GAFFNEY, SC (WHNS/CNN) – Officials arrested a 19-year-old man and his mother after the man’s stepfather’s body was found cut into pieces under a mobile home.
According to detectives, Jacob Bridges, 19, confessed Thursday to killing his stepfather – 51-year-old Gary Stone – saying he had done it for his mother.
"He said that he had overheard the stepfather and his mother arguing and he didn't like some things that was said, and so he was basically defending his mother's honor. But it's not normal to see this type of evil on a daily basis, even in law enforcement,” Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Mueller said.
Mueller says law enforcement officials were dispatched to a domestic incident at the mobile home on Nov. 3. Bridges and his stepfather had gotten into an argument, and the 19-year-old had taken off.
"As the officers arrived at the home, they in fact talked to Gary James Stone. He advised the officers that they could leave, he did not want to report and that he would be fine after he cooled off. And that he would return,” Mueller said.
The sheriff says later that night, Bridges did return then choked and stabbed his stepfather in the yard. He later cut up Stone’s body, putting it into containers underneath the trailer to hide it.
Bridges planned to dispose of the remains at a later time, Mueller says, but after a tip on Thursday that helped them obtain a search warrant, investigators found Stone’s body.
"Our officers began to pull the skirting away from the bottom of the mobile home, and they began to find some bags, some containers that had other bags within those,” Mueller said.
Bridges and his mother, 40-year-old Dawn Wilkins, were arrested and charged with murder.
Mueller says they believe Wilkins was a willing participant in the homicide and may have helped move the body; although she denied involvement in the crime.
"We feel like the mother was just as involved or she could've done more to keep this from ultimately becoming a murder investigation,” Mueller said.
Both suspects are being held at the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond.
Mueller asked for prayers for his deputies who witnessed the gruesome scene.
"In 28 years, this is probably the worst scene that I've actually observed,” he said.
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