Dallen Bounds, a notorious serial killer who murdered at least four victims in South Carolina in 1999, was born in rural Oregon in 1971. Before finding work as a butcher, he grew up in a suburb of Olympia, Washington. However, his criminal tendencies emerged early; before turning 20, he had already spent a year in prison for stealing guns and possessing stolen property.
Troubled Relationships and Relocations
In the 1990s, Bounds married, and he and his wife moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona. His violent tendencies surfaced again when he was arrested for domestic violence in 1997. Bounds moved to Tucson the following year, where he was charged with disorderly conduct. Eventually, he relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, moving in with friends in June 1999.
The Greenville Murders
In June 1999, the body of a Radio Shack employee in Greenville was found zip-tied to a chair in the back room of his store. The victim had been stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver. Peculiarly, there were no signs of a struggle, nothing appeared to be taken, and the killer had locked the front door and hung up the “closed” sign before leaving the scene. Police were baffled, and the case remained unsolved for months.
The Florist Shop Clerk
Six months later, another body was discovered at a florist shop. This time, someone had walked into the flower shop in broad daylight, ordered the clerk to the back room, and slit her throat, leaving her face down in a pool of blood. Once again, the front door was locked, the “closed” sign was hanging in the window, and nothing appeared to have been taken from the scene.
The Fatal Night and Capture
Bounds’ killing spree came to a dramatic end when he followed his ex-girlfriend to her ex-husband’s house. He broke in through a window, shot the woman in the head, and then pursued the ex-husband as he fled. After shooting the ex-husband, Bounds took refuge in another home, holding two women hostage for 12 hours. When police stormed the house, Bounds shot himself in the head, dying instantly.
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Confession and Aftermath
A goodbye letter was found on Bounds’ body, written on Marvin the Martian notepaper. In it, he confessed to murdering his ex-girlfriend, saying, “My mind is a whirling mess of emotion. I was a madman. God forgive me. I don’t know what happened last night. I don’t. I’m so alone. Forgive me. Why did I do this? I’m sorry.”
Two weeks later, investigators connected Bounds to the earlier murders when his roommate turned over evidence that forensically tied him to the scenes. The roommate was convicted and sentenced to 15 years for being an accessory after the fact but was released from prison a few years later.
Unsolved Mysteries
No motive for the killing of the store clerks has ever been disclosed. Bounds is also believed to have killed several people in Washington state before moving to South Carolina, but these murders officially remain unsolved.
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