From staff reports
A Burton man who left a trail of women’s and children’s clothing and footprints in his wake after burglarizing a neighbor’s home has been sent to prison.
Roy Dean White, 50, pleaded guilty as indicted Aug. 18 to first-degree burglary in Beaufort County General Sessions Court. White has a history of violent offenses and was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison.
“This was no trivial offense,” said Assistant Solicitor Hunter Swanson, who prosecuted the case. “Given the defendant’s criminal history, which includes violence against children, we believe Mr. White to be a career criminal and a danger to the entire community.”
A mother and her children were pulling into their driveway upon returning home at about 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2018. Through a window, the woman’s daughter spotted a bald man in a teal, short-sleeve shirt inside their house. The mother drove away and called 9-1-1.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputies arrived minutes later to find an unsecured back door. No one was inside the residence. However, outside, they found a trail of women’s and children’s underwear taken from the home, along with footprints leading to the backyard of White’s nearby house.
There, officers found White, who is bald. He wore a teal shirt and was holding a flashlight. White was questioned but initially refused to submit a DNA sample for testing.
White was later arrested after analysts determined a sample taken from a nightstand in the victims’ home contained DNA from several contributors, one of which could not have come from a family member. A follow-up test after White’s arrest indicated his DNA was part of the mixture.
Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentence.
White’s criminal history includes a conviction for homicide by child abuse, stemming from the 1998 death of Kimberly Michelle Slattery, his girlfriend’s 7-year-old daughter. White served 12 years of a 25-year sentence before his release in December 2011.
