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Adult brother, sister accused of ignoring pregnant woman's screams for help for two hours as she was getting beaten to death; siblings' nephew is murder suspect
Tyler Wilkins (left); Michael Thomas Burnett (top right); Melissa Michelle Burnett (bottom right) — Image source: Greenville County (South Carolina) Sheriff's Office

Adult brother, sister accused of ignoring pregnant woman's screams for help for two hours as she was getting beaten to death; siblings' nephew is murder suspect

Adult siblings are accused of ignoring a pregnant woman's screams for help for two hours as she was getting beaten to death in their Marietta, South Carolina, home earlier this month, the State reported.

The siblings' nephew — the father of the pregnant woman's child — is the murder suspect, the paper added.

What are the details?

Clarrissa Winchester, 22, was found dead in the Saw Mill Road home Nov. 9 after having been beaten in the head and neck, the State said.

Winchester was seven months pregnant when she was murdered, the paper said, adding that her baby was born at some point and found dead with her.

The baby’s father — Tyler Wilkins, 21 — was charged with killing Winchester and failing to get help for the baby, the State said.

The paper added that the two other people allegedly in the house at the time of the beating were brother and sister Michael Thomas Burnett, 43, and Melissa Michelle Burnett, 49 — and that the murder occurred in their home. The Burnetts are Wilkins’ uncle and aunt, Lt. Ryan Flood of the Greenville County sheriff’s office added to the paper.

Relatives of murder suspect arrested in connection to murder caseyoutu.be

The Burnetts were arrested Saturday and charged with failure to report a felony, the State said. They were released from jail on $20,000 bonds, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office said, adding that the pair failed to act, call 911, or provide any other assistance to Winchester.

At the time Winchester was murdered, Wilkins was out of jail on a $4,375 bond on charges of domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, two counts of attempted murder, pointing and presenting a firearm, resisting arrest, throwing bodily fluids, and threatening the life of a public official, the State reported, citing a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division background check. Wilkins spent about six weeks in jail, the paper added.

Following Winchester's death, investigators originally charged Wilkins with unlawful conduct toward a child after it was determined he failed to seek medical attention for the recently born baby, the sheriff's office said.

Then on Nov. 10, Wilkins was charged with murder and kidnapping after investigators learned he confined Winchester inside the home and attacked her using blunt force trauma that resulted in her death, the sheriff's office added.

Wilkins was being held without bond in the Greenville County Detention Center, the sheriff's office said.

Winchester's father, Mike Winchester, told the State that he and his wife, Melinda, went to the Saw Mill Road house looking for their daughter and then called deputies when Wilkins wouldn’t let them in.

Their daughter and her baby were dead when deputies arrived, the paper said.

Mike Winchester told the State his daughter was repeatedly punched and that he hadn't been told if his daughter's baby was stillborn or died from lack of care.

Winchester and her baby, Grayson, were buried Nov. 16 in the cemetery at Golden Grove Baptist Church in Travelers Rest, the paper said.

The following news report ran before the Burnetts bonded out of jail:

2 more arrested after mother, baby found dead in Greenville Co. homeyoutu.be

Anything else?

Wilkins also is being investigated in connection with the disappearance of his former girlfriend, 19-year-old Jorden Nebling, the State reported. Wilkins picked up Nebling on Oct. 10, 2020, after a car she borrowed from a friend broke down, the paper said, adding that her family didn't report her missing for a month, which complicated the investigation.

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