When Edna Subtles, an 80-year-old in Greenville, S.C., made her rounds before running errands on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, she waved goodbye to neighbors.
She was seen on security cameras picking up Daniel Prince, 48, who has a history of being convicted for kidnapping.
Hours later, Prince was behind the wheel of Edna’s silver sedan again – igniting a nightmare that would torment her family for 13 months.
That evening, Edna’s loved ones reported her missing; their phone calls became increasingly desperate as days went by with no word.
Police say the video shows Prince loading a large package that resembles a body into his truck at a secluded area.
Jewellery stolen from Edna’s house came to light at pawn shops, all leading back to Prince’s fingerprints.
Detectives descended on Prince’s squalid home, finding nearly two dozen packets of drugs, Edna’s purse, and chilling videos of his whereabouts.
He denied it all initially, saying she had dropped him off and disappeared on her own. But the evidence was mounting: Surveillance video from gas stations, ATMs, and highways put him at Edna’s car well after she had last been seen alive.
Questioning went on for weeks, Prince’s fabrications unraveled under the weight of grainy scenes and witness reports.
He broke, he admitted to not just Edna’s killing, but three others whose bodies were dumped in shallow graves.
To avoid the death penalty, he entered into a plea deal for life without parole and showed authorities Edna’s remains in the thick woods near Travelers Rest.
A year after she went missing, search teams used secret-recorded directions from Prince to find a makeshift grave.
Edna’s bones lay folded beneath a tarp, her wedding ring still sparkling beneath the dirt.
Her daughter held onto the ring at the location, whispering: “We found you, Mom; we never stopped searching.”
The confession on tape, recorded without his knowledge, sealed Prince’s fate at trial. Prosecutors praised the technology that captured a killer’s words after the camera had captured his crimes.
Her family, although broken and reunited, had closure in the knowledge that justice was served.
Coincidence would have it that the Jones case competition was also in 2013, when a trusted ride turned terrifyingly deadly at the whim of a predator’s greed.
The vibrant little life of Edna, the gardening and church bingo, and grandkids’ hugs were stolen in minutes.
Her story shouts urgency: check on elders, share footage, trust instincts when something doesn’t feel right.
His plea keeps him from the gallows, but not from his guilt. Flowers now dress Edna’s grave, gifts from neighbors who remember her smile.
Her legacy? A community’s vow to shield the most vulnerable, one watchful eye at a time.
