NC ‘serial killer’ sentenced to life without parole in kidnapping, death of SC woman
A North Carolina man described as a serial killer by law enforcement and who is tied to the deaths and disappearances of at least four women from the Carolinas was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.
The man, Daniel Printz, 59, of Bostic, about 70 miles west of Charlotte, received a life sentence without parole in return for his cooperation with law enforcement for other guilty pleas and for helping them solve various kidnappings and killings with which he has been associated.
Printz pleaded guilty early Tuesday in federal court on a charge of kidnapping resulting in death.
At his sentencing hearing, relatives of all four known victims of Printz spoke. At least two relatives referred to him as a serial killer.
Because of the number of his victims, the government could have sought the death penalty against Printz but did not because of his cooperation, according to a plea agreement made public Tuesday.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Printz — whose occupation was given as handyman — pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in the death of a South Carolina woman, Edna Suttles, 80. Suttles disappeared from her Travelers Rest home in late August 2021. Travelers Rest is a small town in Greenville County.
Printz “sedated and kidnapped” Suttles from her hometown “and drove her back to North Carolina, where he killed her and buried her on a friend’s property,” assistant U.S. attorney Justin Holloway told U.S. Judge Donald Coggins.
Evidence in the case indicated he used a plastic bag to suffocate her, according a complaint.
Suttles’ 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee was also missing. It was found in early September parked in a hotel parking lot in the town.
Printz accepted responsibility or “had some role in” the deaths and/or disappearances of three other women: Dolores Sellers in Mecklenburg County, her daughter Nancy Rego, and Leigh Goodman, of Gaston County, according to a plea agreement.
Printz’s guilty plea before Coggins at the federal courthouse in Spartanburg was the result of months of behind-the-scenes investigations by the FBI and North and South Carolina law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Attorneys’ office and state prosecutors’ offices in both Carolinas.
The Greenville County sheriff plans to hold a press conference Wednesday morning.
Court evidence suggests there could be more victims
Surveillance tapes from a Travelers Rest Food Lion grocery store parking lot placed Printz, who told investigators he was a friend of Suttles, with her on the morning of Aug. 27, 2021, when she disappeared.
Tapes showed that Printz got in Suttles’ car at the Food Lion parking lot, and the two drove away in her car. Several hours later, Printz drove Suttles’ car back to the Food Lion, got out and transferred her “apparently motionless” body into his car.
Printz then drove her car to a nearby Best Western motel parking lot and “wiped down” the interior and exterior of the vehicle, tapes showed. Printz then walked back to the Food Lion and got into his vehicle, which contained Suttles’ body, according to a complaint filed by the FBI.
Printz was identified after high quality surveillance tapes inside the Food Lion showed that he had bought a four-pack of yogurt and used his frequent shopper card, which had his name on it, a complaint in the case said.
On Sept. 9, 2021, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Printz, who was arrested the same day at his Bostic house by the sheriff’s office in Rutherford County, North Carolina.
Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Printz’s house and found legal documents and bank debit cards belonging to Rego, a Charlotte woman who had been missing since 2017. The FBI was then called in.
Subsequent searches of Printz’s property found more items belonging to Suttles, including “a unique firearm,” her purse and the keys to her Jeep Cherokee, as well as prescription pill bottles with Rego’s name on them.
Rego was a Charlotte massage therapist, who was believed to be dating Printz in 2017. Printz was arrested on related weapons and car theft charges in September and has been in jail ever since.
In May, the FBI recovered the remains of Suttles in a wooded area along Harris Holly Springs Road in Rutherfordton, about 75 miles west of Charlotte.
Printz’s crimes became a federal case because he had transported Suttle’s body across state lines into North Carolina.
Printz has a prior conviction for kidnapping in Michigan and is a suspect in disappearances involving elderly women, according to court records.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting the case are Holloway and Elliott Daniels. Printz’s defense attorneys are Erica Soderdahl, a federal public defender, and Emily Paavola, an experienced death penalty lawyer.
There may be more than four victims.
According to a complaint in the case, Printz said he “could relay details of five different individuals.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 11:10 AM.
