari, Carlos Garcia, Matt Kwong, Jennifer Levitz, Jessica Mendoza, Bruce Orwell, Valena, Pat Patterson, Sarah Platt and Cam Pollock. Thanks for listening. Episode 4 will be released next Sunday.