217: The Murder of Charlotte Childs

WEBVTT

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Southern Fried true crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and

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there may also be some explicit language
used. Listener discretion is advised. Graduating

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from high school is one of those
pivotal milestones that brings with it a mix

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of competing emotions excitement for what's coming
next, uncertainty for the future, sadness

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at leaving some things behind, or
perhaps relief to be moving on to adulthood.

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Most of all, to use a
well worn cliche, there's the knowledge

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that the world is your oyster.
Whether you're straight off to college, heading

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into the workforce, or traveling to
see a bit of the world. Knowing

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the rest of your life is ahead
of you is incredibly liberating, if a

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little scary. And that sounds like
such a long time the rest of your

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life. At that age, the
decades yawned before you. It felt like

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it took forever to grow up,
so you have no idea how fast the

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next years will fly. In late
May of nineteen ninety three, eighteen year

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old Charlotte Childs was standing at this
great starting line of life. As the

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eldest of her siblings, she was
the first to graduate high school and was

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already a mature young woman, juggling
her studies with a busy social life and

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her job at a bank. She
was also a young woman who was probably

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feeling some relief to leave part of
her life behind. She had just made

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a big change, breaking up with
her toxic boyfriend. But Charlotte wasn't down.

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She was buoyant, enjoying being swept
up in all the pre graduation events

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being held for her alma mater,
Holy Hill Academy. She was especially looking

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forward to the big day and celebrating
with her friends. The thought that she

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might never make it to the podium
to receive her diploma was the furthest thing

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from her mind. Welcome to Episode
two seventeen, The Murder of Charlotte Child's.

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It was a cloudy but pleasant late
spring evening on May twenty seventh,

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nineteen ninety three, one high school
senior Charlotte Child's hopped into her red Chevy

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Geo Storm. She was heading off
to a pre graduation get together and the

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small town of Holly Hill, Orangeburg
County and South Carolina, which was home

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to around fifteen hundred people. The
eldest of three children, Charlotte Caroline Childs

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was born January thirty first, nineteen
seventy five, and Simpsonville, South Carolina.

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In May of ninety three. Her
younger sister was fourteen and her little

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brother was around eight years old.
By her eighteenth birthday, Charlotte and her

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family were living on Root one in
the hamlet of Vance, just eight miles

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north of Holly Hill, where Charlotte
attended school. The tiny town of Vance

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where she lived, was first incorporated
in eighteen ninety one, and in the

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early nineteen nineties it had about two
hundred residents. It's down to around one

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hundred and fifty these days. Everyone
in Charlotte's life knew her as a sweet,

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cheerful young woman with a strong work
ethic. She was popular and vibrant

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and committed to her Baptist faith.
She was also a very ambitious young woman,

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involved in the South Carolina organ Procurement
Association, as well as working after

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school at the First National Bank in
Holly Hill, and she attended the teen

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class of Emmanuel Free Baptist Church of
Santee. When it came to their oldest

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daughter's social life, John and June
Childs completely trusted Charlotte. She was mature

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and responsible, and by now her
parents didn't wait up for her. She

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had her own transportation and they were
confident she would get home safely after a

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night out. By this time,
Charlotte was enjoying being single again. A

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few weeks earlier, she had broken
up with her boyfriend of two years,

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twenty year old Scott Atkinson. Charlotte
had things to do and was too young

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to be tied down then, and
she had darker reasons for ending the relationship

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that not everyone knew about. When
the pregraduation party ended, Charlotte and her

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best friend jumped in her Geo Storm
to go home. She was giving her

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friend a ride that night. After
dropping her friend off around one thirty am

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in the tiny nearby town of Utahville, Charlotte headed for home. It was

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only six miles away. She should
have been home in about ten minutes,

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but hours later, as dawn was
breaking, John and June were awoken by

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the phone ringing Charlotte was in the
hospital at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg

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and she was hurt bad. She
was unconscious. The person calling said they

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weren't sure how Charlotte had come to
sustain her injury. At four fifty five

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am, a young man had walked
into the emergency room department carrying a naked,

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bloodied, and unconscious Charlotte over his
shoulder, locating an empty wheelchair,

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he sat Charlotte down and went to
walk out of the hospital, but he

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was stopped by security. Why would
anyone abandon a young woman like that without

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alerting medical staff and explaining what had
happened? Obviously, there's no good reason,

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and this young man was pretty short
on details. When he spoke to

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security, he told them she was
just an acquaintance of his and that he

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had been driving home that night when
he found her lying by the side of

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the road naked and beaten. He
claimed he had no idea what had happened

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to her. As doctors continued their
assessment of the young woman, it became

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clear that she had not been in
some kind of accident. She had been

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violently beaten, and not just with
someone's fists, but with a hard object.

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Security contacted the Orangeboro County Sheriff's office, and Lieutenant Grady Fulmer and Deputy

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Randy Clark drove out to the hospital. When they arrived, they spoke to

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the young man who had brought Charlotte
into the hospital. He was twenty year

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old Holly Hill resident Daniel Scott Atkinson, who went by his middle name Scott.

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He gave the officers pretty much the
same details he had provided to medical

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staff, but right off things didn't
sit right with his story. Lieutenant Fulmer

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and Deputy Clark were suspicious enough of
Scott's story to put in a call requesting

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the assistance of Sheriff's detective Larry Williams. When he arrived at the medical center

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around seven to twenty am, he
observed Scott standing near Charlotte's Geo Storm,

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which was parked near the entrance to
the hospital. Detective Williams did a quick

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once over of the vehicle. A
rifle lay in the trunk and the car

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had obvious bloodstains and loose hairs.
Scott explained to Detective Williams that the evening

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before, he and Charlotte had been
hanging out at a friend's place. Scott

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said he didn't stay the whole time
and took off to go have some beers

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elsewhere. Around midnight, he claimed
he saw Charlotte driving around town with friends.

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He said he then drove to her
house and she arrived home around the

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same time. And he claimed that
he and Charlotte had sex. Scott told

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the detective he then left at around
one thirty or two in the morning to

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go get gas. Upon arriving back
at Charlotte's house, he said he found

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her sitting in the driver's seat of
the Geo Storm covered in blood. Panicked,

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Scott moved to Charlotte, whom he
now admitted was his ex girlfriend,

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and to the other seat and drove
her to the hospital to Detective Williams.

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Something was immediately off with Scott's story. The detective decided to take him to

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the Orangeburg Calhoun Lawlaw Enforcement Complex for
further questioning. There, Scott waved his

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Miranda rights and gave a written statement. He nervously proceeded to tell the detective

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that the previous evening he had been
drinking and was so intoxicated that he ran

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his nineteen eighty seven Ford Mustang into
a ditch near Charlotte's house. Just as

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Scott was wondering what to do,
Charlotte came along on her way home for

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the night. When he explained what
had happened, she drove him back to

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her place to call someone. After
a friend of Scott's was unable to help,

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Scott claimed Charlotte called a wrecker who
came to pull the Mustang out of

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the ditch. According to him,
after driving back to Charlotte's house, the

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pair then got into an argument.
Things turned physical, and Scott admitted that

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he lost control and struck Charlotte in
the face three times using his fist,

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alleging that she had hid him in
the face first. Throughout the interview you,

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Scott continually asked whether his ex girlfriend
was going to press charges and was

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anxious about the status of her condition. He continued telling Detective Williams he didn't

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fully appreciate the extent of Charlotte's injuries
at the time, but he knew he

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had to do something. Scott said
he put Charlotte in the car and headed

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for the hospital, but on the
way, as he approached the nearby town

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of Santee, he saw a Best
Western motel on his right. He said

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he changed his mind, hoping that
if you put Charlotte in the shower,

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she would come too. Scott pulled
in and got himself a room before carrying

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Charlotte inside. He claimed that once
he got Charlotte inside and washed her under

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the shower, he not only realized
she was still bleeding, but her condition

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was much worse than he had originally
thought. It was then that he placed

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her back in the car and drove
to the hospital. Detective Williams immediately called

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bullshit on the whole thing, not
just because of Scott's completely contradictory stories or

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the fact that the detective couldn't smell
any alcohol on the young man, which

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you would expect if he was as
drunk as he claimed. The evidence in

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Charlotte's vehicle was proof the young woman
had been brutally beaten. In the trunk

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of her car, where the rifle
had been found, were more bloodstains.

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Both Charlotte's geostorm and Scott's Mustang were
taken in for forensic processing by the South

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Carolina Law Enforcement Division or sled back
At the medical center, Charlotte's head injuries

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were so bad that doctors knew she
needed more urgent care than they could provide.

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She was airlifted to Richland Memorial Hospital
in Columbia, forty five miles away,

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where she underwent emergency surgery and was
placed in the neuro intensive care unit.

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A family friend named Duncan Hall told
The Times in Democrat that seeing Charlotte

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in the hospital was horrible. She
was so badly beaten that her head was

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swollen four times its normal size.
Even her hands were swollen. He said,

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you could hardly tell she was a
human being. I'm going to pause

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now to hear a word from our
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like simply Safe. That afternoon, as

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Charlotte was fighting for her life in
critical condition, Scott was arrested and charged

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with kidnapping and assault and battery with
intent to kill. Orangeburg County Magistrate Peggy

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Davis released Scott on a twenty thousand
dollars personal recognizance bond, citing the fact

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that he didn't have a criminal record, he had the support of his parents,

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and she didn't consider him a flight
risk. According to The Times and

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Democrat, Scott was instructed to abide
by a ten pm curfew, not leave

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South Carolina, turn up to court, and keep seeing his psychologist. Scott

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Atkinson had graduated from Hollyhill Academy himself
in nineteen ninety one and had just finished

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his sophomore year of college at Francis
Marion College in Florence, South Carolina,

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but he was home for the summer
with his parents, Daniel and Cathy until

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classes resumed. As I mentioned earlier, Scott and Charlotte had dated for around

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two years before the attack, when
she ended the relationship not long after the

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couple attended the Hollyhill Academy's junior senior
prom Charlotte seemed to be okay with things,

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but Scott, who felt the childs
were like his second family, didn't

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want to let go. In the
days before the attack, he had been

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calling and harassing Charlotte at work,
which her coworkers noticed. He had also

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taken to following her around in his
car as she drove, trying to run

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her off the road on multiple occasions
in an attempt to talk to her.

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Back at Richland Memorial, Charlotte had
deteriorated despite surgery. That evening, her

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classmates in Holly Hill were graduating,
but the celebration was overshadowed by the incredible

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sadness that had engulfed the senior class
and the school faculty. The academy principal

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set a special prayer for Charlotte and
her family Sadly at eight forty three pm

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on May twenty eighth, the eighteen
year old passed away. Charlotte never regained

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consciousness, so police weren't able to
interview her about what really happened. The

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following morning, Scott Atkinson was charged
with murder and taken to the Orangeburg Calhoun

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Detention Center to await a new bond
hearing. At Charlotte's autopsy in Charleston,

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Orangeburg County Corner Semwhat, a marshal
found that some of the blunt injuries looked

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like they had been inflicted by the
butt of a rifle, the same type

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of weapon which was found in the
trunk of Charlotte's car after Scott had driven

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her to the hospital. The young
woman had been struck at least fourteen times

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in the head, resulting in multiple
skull fractures, but it was impossible to

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tell how many of those blows were
inflicted by the butt of the rifle.

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Charlotte also had genital bruising consistent with
sexual assault. Her cause of death was

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cerebral edema, or swelling of the
brain, according to the Times in Democrat.

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At Charlotte's funeral in Holly Hill on
Memorial Day, the Reverend Hermannheimann spoke

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fondly of the young woman and the
happy memories she would leave with her loved

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ones, describing her as a sweet
child, a special child, and the

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hearts of her family and loved ones. He went on, we like to

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remember the good things, the things
that are dear to our hearts. She

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was later buried in Forest Hill's Memorial
Park in Elberton, Georgia. Two days

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after her funeral, on June second, Scott was denied bond by Circuit Judge

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William Howitt, though he could request
another hearing after thirty days. As Detective

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Williams and team continued the investigation,
they learned more about Scott's threatening behavior towards

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Charlotte in the lead up to her
death. Earlier in the week, he

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had followed her to her best friend's
home in Utahville, confronting her by saying

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she had destroyed his life, so
he was going to destroy hers. The

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00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:52.240
night of the pregraduation party, Scott
turned up uninvited in front of Charlotte's friends.

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He grabbed her by the arm,
saying, Charlotte, You're never going

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to get rid of me. I'm
going to fuck your world up. Despite

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00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:03.720
how discerning Scott's behavior was, according
to Charlotte's friends, she wasn't worried about

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00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:10.240
him actually doing anything. Charlotte felt
her ex was all talk, that he

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was just pressuring her to convince her
to get back together with him. She

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00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:18.559
never dreamed he would actually physically hurt
her. Authorities had also contacted the Best

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00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:23.160
Western and santi where Scott had checked
in before taking Charlotte to the medical center.

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The amount of blood found in the
room by housekeeping staff, including a

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bloody tennis shoe print, indicated that
rather than Scott taking Charlotte there to try

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to help her, he instead subjected
her to a brutal beating. The motel's

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night manager told police that around three
fifteen am, a man matching Scott's description

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00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:51.480
and with traces of blood on him, paid for a room. She then

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00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:56.480
saw Scott pulling a woman out of
the trunk and carrying her inside. The

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00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.839
manager says she reported what she saw, but there was no record of her

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00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:07.119
with the Sheriff's department. Law enforcement
had also spoken to a Utahville woman whose

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00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.920
daughter had previously dated Scott. The
woman told investigators she had observed Scott pushing

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00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:18.359
and shoving her daughter, whom he
was stalking. She later testified it was

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00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:22.519
just a very nervous time for all
of us because I saw extreme jealousy and

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00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:27.359
threats. On July twentieth, Scott
was denied bond for a second time,

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much to the overwhelming relief of Charlotte's
family. The defense presented a clinical psychologist

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who testified as to a battery of
tests Scott had undergone. According to Scott's

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00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:45.599
parents, since the age of twelve, their son had made multiple suicide attempts,

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00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:49.359
suffered from alcohol abuse, and was
being treated for depression, but he

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00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:56.240
wasn't in therapy or taking medication at
the time of the assault. Tensions ran

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00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:00.680
high during the proceedings, with a
family friend of the child's, Duncan Hall,

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00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.200
being removed from the courtroom for shouting. He was the same man who

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00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:10.599
served as the family spokesperson for the
press. One report said the protective man

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00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:14.279
had jumped in front of two TV
reporters who were trying to get to Charlotte's

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00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:21.359
family at the hospital. The following
day, at Scott's preliminary hearing before Magistrate

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00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:26.119
Peggy Davis, First Circuit Solicitor Walter
Bailey announced that the state would be pursuing

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00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:34.119
the death penalty in contrast to Scott's
version of events. Prosecutors believed that after

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00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:38.079
he left the pre graduation party,
he had been driving around and decided to

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00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:42.079
stop on the side of the road
along the route he knew Charlotte would take

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00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:48.000
to get home. Furious that she
wouldn't take him back, and consumed by

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00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:52.279
anger, he was going to destroy
her life, just like he had promised

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00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:56.839
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sftc. After Scott flagged Charlotte down under

292
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the guise of needing help with his
Mustang in a ditch, true to her

293
00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:34.240
nature, Charlotte stopped to help.
When she got out of her car,

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00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:41.000
Scott attacked his ex girlfriend, viciously
beating her unconscious before putting her in the

295
00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:45.079
trunk of her own car and hopping
in the driver's seat. He drove to

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00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:49.960
the motel in Santy, where he
checked in and carried Charlotte inside there,

297
00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.400
he continued viciously beating her with his
fists and the butt of the rifle.

298
00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:59.920
After some time, he put her
back in the vehicle and drove Charlotte to

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00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:04.480
the the hospital. It seems obvious
he also sexually assaulted her in the motel

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00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:10.319
room. Not only has she shown
signs of rape in the autopsy, he

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00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:14.960
had been careful to tell the police
that they had had consensual sex that night

302
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:19.960
in case they found evidence of the
assault. Scott maintained he had only ever

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00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:25.720
struck Charlotte with his hands and nothing
else, in what one of his attorneys

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00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:30.559
described as a crime of passion.
Following a motion from the defense, the

305
00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:36.160
charge of assault and battery with intent
to kill was dropped, but Scott was

306
00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:41.240
still headed to trial. That was
until March thirtieth, nineteen ninety four,

307
00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:45.279
when twenty one year old Scott Atkinson
pled guilty to Charlotte's murder after cutting a

308
00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:52.359
deal with prosecutors following consultation with Charlotte's
family. The last thing they wanted to

309
00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:56.480
put themselves through was more delays for
a death penalty trial, let alone a

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00:25:56.519 --> 00:26:02.200
minimum of thirteen years of appeals in
the event of a conviction, which is

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00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:07.640
what prosecutors had advised would likely happen. The kidnapping and grand larceny charges were

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00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:14.920
also dropped. This was because Scott
had entered an Alfred plea most true crime

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00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.920
listeners know. This is where an
accused person doesn't admit to guilt, but

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00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:25.039
instead acknowledges there is sufficient evidence for
a jury to find them guilty. At

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00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:29.240
sentencing, Scott struggled to get through
his address to the court and to Charlotte's

316
00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:33.240
family. One of his attorneys had
to finish reading his statement, which said,

317
00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:37.680
I know that nothing that I will
ever say or do will ever change

318
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:41.039
what has happened. For two years
of my life, you all have been

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00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:45.240
like a second family to me,
and I would give anything to go back

320
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.960
and change what has happened. No
one deserves the grief and heartache that I

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00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:52.240
have put you and my family through, and for the rest of my life

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00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:55.799
I'll have to live with the fact
that I'm the cause of it. I

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00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:57.559
know I have no right to ask
anything from you, but I would like

324
00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:02.240
you to please understand that I would
never had this happen in a million years.

325
00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.720
I loved Charlotte very much, and
as God is my witness, I'll

326
00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:08.319
do everything in my power to make
some good come out of all of this.

327
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:12.240
I owe that to God, to
your family and mine, and most

328
00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:15.319
of all, to Charlotte. At
this time, I would like to say

329
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.039
to all of your family and to
all that have suffered because of this,

330
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.039
I humbly beg that someday you will
find it in your heart to forgive me.

331
00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:30.279
I am very sorry. Scott concluded
his statement by reiterating that Charlotte's death

332
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:33.319
was an accident, saying, I'm
sure if both of us were not drinking,

333
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.920
none of this would have ever happened. He denied ever stalking Charlotte or

334
00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:45.160
intentionally harming her way to get a
final shot in at Charlotte, it doesn't

335
00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.200
matter if she was drinking. It
doesn't matter if he was drinking. There

336
00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:53.480
is no excuse for what looks like
a vicious, premeditated attack and sexual assault

337
00:27:53.519 --> 00:28:03.359
of this girl he supposedly loved so
much. Judge Charles Whetstone sentenced Scott Atkinson

338
00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:07.200
to life in prison. Under South
Carolina law, he would be eligible for

339
00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:14.480
parole after a mandatory twenty years.
Despite how hollow Scott's words may ring for

340
00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:21.920
some, Charlotte's parents believed his emotional
apology was genuine. Still, this didn't

341
00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:26.839
diminish the gaping void that the loss
of their sweet Charlotte left. Her mother

342
00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:33.079
June told The Times and Democrat,
he destroyed our lives, the people in

343
00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:37.440
Holly Hill. He will never know
exactly what he did. There's no way

344
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:41.319
we will ever forget, but we
can try to start putting a little normalcy

345
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:48.720
back into our lives, especially for
the kids. Forty seven year old Daniel

346
00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:55.720
Scott Atkinson was released on parole on
August seventh, twenty twenty, after serving

347
00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:00.960
twenty seven years of his life sentence. Today, the fifty one year old

348
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:06.720
is currently believed to be residing in
Colleton County, with his parole due to

349
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:14.039
end in January twenty thirty eight.
It is difficult to accept that a murderer

350
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:18.559
walks free while an eighteen year old
girl lies cold in her grave. A

351
00:29:18.599 --> 00:29:25.640
man that age can still father children
and have a whole other chance at life.

352
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:29.920
Charlotte would be close to my age
today, probably married with children of

353
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:33.599
her own. The smart and ambitious
young woman was also on her way to

354
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:40.319
a career she was passionate about,
and Scott didn't just rub Charlotte of her

355
00:29:40.359 --> 00:29:44.599
life. He took her from her
parents, her brother and sister, her

356
00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:49.079
friends. They lost an aunt,
nieces, nephews, cousins, grandchildren.

357
00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:59.000
The loss of a young person reverberates
traumatically for generations, all of it taken

358
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:03.960
away by abusive man who intentionally hurt
Charlotte. He might have brought her to

359
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.160
the hospital, but really did he
think she had a chance to live after

360
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:15.599
that beating? No, he destroyed
her, just like he said he would.

361
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:22.640
As passionate as I feel, I
do very much understand why Charlotte's family

362
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.519
accepted the plea deal. I have
often said, no matter how you feel

363
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:33.559
morally about the death penalty, the
automatic appeals process causes seemingly endless pain for

364
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:38.920
the victim's family, and I always
support a family's right to be involved in

365
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:45.480
the plea decision. Ali Managacus,
the founder and executive director of South Carolina

366
00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:49.599
for Criminal Justice Reform, said,
I don't know how anyone could say that

367
00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:53.920
someone doesn't change in thirty years,
or that someone hasn't paid their debts in

368
00:30:53.960 --> 00:31:00.079
thirty years, even individuals that have
been sentenced to death. Maybe she is

369
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:04.720
right, maybe I've become jaded,
but I don't think so. I think

370
00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:11.519
there are times when parole is fair
true crimes of passion lesser murder charges.

371
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:15.880
I think the problem with Charlotte's story
is that Scott harassed and threatened her.

372
00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:22.720
He told her he would kill her, and he fulfilled that promise. He

373
00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:27.279
took away her dignity and destroyed her
and her family. He was just lucky

374
00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:33.119
that her family believed in forgiveness,
even in their despair at losing Charlotte in

375
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:38.319
such a horrific way. For the
sake of Charlotte's family and the broader community,

376
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:42.960
we can only hope that her killer
has learned the lessons that only having

377
00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:51.200
your freedom taken away can bring.
Domestic violence cases are always hard to tell,

378
00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:56.480
especially when victims are as young as
Charlotte, but it is so important

379
00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.680
to tell these stories. I hope
other teenagers learn about the warning signs and

380
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:06.720
take them seriously. It never seems
like someone who once loved you so much

381
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:14.119
could actually hurt you, but statistically
they are most likely to hurt you if

382
00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:19.039
you are experiencing abuse. There is
help in the US. Call one eight

383
00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:25.759
hundred seven nine nine safe or visit
the website Theehotline dot Org. I will

384
00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:30.319
have these resources as well as those
for other countries. In today's show notes,

385
00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:40.160
you are not alone. Southern Fraud
True Crime is hosted and produced by

386
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:45.640
me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was
researched and written by me and Jima Harris.

387
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:50.079
As usual, any editorial comments and
opinions are my own. Southern Fred's

388
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:52.680
original music is by Rob Harrison of
Gamma Radio and the original graphic artist by

389
00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:58.039
Colleen Horner. Today's episode was edited
and mixed by Brendan Schacksnier of Southern Gothic

390
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.200
and Erica Kelly. If you have
any case suggestions, please go to my

391
00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:06.400
website, Southernfred Truecrime dot com and
click on the listener suggestion tab or email

392
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:10.200
SFTC Research at gmail dot com.
This is the best way for me to

393
00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:14.960
get those little known cases you'll always
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394
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Discussion Group, where we swap recipes,

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worship Dolly Parton, and share memes. We do, of course discuss true

397
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398
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Our group is a safean thun corner of

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