Appeal to block killer being sent to Aiken Co. elder care home hits road block
A circuit court judge’s decision to release a confessed double-killer to an elder care facility in Aiken County may not be appealable, according to the state Court of Appeals, which gave prosecutors 10 days to argue otherwise.
Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette had asked the appeals court to overturn Judge J. Mark Hayes II’s November 2024 order releasing Casey Allen Douglas from a state mental hospital to an elder care home in Monetta, S.C. Douglas had been charged with stabbing and killing his girlfriend and her father in 2018.
Barnette argued that placing Douglas in the Aiken County facility would create a threat to the facility and community.
But the Court of Appeals, in a letter dated May 21, said it’s possible Hayes’ order “might not be appealable.” The court did not say why, but gave prosecutors until May 31 to argue otherwise.
After The State reported on Douglas’ pending release earlier this month, a state representative posted on social media that Douglas would not be going to Aiken County. The State could not confirm that.
On Oct. 25, 2018, police arrested Douglas, then 28, and charged him with two counts of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The Spartanburg home where the bodies of Craig and Stephanie Jenkins were found the day before featured a tarp covering a puddle of blood at the front door while the bathroom was engulfed in dried blood ⏤ from the floor, the toilet, the bath tub, the walls and the ceiling, according to a relative of the victims.
Even though police said Douglas admitted killing the Jenkinses during a delusional episode, he was twice found mentally incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state mental hospital after spending two years in the Spartanburg County Detention Center.
In a November 2024 order, Hayes ordered Douglas to be released to Generations of Monetta ⏤ a retirement or assisted living facility oriented for older adults — after the Department of Mental Health determined that Douglas had reached the maximum level of psychiatric treatment and remained ill-suited to stand trial.
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 Hayes’ order.
Barnette argued that if Douglas is unfit to stand trial, he’s likewise unfit to be released into a community, where authorities are “concerned about the safety of older individuals living at the facility as well as the public in general.”
Meanwhile, state Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, told constituents via a Facebook post on May 15 that Douglas “is not in Monetta, nor will he be.” He said if the Department of Mental Health retained custody of Douglas, he will be transferred “to another (Department of Mental Health) facility elsewhere in South Carolina.”
Taylor’s post was met with a flurry of gratitude from his constituents.
Taylor told The State his information came from the state Department of Mental Health. In response to an inquiry by The State, the department said it won’t comment on the Douglas case.
Still, Hayes’ order said Douglas will be released specifically to Generations of Monetta. No other documents have been filed indicating that Douglas will be sent to another facility in the event Barnette’s appeal is denied.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM.
