Man who raped, strangled Midlands teen found dead in SC prison cell
The man who pleaded guilty to murder and rape in the 2014 strangulation death of a Midlands teenager was found dead in a prison cell, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The body of Stephen Ross Kelly, 29, was found Saturday in his cell at Lee Correctional Institution, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said in a news release.
Since Feb. 7, Kelly was being treated for COVID-19, according to Shain.
No cause of death has been listed, but it is being investigated by the South Carolina Department of Corrections’ Office of Investigations and Intelligence, and an autopsy will be performed, according to the release.
The Crimes and Conviction
In September 2015, Kelly was sentenced to 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing, raping, and kidnapping 18-year-old Briana Rabon in February 2014.
Rabon’s body was found behind the Haig’s Creek subdivision in Elgin on Feb. 26, 2014, shortly after her car was found at an area Huddle House, The State previously reported. Children playing in the area found her body.
An autopsy determined Rabon died after being strangled, according to the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office.
Tire marks found at the crime scene helped lead investigators to Kelly’s dark blue Chevrolet Impala, The State previously reported. A forensic investigation of Kelly’s car, conducted by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, linked him to the crime scene.
Kelly had a prior criminal record. Several months before killing Rabon, he had been released from jail on probation after serving a little over four months for receiving stolen goods valued at more than $10,000, Kershaw County court records show.
And weeks before his arrest in the Rabon case, Kelly was arrested for first-offense criminal domestic violence. When he pleaded guilty to the charges facing him from Rabon’s death, Kelly also pleaded guilty to the unrelated charge of criminal domestic violence, and that was included in his 50-year sentence.
“Kelly would have killed again,” then Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews said in 2015. “This guy had anger issues against women. He beat his girlfriend, and he beat Briana mercilessly before raping her.”
The Victim
Rabon was born in Camden and graduated from Lugoff-Elgin High School in 2013, according to her obituary. At the time of her death, Rabon worked as a hostess at the Texas Roadhouse and the now-closed Tilted Kilt in Harbison.
Nearly 1,000 people attended her funeral at Sawney’s Creek Baptist Church in Fairfield County.
A friend reminisced about good times with Rabon. They would sing their favorite rap songs, tan by the pool, and indulge in a concoction of birthday cake ice cream and brownies that she said was Rabon’s favorite.
“She was so happy and always upbeat,” Savannah Locke, one of Rabon’s best friends through high school, said in 2015. “Briana didn’t care what anyone else thought of her, and she was the best friend you could ever have. You didn’t have to wear a certain type of clothes or have money or have to be anything to be her friend.”
COVID in SC Prisons
Across the 21 prisons in South Carolina operated by the Department of Corrections, there have been 5,319 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among inmates, according to prison officials. While 4,751 have recovered, 508 inmates are still active COVID-19 patients, Department of Corrections data shows.
Through Tuesday morning, 60 inmates have died of COVID-19, according to the data. There are 15,276 inmates in the prison system.
Overall, 2,364 of the 2,431 Department of Corrections staff members who have tested positive for the coronavirus have been cleared, according to prison officials. Six prison employees have died, data shows.
Approximately 5,000 people work at the Department of Corrections, and there are 16,162 inmates in South Carolina.
Lee Correctional is a men’s-only, high-security institution that houses 1,150 inmates, according to the Department of Corrections. Like other Level 3 prisons in South Carolina, Lee is “designed primarily to house violent offenders with longer sentences, and inmates who exhibit behavioral problems,” the Department of Corrections said.
The prison is in Bishopville, about 50 miles east of Columbia.
Three inmates at Lee Correctional have died of the coronavirus, and there are 12 active cases among the prisoners, according to the Department of Corrections. Overall, 188 of the 203 inmates at Lee Correctional who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been cleared, data shows.
Of the inmates locked up at Lee Correctional, 505 have been vaccinated, while 714 other prisoners there have declined the shot, prison officials said.
One of the staff members who worked at Lee Correctional died of the coronavirus, while the other 105 that tested positive for COVID-19 have been cleared, data shows.
BEHIND THE STORY
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This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 10:50 AM.
