Family, Friends Say Goodbye To Slain 8-Year-Old
Police: Heather Brooke Center Put In Headlock, Shot 4 Times
DUNCAN, S.C. -- Family and friends of 8-year-old Heather Brooke Center
said their final goodbyes at her funeral on Sunday.
Deputies said Center was shot to death last Sunday by 48-year-old Ricky
Lee Blackwell. They said Blackwell's estranged wife was in a
relationship with the girl's father, Bobby Center.
Witnesses told deputies that they saw Blackwell put the girl in a
headlock and shoot her four times.
Her funeral was held Sunday afternoon at Stribling Funeral Home.
[Heather Center's casket was carried in a special hearse that can be
pulled by a motorcycle and was escorted by a motorcycle group called the
Patriot Guard.]
Heather Center's casket was carried in a special hearse that can be
pulled by a motorcycle and was escorted by a motorcycle group called the
Patriot Guard.
The victim's father asked for a motorcycle escort for her casket. In
response, about 500 bikers showed up to honor the 8-year-old.
Bobby Center was a biker himself, and family said his daughter used to
love to go riding with him on the back of his motorcycle. On Sunday, a
stuffed animal rode in the spot that used to belong to the girl.
Her casket was carried in a special hearse that can be pulled by a
motorcycle, and it was escorted by the Patriot Guard, a group of bikers
that usually rides in honor of fallen veterans.
"I couldn't imagine how I would feel, putting myself in Bobby's place,
if something was to happen to my little girl," said Karl "Big Daddy"
Matthews, of the Patriot Guard. "So I've got nothing but respect and
support for the family."
The girl's entire baseball team -- the District 5 Dodgers -- were
selected to be honorary pallbearers. Heather Brooke Center was the only
girl on the team.
"She was just a special girl," said coach Ricky McKinney. "She just
tried her best at everything she did, and to be able to get out there
and compete with the young boys that she played with, she was just a
super, super kid. I just thank God that I was able to know her."
After the funeral, Heather Brooke Center was buried at Wood Memorial Park.
There's a memorial fund set up at any Wachovia Bank under "Heather
Brooke Center." Donations will help pay for the funeral.
Alleged child killer Blackwell faces death penalty
Grisly murder of 8-year-old warrants execution, solicitor says
By Craig Peters
Published: Friday, July 10, 2009 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, July 10, 2009 at 1:16 a.m.
A man accused of fatally shooting an 8-year-old girl at least four times
Wednesday received notification Thursday that prosecutors will seek the
death penalty while he was in a local hospital bed.
Related Links:
* Child escorted on final ride after brutal shooting death
* 8-year-old girl brutally shot and killed in Chesnee
* Death penalty sought for suspected child killer
* Man fatally shoots 8-year-old in Chesnee
The notification informed Ricky Lee Blackwell Sr., 50, of 248 Ridings
Road, Chesnee, that he will be the defendant in a capital punishment
trial. Blackwell had not been booked at Spartanburg County jail at press
time Thursday night because he was recovering from a self-inflicted
gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Blackwell will be taken to jail when he is released from Spartanburg
Regional Medical Center, sheriff's deputies said, and he will be charged
with the murder and kidnapping of Heather Brooke Center. Blackwell is
accused of putting the child, who went by Brooke, in a headlock,
shooting her in the head and shooting her at least three more times.
After conferring with Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright and
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger, Seventh Circuit Solicitor
Trey Gowdy said he has "exercised my discretion to seek society's
ultimate punishment."
"Murder of a child under age 11 is a freestanding, self-sufficient
(aggravating circumstance) ... that qualifies the case for the death
penalty," Gowdy said.
It is the first time in 2009 that Gowdy has requested a capital trial,
and his office wrote S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal,
requesting that she assign a judge to preside over the case.
"The paradigm we have always used is threefold -- the circumstances of
the crime, the character of the defendant and the impact the crime has
on the community as a whole," Gowdy said. "The execution of a child
shocks the conscience of this community and warrants seeking of
society's ultimate punishment."
Deputies were called to 244 Ridings Road -- where Blackwell's daughter,
son-in-law and family live -- about 3 p.m. Wednesday to a
domestic-related shooting. They located the unresponsive child, who had
been brought to the residence by Blackwell's separated wife, Angela, so
Brooke could play with other children in a swimming pool. Angela
Blackwell has been romantically involved with the child's father, Bobby
Center, for about seven months, deputies said.
'Special' child
When reached by phone Thursday night, Center and another person at the
residence would not comment. Earlier in the day, Center told News
Channel 7, "(Brooke) was special from the day she was born" and had a
way of lighting up the lives of others.
Deputies found the victim face down near the above-ground swimming pool
and were directed to Blackwell's next-door residence, where they found
him holding a pistol. When ordered to put the pistol down, deputies said
he fired it once into his abdomen.
Deputies then arrested Blackwell, but the horrific scene lingered in
responding officers' minds Thursday morning.
Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Tony Ivey
said those officers met with a team of chaplains for a debriefing, a
standard procedure following "critical" incidents.
"It's a way to get together after the incident and realize it's OK that
what you saw upset you," Ivey said.
'No right'
Ricky Lee Blackwell Jr., 22, who lives near the incident location, was
driving to work when he saw the deputies' vehicles, and he approached
the scene.
"Seeing that little girl hurt me worse than anything in the world,"
Blackwell Jr. said. "I have no idea why he grabbed that young'un. He had
told her how beautiful she was. He had been nice to that girl and her
brother.
"He didn't have no right doing that," said Blackwell Jr., adding how
sorry he feels for Brooke and her family.
Blackwell Jr. said "something flipped" in his father. He said his father
had never been violent but had attempted suicide early during the
separation from his wife of 33 years.
Blackwell Jr. said his father was a truck driver before he was diagnosed
with cancer. After the cancer went into remission, he got a job at a
chemical plant, but he was laid off. Blackwell Jr. said his mother
alternated between Blackwell Sr. and Center.
The criminal record for Blackwell Sr. had one grand larceny conviction
from 1981, and deputies had not responded to any domestic disturbances.
Authorities were still trying to determine why Blackwell Sr. fired only
at Brooke.
"There's only one person who can answer that question," Gowdy said, "and
I just served him with a death penalty notice."
