In the early morning hours of March 13, 2021, the life of 28-year-old Ashli Gregnecia Haigler was tragically cut short in a fatal shooting in northeast Columbia, South Carolina. Deputies with the Richland County Sheriff's Department responded to the intersection of McCaw Street and Malcolm Drive around 5 a.m. where they discovered Haigler deceased in her car from a gunshot wound to her upper body.
In a heartbreaking turn of events, her 5-year-old son was found unharmed in the vehicle with her, having likely witnessed his mother's murder.
The investigation into Haigler's death quickly became intertwined with a missing person's report for her husband, 48-year-old Rufus Carmichael. On the same day Ashli's body was found, deputies in Aiken County discovered Rufus Carmichael's body in a wooded area; he had also been shot. The investigation led authorities to Charles Jason Carmichael, Rufus's brother. When deputies attempted to make contact with Charles at his home, he tried to flee. A subsequent search of his vehicle uncovered a gun and blood.
Charles Jason Carmichael, then 40 years old, was arrested and charged with the murder of Ashli Haigler. Authorities later charged him in connection with his brother's death as well. During the trial, prosecutors laid out a chilling sequence of events, stating that Charles had a dispute with his brother on March 12, 2021. The following day, he allegedly kidnapped Rufus, shot and killed him. Prosecutors believe that Charles then lured Ashli, who was out searching for her husband with her young son, to a secluded road where he shot her twice. The child then bravely sought help from nearby residents who called 911.
In December 2022, a jury found Charles Jason Carmichael, 42, guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime for the deaths of Ashli Haigler and Rufus Carmichael. A judge sentenced him to life in prison. A witness testified during the trial that she was with Charles when he was planning to kill his brother, and evidence including blood-soaked towels and matching shell casings found in a U-Haul he had rented helped to secure the conviction.
