SC transgender teen killed after first date in NC was stabbed, cut 37 times, report says
Jacob Williamson, an 18-year-old transgender man from South Carolina who was killed last year in North Carolina on his first ever date, was stabbed or cut 37 times, according to a report.
Some body parts had been intentionally removed, the report said.
Williamson’s cause of death is listed as a “multiple sharp force injury,” according to a pathologist’s report released by North Carolina’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
An investigative report attached to the medical examiner’s findings indicated Williamson was killed at a home in Monroe, North Carolina, before his body was placed in trash bags and taken across state lines. A witness led authorities to Williamson’s body, which had been left on the side of a South Carolina road, the report said.
Williamson disappeared on June 30, 2023, after leaving for the date at the Carowinds amusement park with a man he met online, Joshua Newton, investigators and those close to Williamson said at the time. The two had communicated through texts, video calls, and the Snapchat app. Williamson had just moved out of his childhood home and was living openly as a man for the first time, Edwards said.
The Union County, N.C., Sheriff’s Department has said that it is not investigating the death as a hate crime.
“This is an ongoing process and both defendants remain in custody,” said Union County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Lt. James Maye. “There are no new charges at this point and all the information we have collected has been turned over the district attorney’s office.”
The number of wounds and the mutilation of Williamson’s body was “certainly not typical,” said Dr. Kenny Kinsey, a forensic and crime scene reconstruction expert and former chief deputy of the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office. Kinsey, who reviewed the report at the request of The State Media Co., was an expert witness for the prosecution during Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial last year. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this or worked anything like this in South Carolina.”
“The methodologies indicate that it may not be a hate crime per se, but it has all kinds of connotations,” Kinsey said. But he cautioned that a review of a pathologist’s report was limited in what it revealed, and motive could only be determined through interviews or a psychological profile of the killers.
The medical examiner’s report obtained by The State Media Co. also sheds new light into the investigation and Williamson’s death.
Last year, after Williamson stopped responding to texts and calls from Promise Edwards, the family friend who Williamson had been living with, investigators found that his phone last “pinged” at 506 Bethphage Lane, in Monroe, North Carolina, according to the investigative report. It was the same address where Newton lived with his girlfriend, Victoria Smith.
Newton and Smith, who appeared to be living together since June 2022, were avid online gamers and streamers. Part of one stream posted online appeared to show Newton speaking with investigators following Williamson’s disappearance.
The investigative report, which was attached to the medical examiner’s findings, says that in the early morning hours of July 4, 2023, an unnamed witness led investigators to the gravesite roughly 25 yards off the side of Mangum School Road in Pageland, South Carolina. The site was approximately eight miles from Newton and Smith’s home. Williamson’s remains were found buried under old car tires and pine straw, according to the report. He had been placed in black plastic trash bags bound together with duct tape.
He was identified following a comparison of dental records.
Both Newton and Smith were charged with first degree murder, felony conspiracy and obstructing justice. Smith was also charged with being an accessory after the fact. They were denied bond and remain incarcerated at the Union County jail in North Carolina.
What does the pathologist’s report say?
The pathologist found 29 stab wounds to Williamson’s chest, 15 of which were concentrated on the left chest, according to the report. Williamson also suffered a stab wound to his left arm and cutting wounds to his neck and chest.
There was also evidence of intentional removal of body parts, which were not recovered, according to the report. Kinsey said this could indicate either a deeper psychological motive behind the killing or an attempt to throw off investigators.
The wounds resulted in “substantial blood loss” stemming from “significant internal injuries.” The exam found no other contributing factors in Williamson’s death.
The report also notes more than a dozen bruises on the front and back of Williamson’s legs. These could indicate a struggle, Kinsey said.
A toxicology report included in the pathologist’s findings did not indicate the presence of drugs or alcohol.