Arrest made in missing S.C. officer's case

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The Associated Press
By BRUCE SMITH
Related: Search on in S.C. for missing officer

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A "person of interest'' in the disappearance of a constable whose police cruiser was found in flames was arrested early Wednesday on a federal weapons charge in North Carolina, police said.

Walter Fayall III was taken into custody around 1 a.m. and will be returned to South Carolina, said Capt. Denise Bridges of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., Police Department.

Dozens of officers have been searching the Charleston County area for Robert Lee Bailey, a 67-year-old constable who works for the Lincolnville Police Department. Bailey was last seen at a traffic stop late Monday. His hat, gun and several bullet casings were found in a yard, and his empty cruiser was found torched behind a church off Interstate 26.

Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said Tuesday that authorities had identified Fayall as a person of interest, but no charges had been filed against him in the constable's disappearance.

The sheriff said authorities are investigating whether Fayall lived in a house near where gunshots were heard the night Bailey disappeared.

Officials don't know what happened to Bailey, Cannon said.

Highway Patrol Cpl. Paul Brouthers said searchers were out looking for the constable again Wednesday morning. Messages left with the sheriff's office were not immediately returned.

Constables in South Carolina assist law enforcement agencies and may carry firearms. Bailey has worked as a law officer for both Dorchester County and the city of Charleston and as a constable with the Charleston County Sheriff's Department and with Lincolnville, Cannon said.

 

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Body of missing S.C. constable believed found

The Associated Press

CAMERON, S.C. — Crews looking for a state constable last seen making a traffic stop found a shallow, freshly dug grave Saturday, authorities said.

A special team trained to preserve clues was painstakingly digging up the body, which had not been identified, Charleston County Sheriff's Capt. John Clark said.

Robert Lee Bailey, 67, was last seen Monday night in Lincolnville, 50 miles from the grave.

A few minutes later and a few blocks down the road, gunfire was heard. Bailey's hat and gun and a pool of blood were found in a yard, and his burning cruiser was found a few miles away off Interstate 26.

Later, his badge and handcuffs case were found in a wad of burned rags near Harleyville, about 20 miles farther up the interstate.

Authorities moved their search Saturday after talking to the girlfriend of the main suspect in the case, Clark said.

Bailey, a retired deputy, was a constable with Lincolnville for about five years, volunteering his time to the small town which has only one paid officer.

 

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Body found in grave is missing S.C. constable

Officials confirm identity; 5 arrested, 1 charged so far in case

Updated: 8:56 a.m. ET May 22, 2007
LADSON, S.C. - A body found in a shallow grave over the weekend is that of a volunteer constable who disappeared a week ago, officials said Monday. He had been shot several times.

Robert Lee Bailey, 67, died instantly after being shot, said Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten, who declined to say how many times he had been hit.

Bailey was last seen May 14 making a traffic stop in Lincolnville, 50 miles from where the grave was found near Interstate 26. Five people have been taken into custody since he vanished, and officials say they transported his body in two different cars that were later found burned.

The grave was found Saturday after searchers returned to rural Orangeburg County using information from a woman charged in the case, who also is the girlfriend of another suspect, authorities said.

According to arrest affidavits, Bailey had just cleared a traffic stop and was on a street where two suspects lived when several shots sounded and radio contact was lost.

Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said the shootings apparently occurred during a second traffic stop. When help arrived, Bailey was gone. His constable's cap, two pistols, several shell casings and a pool of his blood were found in the street and the yard of a small home on the street. His cruiser was found later about five miles away, burned.

Asia Prioleau, 22, has been charged with murder, and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Walter Fayall III, who is in jail on an unrelated charge, will also be charged with murder, the sheriff said. Cannon said the two were in a car at the second stop.

Three other people have been arrested in the case.

Cannon said after the shooting, the constable's body was stuffed into the back of a Chevrolet Caprice found burned Friday about 30 miles up the interstate.

Cannon said the body is believed to have then been transferred to another car and taken to where Bailey was buried. That second car was found burned in Williamsburg County last week, he said.

Bailey was a retired Dorchester County deputy who had been a constable with Lincolnville for about five years. He was one of about 80 group three advanced constables in the state out of more than 2,000 South Carolina constables.