In a heart-wrenching case of abuse and neglect, the Seventh Circuit Solicitor’s Office announced that a couple, along with their son, was found guilty of the murder of Heather Baynard, a 14-year-old girl with special needs who suffered from cerebral palsy. The verdict, delivered in Gaffney, South Carolina, revealed the horrifying conditions in which Heather lived and the painful circumstances of her untimely death.
The tragic events began on April 11, 2022, when Heather’s father, David Eugene Baynard, brought her to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. According to court documents, David carried Heather “like a sack of potatoes,” her body cold, unresponsive, and her skin turning gray. Neither he nor Heather’s mother, Bobbie Jo Baynard, appeared distressed or in any hurry to seek medical help. Instead, after leaving Heather with hospital staff, David reportedly sat in the waiting room scrolling through his phone, reported WSPA.
Medical staff immediately recognized the severity of Heather’s condition; her body showed signs of extreme neglect and decay. Sadly, she succumbed to her injuries and infections that same night. Heather had lived with her parents, David and Bobbie Jo, and her older brother, Edward Vincent Baynard, in a home on Camp Ferry Road in Gaffney.
Edward, who served as Heather’s personal care aide and respite care aide for 18 months, received over $25,000 through Axcess Homecare to assist her. However, the conditions in which Heather was found paint a different story about the care she received. On April 12, law enforcement officers investigated the Baynard family’s residence, uncovering horrific conditions, Per Local 12.
Junk was piled high, animal feces and urine covered the floors, and trash cluttered every room. The stench was so overwhelming that officers had to wear safety suits and respirators to enter. Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler described the scene as the “worst case of neglect” he had ever encountered.
An autopsy conducted on April 14, 2022, confirmed that Heather had been subjected to prolonged neglect “for many, many months,” Fowler reported. During the trial, held in Gaffney in late October 2024, medical experts and the coroner testified about the severe state of Heather’s body, emphasizing how the urine and feces that she was forced to live in had broken down her skin and tissue. A hospital witness described her legs as looking “like raw meat.”
One witness even remarked that Heather would have suffered less had her life been taken swiftly rather than enduring the abuse she faced daily. On October 31, 2024, the court handed down life sentences for Heather’s parents, 45-year-old Bobbie Jo Baynard and 55-year-old David Eugene Baynard, for her murder. They also received 20-year and 10-year sentences for infliction of great bodily injury upon a child and unlawful neglect of a child, respectively.
Their sentences will run consecutively, meaning they face a lifetime behind bars. Heather’s brother, Edward, 21, was sentenced to 30 years for murder, along with additional sentences for infliction of injury and neglect. His sentences will be served concurrently.
The trial was prosecuted by Solicitor Barry Barnette and Assistant Solicitor Jennifer Jordan. Reflecting on the case’s devastating details, Barnette expressed profound grief, stating, “Nobody in this world – especially a child with special needs – should have to go through anything like this. It was horrible. Heather was left to rot to death.”
Heather Baynard’s story sheds a grim light on the realities of neglect and serves as a sobering reminder of the responsibility society holds in protecting its most vulnerable members. Her tragic death and the subsequent life sentences for her caregivers mark the conclusion of a painful journey that will leave a lasting impact on the community.
