After TV interview, SC detective threatened by 'acquaintance' of murderer, police say

A South Carolina sheriff's investigator was recently interviewed on a true crime television show where he discussed an infamous murderer that he helped apprehend.

Not everyone was a fan of the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office investigator's appearance on Discovery ID's "See No Evil," where he discussed the Hope Melton murder case.

A man law enforcement called an "acquaintance" of the convicted murderer threatened the investigator, Graig Burns, on social media shortly after the show premiered.

In a Facebook post, Cavish Alton McManus said, "Burns would be the next person found in a pond," according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

McManus — who SLED reported is an acquaintance of the man convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Melton — was charged with one count of threatening life, person or family of a public official, teacher or principal.

The 22-year-old Pageland man was also recently arrested by Burns for burglary, according to SLED, adding McManus was taken to the Chesterfield County Detention Center.

That also might have been motivating a factor in what SLED called a threatening comment toward Burns following his appearance on "See No Evil."

The episode of the Discovery ID program was first broadcast May 2. SLED says McManus made his threat the next day, and he was arrested May 7.

Burns was a lead investigator in the Hope Melton murder case, according to SLED.

In 2015, Nickolas Miller pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping and beating the 30-year-old Melton to death with a baseball bat in Kershaw County on Dec. 26, 2011.

Melton stopped for gas at a Chesterfield County gas station, and as she drove away, surveillance video showed Miller following her in his car, wpde.com reported.

Melton called her grandmother and told her she was being followed, but the call dropped, according to wosctv.com.

The Kershaw County Sheriff's Office said Miller ran Melton off the road, raped her, beat her to death with a baseball bat, and left her naked body off a rural road behind a turkey house in Kershaw County, wistv.com reported.

Miller pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office.

This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 5:25 PM with the headline "After TV interview, SC detective threatened by 'acquaintance' of murderer, police say."