SC man who admitted stabbing, killing 2 people set for release to elder care home
In October 2018, George Jenkins, a veteran paramedic, encountered the most gruesome scene he’d ever witnessed in his career, he said.
Two people were stabbed to death inside a Spartanburg County home. A tarp covered a puddle of blood at the front door, and the bathroom was covered in blood ⏤ from the floor, the toilet, the bath tub, the walls and the ceiling.
“I wish I had never seen that,” he said. “An all white bathroom was completely red with dried blood.”
The victims were his brother, Craig Jenkins, 52 and niece, Stephanie Jenkins, 28.
On Oct. 25, 2018, police arrested Casey Allen Douglas, 28, and charged him with two counts of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Even though police said he admitted killing Craig and Stephanie during a delusional episode, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial twice and sent to a state mental hospital after spending two years in the Spartanburg County Detention Center.
Now, seven years after the killings, a judge has ordered that Douglas ⏤ still deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial ⏤ be released from the hospital and sent to Generations of Monetta, an assisted living facility in Aiken County, according to court documents.
Douglas’ ordered release comes even though he still claims to have delusions, according to 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, who says Douglas remains a threat to the community.
Generations of Monetta is an elderly care facility that’s incapable of caring for Douglas’ mental health condition, Barnette said. “It appears ... the facility is a retirement or assisted living facility oriented for older adults; it is not a facility designed for persons with compelling mental health issues,” a motion by the state said. Authorities are “concerned about the safety of older individuals living at the facility as well as the public in general.”
The State was unable to contact anyone at Generations of Monetta regarding Douglas.
In response to a November 2024 release order by Circuit Jude J. Mark Hayes II, Barnette’s office filed a motion for reconsideration, saying evidence shows that Douglas continues to suffer from mental delusions. Plus, if he can be sent to an assisted living facility, he should be able to stand trial, according to the motion.
Under South Carolina law, a person found unfit to stand trial must be released from a psychiatric hospital if the Department of Mental Health believes the person no longer needs hospitalization, which served as the basis for Haye’s order.
“This court finds that Mr. Douglas should be released from hospitalization as recommended by (the Department of Mental Health) with ... special conditions,’ the judge’s order read.
Conditions of Douglas’ release include that he be accompanied by a mental health professional when leaving the Generations of Monetta community and that he also wear an ankle monitor anytime he’s outside the facility.
But in another motion to reconsider Haye’s order, the Department of Mental Health said such conditions would restrict Douglas from effectively rejoining society and that the department lacks the ability to track ankle monitors.
Following the department’s motion, Barnette highlighted in a court filing the department’s inability to monitor Douglas’ movements when leaving the assisted living facility, and expressed concern for the safety of the Aiken community.
“The SCDMH motion for reconsideration ... states that, ‘SCDMH does not monitor any GPS monitoring technology, and does not have the means to provide Mr. Douglas with an electronic ankle monitor,’“ the state’s motion said. “This argument by SCDMH further reveals their disinclination to be involved with Douglas’ ongoing care or monitoring going forward.
“If Douglas is well enough to be released into the community, given his independence, and can control his delusions, then his competency (to stand trial) can definitely be restored.”
Beyond Barnette, Haye’s order is deeply concerning to Craig’s and Stephanie’s relatives.
Cheri Gardiner, 78, Craig’s sister and Stephanie’s aunt, said it “hurts to know that someone can take a life and get away with it.”
“My niece was only 28 years old and Craig was only 52,” Gardiner said. “Every day I think about them and it’s hard to realize that they’re gone and won’t be back. I also think about how they must have suffered.”
Prior to confessing to the murder of Craig and Stephanie Jenkins, Douglas was convicted of armed robbery in 2006 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to court records.
In the state’s motion, Barnette pointed to experts who deemed Douglas as a “high threat to other individuals,” including Dr. Jim Cawood and Captain Michael Prodan of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
The Department of Mental Health had not responded to an inquiry from The State by Friday afternoon.
George Jenkins, the paramedic who is Craig Jenkins’ brother, said he believes South Carolina’s legal system “failed us drastically.”
“To say we’re going to send him to a nursing home, where (Douglas) can leave and go get a job in society, where he can leave and go reintroduce himself to the world, when my niece, who was fighting so hard to get in the medical field to help people, can’t do that now, or my brother, who was trying to maintain his family, can’t do that now, shows there’s something’s wrong in the system,” Jenkins said.
Hayes denied both motions for reconsideration on May 2, saying Douglas’ release, and associated conditions, remain in effect.
Barnette told The State Friday that his office filed an appeal on Thursday, May 8, with the state Court of Appeals following Haye’s order denying the state’s motion for reconsideration.
It’s unclear exactly when Douglas is set to be released.
Barnette and Jenkins maintain it’s possible Douglas is faking his mental illness in order to circumvent justice, citing Douglas’ familiarity with criminal procedure.
Dr. Robert Nelson, who was qualified as a forensic psychologist in Douglas’ case, “testified that an individual could fake mental health conditions, such as delusions,” according to the state’s motion for reconsideration, adding that no tests were ever administered to Douglas to determine the authenticity of his purported delusions.
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
