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A Mass. man was found dead in a trash can in S.C. Here’s what we know.
“David had a kind heart and the biggest personality. He was loved by all those who knew him and friendly to those who didn’t,” Hutchinson's family said.
David Hutchinson set out for South Carolina late last year in hopes of striking it rich, his family said. But the Massachusetts man vanished soon after, only to be found dead inside a trash can behind an abandoned house.
Now, Hutchinson’s family is left searching for answers as police in South Carolina investigate his death as a homicide.
The 32-year-old former Oakham, Massachusetts, resident was first reported missing on Jan. 12, according to Marion, South Carolina, Police Chief Tony Flowers.
“So we went ahead and did a report and kind of started looking into it,” Flowers explained in an interview. “Being he was new to our area — he’d only been down here for a few weeks, maybe a month — nobody really knew him.”
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Hutchinson’s family says he was “lured” to South Carolina by a woman “who claimed to be an entrepreneur, but upon arrival he quickly figured out it was all a set up,” according to a GoFundMe page his sister launched.
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“After being taken for his money, he was dropped off at [a] trap house where his phone was also stolen,” Hutchinson’s family alleged. They said Hutchinson, a barber by trade, had his equipment stolen in an altercation and that he had a gun pulled on him when he confronted the people he believed were responsible.
“Later that same day he vanished without a trace,” the family added.
Flowers said Marion police spoke with the woman who purportedly met Hutchinson online and promised him work, and they deemed her “legit.”
“It wasn’t a scam,” Flowers added, though he did not elaborate. He said the woman told police Hutchinson usually called her for her birthday in late December, and she grew concerned when she didn’t hear from him.
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Marion police reached out to a handful of other people Hutchinson could have been with, but they said they hadn’t seen him.
“Then we started getting some more tips. Same thing, pretty much: that he had been killed, and his body had been disposed of,” Flowers explained. “But they kept giving us different places of where the body may have been disposed of. We searched those areas, didn’t find anything.”
They learned Hutchinson’s sister meant to buy him a bus ticket back to Massachusetts the first week of January and that he was supposed to call her when he was heading to the bus station but never did, according to Flowers.
Later, a Crime Stoppers tip led police to a particular area, and a woman came forward to say she saw several people pushing a trash can down the road toward the city’s downtown area early in the morning.
An abandoned house a couple blocks aways is known for drug activity, Flowers said, and a police officer who poked around behind the home on Jan. 29 found a trash can with a cinderblock on its lid. Inside, they found a body.
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According to Flowers, Hutchinson was identified through an ID card in his wallet and a unique scar on his arm.
“When we found Mr. Hutchinson, we went back to a house that we knew he would have been staying at,” the chief said. There, they reportedly encountered 41-year-old Jaida Braddy.
“We brought her in to interview her that same day, and she admitted to the investigators that, yes, she helped dispose of Mr. Hutchinson,” Flowers alleged.
Police arrested Braddy Jan. 30 and charged her as an accessory after the fact to murder. Jail records indicate she is being held on a $15,000 bond, though it was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
“We have about nine other people we’re looking for to talk to, whose names have come up and they know something or may have been involved,” Flowers added. He said police have also acquired surveillance footage showing three people with the trash can, and they’re working to identify those individuals.
Marion County Coroner Jerry Richardson confirmed Hutchinson’s autopsy was completed Wednesday but said he could not share further details.
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On their GoFundMe, Hutchinson’s family said they are raising funds as they work to bring his body home. They also plan to meet with investigators to seek answers about his ill-fated stay in South Carolina.
“David had a kind heart and the biggest personality. He was loved by all those who knew him and friendly to those who didn’t,” the family wrote. “What has happened is heart breaking and any donations are greatly appreciated and will help our family honor Dave and get him the justice he deserves.”
Marion police encouraged anyone with information on Hutchinson’s death to call 843-423-8616.
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