South Carolina couple and son found guilty in murder of daughter with cerebral palsy, officials say

    GAFFNEY, South Carolina (WYFF) -- The Seventh Circuit Solicitor's Office announced a couple was found guilty of the murder of their daughter, who suffers from a disability.

According to court documents, on April. 11, 2022, Heather Baynard, a 14-year-old special needs child, was carried like a sack of potatoes into Spartanburg Regional Medical Center by her father, David Eugene Baynard. Heather was listless and unresponsive; her body was cold and her skin was gray.

Relatives of Heather told WYFF News 4 she had cerebral palsy.

Neither parent showed any emotion or urgency when bringing their child to the hospital that night. When David left Heather with medical staff, he sat in the waiting room and looked through his phone. Officials said Heather’s body showed extreme signs of disintegration. Heather died from her injuries and infections that night.

Heather lived in a home on Camp Ferry Road in Gaffney, South Carolina, with her mother, Bobbie Jo Baynard and David Eugene Baynard. Also living at the home was Heather's older brother, Edward Vincent Baynard, who had been employed by Axcess Homecare for the past 18 months as Heather’s personal care aid and respite care aid. Edward received more than $25,000 for his role as an aid to Heather.

When members of law enforcement went to the Baynard family home on April. 12, authorities found junk piled multiple feet high in the home. Urine and animal feces covered the floors of the home; there was trash in every room of the home, and insects lived in the piles of trash. Officers had to don safety suits and respirators when entering the home.

At the time, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler called the case "horrible" and the worst case of neglect he has ever seen.

An autopsy performed in April. 14, 2022, confirmed that the child had been neglected "for many, many months," Fowler said.

The trial for the three Baynard family members began on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Gaffney.

During the trial, doctors and the coroner testified they had never seen anything like Heather’s horrible condition during their entire careers. The urine and feces that Heather was left to live in caused her skin and tissues to break down. A witness from the hospital testified that Heather’s legs looked like raw meat. Another witness testified that Heather would have been better off if she had been killed swiftly instead of suffering through the abuse she was forced to live in every day.

On Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, 45-year-old Bobbie Jo Baynard and 55-year-old David Eugene Baynard were sentenced to life in prison for murder, 20 years in prison for infliction of great bodily injury upon a child, and 10 years in prison for unlawful neglect of a child. The couple’s three prison sentences shall be run consecutively.

Heather's brother, 21-year-old Edward Vincent Baynard, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder, 20 years in prison for infliction of great bodily injury upon a child, and 10 years in prison for unlawful neglect of a child. Edward's three prison sentences will be served concurrently.

The three Baynard family members were prosecuted by Solicitor Barry Barnette and Assistant Solicitor Jennifer Jordan.

After the trial, Solicitor Barry Barnette commented, “Nobody in this world – especially a child with special needs – should have to go through anything like this. It was horrible. Heather was left to rot to death.”