was prosecutor fran humphreys, then deputy chief solicitor for ory county. had the house been tossed, rifled? it had. one of the first things you do, you look for things this appeared to be a home invasion burglary. first take? no question. it was a gruesome crime scene. the bathroom awash in charlie s blood. there was blood spatter in the bedroom where diane lay, but several feet from diane, there were notably a few droplets. it appeared that someone involved in the crime, not the victims, was a bleeder. why couldn t that be from one of your two victims? it was apparent that big charlie never left the area of the bathroom and it was apparent that diane died where she lay. so it looks like your shooter, your intruder, is bleeding. is bleeding. so that s great evidence. it is if you can match it up. while crime scene techs
to investigate, charlie and diane were his best friends. they weren t just mine, they were everybody s friends. what we remember is how good they were, how kind they were and what good people they were. down at her house in myrtle beach, about 30 minutes from the crime scene, bambi was getting ready to go antiquing with her mom. she called her cell. one of charlie s glass company workers answered. i said, can i speak to my mama, please? he said, bambi, your mama and daddy s dead. just like that? yes. and i said, what? he said, bambi, somebody s broken in here and killed them, shot them. i just dropped the phone. and started crying. when bambi arrived at the house, yellow caution tape blocked her way. police were everywhere. my mom was like freaking out. rick tried to comfort bambi. young cody turned to him, too.
they were a respected happy couple, salt of the earth. she was the backbone of that family. bambi s cousins jessica and amy loved their aunt diane. if your car literally stopped in front of their house or broke down, she would go and make sure you had a meal or you were warm and while she was doing that, big charlie would be fixing the car. good mom? fabulous mom. outstanding. her biggest thing was she wanted to make sure her kids were protected and their hearts were protected. and her daughter bambi would need a lot of protecting. the girl was growing up in a rush. married to her high school sweetheart and divorce after a few months. by the time she was just 24 years old, she had another failed marriage and was struggling as a single mom trying to raise two boys, cody and nathan. that had to be tough, keeping your household going, huh? yes. and things went from bad to worse.
and i just, i wanted cody and nate there with us. grandparents charlie and diane agreed very reluctantly to let the boys mom in with bambi and rick, but no sooner had the boys moved that diane was making the case to get the boys back. mama was concerned. did she want to hold on to the boys? she said she would like for them to, you know, continue to stay with her. boyfriend rick thought bambi couldn t catch a break with her family. everybody pretty much treated bambi like crap. it stemmed from, you know, issues that diane, charlie and bambi had. those issues were simmering into an angry family drama. then just a few weeks after the boys were turned over, it happened. it was april 12th, a tuesday morning, bambi called her mom. no answer. big charlie was late for work. one of his barn employees went up to the house to look for him. moments later, he called 911. 911?
bambi started popping pain killers. the old story, huh? yes. just gobbled them down when you could get them? i liked the way it made me feel. bambi was a single mom hooked on pills and sitting on a piece of land worth a small fortune. diane decided it was time to intervene before another whirlwind husband du jour got half the property. mama said if you put it in my name, it will be protected. so she signed the deed to her property over to her mom and then bambi signed over her heart, sending cody and nathan to be raised by their grandparents. she calls it her lowest point. i didn t want to do it, but i knew it was the right thing. she wanted to take care of them. she loved those children. it was a crushing loss, no question, but bambi agreed at the time the boys were better off. they loved diane and charlie. they are just very loving. a lot of outdoor stuff.